Salsa Corriente: A family recipe passed from father to daughter
- Amy Toole
- May 30, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 4, 2021
In the Mexican culture, family salsa recipes are a point of pride that can be passed down from generation to generation. In this post, we are going to share the history of how an Amanda’s Menu family salsa recipe, Salsa Corriente, came to be.
The story of Salsa Corriente
When Amanda's dad was a young boy, he was always running around the house really quickly. This landed him a nickname from his mother, Corriente.
While he was growing up, his mother did most of the cooking. Naturally, he picked up how to make salsa. After evolving what he learned about salsa to his own techniques and ratios, he had his own original salsa recipe. He decided to call it Salsa Corriente. He shares a little background about the name:
"A corriente is a small, feisty and stubborn bull bred in Mexico and southeastern Arizona. They are used in rodeos primarily during bulldogging and roping events."
Amanda’s first memory of eating Salsa Corriente was when she was a pre-teen – it was too spicy for her before that! By the time Amanda was a teenager, her dad was teaching her how to make the family salsa recipe.
Her father taught her that the key to making good Mexican salsa is technique and patience. They hand-chopped every ingredient before roasting it on the grill. The recipe took up to three hours to prepare. As a teenager, Amanda felt like the process took forever!
Making Salsa Corriente her own
After graduating college, Amanda moved away from home. She got caught up in her life and did not make Salsa Corriente very often. Once she reached her mid-20s, she started missing the taste of homemade salsa. That’s when she decided to start trying to make Salsa Corriente again.
While the results were delicious, the time she had to invest to make it from start to finish was considerable. Therefore, Amanda limited making it for parties and special occasions. Her friends and family loved receiving her homemade salsa.
Over the years, Amanda got into the habit of jarring her salsa and giving it away as Christmas gifts to her co-workers. One day, her co-worker and friend, Manny, suggested that Amanda add vinegar to the recipe.
This surprised Amanda because she had never received any suggestions for her recipe. She decided to tweak the recipe with the vinegar. Then she asked her sister, Cassandra, to taste it. After tasting the salsa with vinegar, Cassandra recommended that she also add lime to balance out the acidity.
Amanda’s curiosity was piqued. Now in her early 30’s, she researched salsa recipes and learned how different foods played against one another. She liked the way the salsa tasted and decided not to change it.
Amanda didn’t revisit changes to the salsa recipe until a few years later, after she began cooking classes from Mexican chef Gabriela Camara. Chef Camara broadened Amanda’s horizons on cooking with peppers and roasting dried chilies. This helped Amanda to develop new techniques that she used to evolve Salsa Corriente into her very own salsa recipe.
The difference between Salsa Corriente and Amanda’s version
Amanda continued to tweak her father’s salsa until it evolved into her own unique recipe. Amanda found that rather than depending on consistent ratios and measurements, like her father, she preferred a more intuitive approach.
Amanda tastes the salsa at each step to determine how much of each ingredient to add. Because she uses fresh ingredients, the recipe varies with every batch depending on the ripeness of the tomatoes, the spiciness of the peppers, and the flavor of the garlic.
One of the most significant changes that Amanda made was the order of chopping and roasting the vegetables. Rather than chopping the ingredients before roasting them on the grill, Amanda began roasting the vegetables first, then chopping them.
She also began using a food processor to chop ingredients. These two changes helped to reduce prep time considerably. Amanda’s recipe only takes 45 minutes to prepare – quite a difference from the 1-2 hours needed for her father’s version!
The following table summarizes the most significant differences between Amanda’s and her father's salsa recipes:
Salsa La Que Manda
To follow in her father’s footsteps, Amanda has also chosen a unique, personal name for her salsa. When Amanda was in high school, she took three years of Spanish classes with teacher Senorita Idarraga. In Senorita Idarraga’s class, students were supposed to speak Spanish only, so one day Senorita Idarraga decided to give Amanda a nickname that played off of the “manda” part of her name. From that day on, she donned the name “Amanda la que Manda”. This translates to Amanda, she who rules.
In the sprit of following in her father’s footsteps for naming the family salsa recipe, Amanda used her Spanish nickname for inspiration. She named her salsa, Salsa La Que Manda.
Salsa Corriente: A third generation
Like any good family recipe, Salsa Corriente is being passed along to the next generation. Amanda is teaching her stepdaughter, Eva, the art of intuitive cooking as they make salsa together.
One day after making a fresh batch of salsa, they did a taste test. Amanda asked Eva if she thought the salsa needed more salt. Eva replied, “I’m not sure…” Amanda reminded Eva that the key to testing if a salsa was too salty was to taste the salsa on a tortilla chip as part of the “chip test”.
The two of them did the “chip test”, and sure enough, the salt from the chip added just enough flavor that the salsa tasted perfect. Passing along this family recipe, along with the techniques she’s learned along the way, has become a meaningful experience for both Amanda and Eva.
Additional tips to keep in mind
After years of experimenting with various techniques, Amanda has some tips and techniques that you can keep in mind when making homemade salsa.
Roasting veggies
Amanda learned that roasting the vegetables before chopping them saves a lot of time. Veggies release water when they are roasting. If you chop veggies first, they release more water. Removing that extra water while roasting adds to the overall cooking time.
Amanda also recommends quartering or slicing vegetables into large portions before roasting them on a grill and chopping them after you roast them. Using a food processor instead of chopping by hand also reduces cooking time.
Tortilla chips
The flavor of the chip is an important consideration! Blue corn, for example, tends to be less salty than yellow or white corn. Amanda’s favorite is a yellow/white corn mix. No matter what kind you choose, do the “chip test” with your salsa as you prepare the batch.
Tips for jarring salsa
Amanda recommends storing freshly made salsa in mason jars. To do this perform the following steps:
1. Let the salsa cool.
2. Make sure you grab a freezer safe mason jar.
3. Pour the salsa into a mason jar.
Tip: A mason jar funnel is a helpful tool to prevent mess.
4. Fill the jar to no more than one inch from the top.
Tip: It’s important to allow some space in the jar for the salsa to expand.
This salsa will remain fresh if refrigerated for up to two weeks or frozen for up to a month.
Tools that help
Here are some kitchen tools that Amanda recommends using when you make salsa:
Non-stick wok for grilling large vegetables, such as tomatoes or onions
Cast iron griddle for grilling any vegetables, large or small
Cooking gloves for chopping vegetables (especially peppers!)
Mason jars for storing salsa
Mason jar funnel to pour salsa
Your turn
Is your mouth watering yet? Check out the Salsa Corriente and Salsa La Que Manda recipe pages. You’ll also find all of our Mexican salsa recipes in the Vegetable and Vegetarian section of the Recipes page.
Your salsa will be muy delicioso but trust us – you don’t want to eat the whole jar in one sitting! It’s best stored or shared with friends and family.
Tip: If you are worried that the salsa is too spicy for you, have a glass of milk or side of sour cream ready. Milk or sour cream can help neutralize spicy foods. Remember – drinking water will not help take away the burning sensation – it actually spreads the spiciness throughout your mouth!
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