…that was today’s question. In my quest to shore up my lacking Mexican cooking skills, I’ve been wanting to make a really good batch of Salsa Roja, but the texture’s been eluding me. A cooked salsa with a silky smooth texture and a burnished but still bright flavor, Salsa Roja seems simple enough on the surface…

I mean, come on, it’s just canned tomatoes, cumin, cilantro, lime juice, salt, pepper, garlic, and dried chilies, all cooked for an hour or so until well-integrated and then liquefied somehow. I’d tried a stick blender, a regular blender, a food processor and even a food mill, and all left me with too much fibrous, texture-wrecking junk behind, no matter how zealous I was. VRRN VRRN VRRNNNN…. :/

Well, I’ve finally cracked it. After reading about them in a hundred fancy blogs and marveling at their $50+ price tags, I’d lusted but never lunged for a tamis (pronounced “tah-mee”). When visiting Kamei restaurant supply last week, I found one for all of $6. A tamis would be mine, at last.

A tamis is nothing more than a fine mesh screen, steel or nylon, stretched tight in a circular metal frame with three-inch-ish-high sides. You place it on top of a pot or bowl, fill it with the food you’d like to liberate from the bonds of solidity, and then scrape back and forth across the screen with something flat (like the business end of a spatula). This mashes, purees and separates out the larger solids from your dish with blinding efficiency.

They’re used to great effect in Indian food, reducing lentils to subtle creaminess in Dhal. They’re MVPs in the creation of satiny soups. Surprise surprise, it did a perfect job of separating the essence of this salsa from the seeds, husks and skins that no blender could ever mitigate. I was left with the above, an absolutely luscious sauce that satisfied my blurry-eyed morning cravings handily. Topping a plate of eggs, refried beans and tortillas, it was a breakfast to be remembered.

Next to receive the tamis treatment will be some enchilada sauce. Definitely will post when that plan’s in motion.

Filed under: Tools

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