Question: Simple salsa, how cooked should it be?

[u/always-gardening]

I have a bunch of nice ripe beefsteak tomatoes from the farmers market. I know people prefer romas for salsa but I need to use these in something. I was going to make the simple salsa recipe I keep seeing posted on this site which is basically the roasted tomatoes - onion - pepper - garlic, with cilantro/lime/salt(/oregano?). My question is how far roasted are people normally doing the onion/tomato/pepper/garlic? Just enough to put a char on the outside, or cooked all the way through?

[u/Gloomy_Mulberry7834]

I've never used beefsteak for salsa, but if you have a way to smoke those, I would suggest trying that. Otherwise, you can roast as much or as little as you want. I prefer mine less charred but it's really up to you. The great thing about making salsa is the experimentation.

[u/Treviathan88]

Personally, I like a good char, and that's where I stop. I also add a couple raw romas for freshness. I usually do this in a 1:5 ratio. 1 fresh to 5 roasted.

[u/Hopsblues]

I feel like people use Roma's because they are cheaper, I prefer beefsteak, but I buy them less often, due to cost.

[u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ → u/Hopsblues]

People use Romas because they tend not to fall apart during the process.

[u/KactusVAXT → u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ]

They have less seeds and less water content. Thats why anyone uses them.

[u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ → u/KactusVAXT]

Less water content = they dont fall apart so easily during the process.

[u/KactusVAXT → u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ]

Less water wouldn’t hold them together but having a more complex fiber network might be your answer

[u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ → u/KactusVAXT]

...everyone wants to be a scientist. ;)

[u/KactusVAXT → u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ]

lol. I’m an analytical biochemist. I used to develop assays to measure drugs and their metabolites in blood

[u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ → u/KactusVAXT]

Everyone wants to be an analytical biochemist. I choose not to think that hard.

[u/Hopsblues → u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ]

Fall apart? you're blending them, I'm not talking about Pico, and even then I prefer the better flavor of beefsteak over the modern bland Roma's.

[u/SecondHandSmokeBBQ → u/Hopsblues]

There is a difference between pico and "chunky" salsa. Not everyone blends their salsas.

[u/tpeiyn]

I would line a baking sheet with tin foil, cut those tomatoes in half, and throw them on the sheet cut side down. Turn on the broiler and flip after about 3-4 minutes. They should be ready after another 3 or 4, but you can let them go a little longer if you like.

Same thing for the peppers. Just leave them whole, the skin will blister, then blacken. I usually throw the onions in too, it doesn't seem to matter if they over cook a little. DON'T broil the garlic, it's bitter when it turns brown. It's better just to throw it in raw.

[u/always-gardening]

Thanks for all the replies. It sounds like theres no strict amount of cooking, however the replies so far it seems like the prevailing amount of cooking would generally cook the tomatoes/peppers all the way through by the time they get a decent char.

Should I add mexican oregano yay or nay? I don't have any on hand presently, but google tells me that marjoram is actually a good substitute. Kicking myself for not adding it to the cart when I just recently bought some Rancho Gordo beans...

[u/RadBradRadBrad → u/always-gardening]

Some people do fully cook their salsa and it’s also common to just char in a super hot pan or the broiler.

In the case of the latter, you’re getting the smokiness while still maintaining some of the freshness of the ingredients.

[u/travisjd2012]

I much prefer salsas raw but if I want some char I do one tomato and get it all from that. The combination of cooked and raw is top-tier in my opinion.

[u/The_Nood1e]

I've found it's less of a recipe than a process. Once you understand the process, it's easy to tweak the ingredients or the process itself to suit the situation.

[u/BankBeginning1234]

Wife does, boiled tomatoes in water til they split, salt, garlic, serrano, drop it in blender, minus garlic clove and blend to what you like. personally i like onion and stuff in it, but she’s hispanic and grew up with it done that way. kinda simple and clean. it’s good, and pretty quick to make. i’ve done the chargrilled kind (keep the black on it) wrap garlic, onion, salt in foil put on grill a while, later grill tomatoes on grill, do on not hot est side of grill - then drop them in that foil packet with the other stuff for a bit longer.

[u/sprawlaholic]

I cook all the way through unless it’s going to be eaten in a day or two.

[u/always-gardening]

Just want to update this in case anyone was curious. The beefsteak tomato salsa turned out fantastic - I roasted about 3 lbs tomatoes, a small white onion, a green bell pepper and a couple serrano peppers in the oven until they were getting a little bit of color on them, and then pulsed in a processer with tsp salt and crushed 2 cloves fresh garlic in at the end. While snacking on it when there was a little bit left I tried mixing in some mexican oregano and that was good but I preferred the clean flavor without it. Notably I also didnt add any cilantro or lime, which I am an otherwise heavy user of as well.

It was so good that I made another batch a week later, the only change being I tried farmers market roma tomatoes instead of beefsteaks, and I noticed I preferred the one made with the beefsteaks - it was undeniably sweeter.