Traditional Mexican Cooking
By María Laura Ricaud Solorzano, Aug 4, 2006

Thickening Mexican salsas

Do you know why our salsas are so delicious? The answer is found in the thickening agents.

Mexicans rarely use corn flour to thicken salsas, and generally they would never use wheat flour. The chiles that are usually included in salsas act as a base, imparting body and flavor. They also work as a marvelous thickener and are rich in flavor, color and vitamins. If you need to thicken a salsa a little bit more, you have several options. One choice would be to slowly add pieces of bolillo (French bread) fried in lard and then ground. This technique was very common in Europe before the 17th century, before the use of roux as a thickening agent.

Other ingredients that can be used to thicken salsas include seeds and nuts, such as sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, peanuts, walnuts or pecans. Before they are added they must be toasted or fried in lard. After they are toasted, they are ground. Traditionally, women used the metate (a flat stone) to grind toasted seeds and nuts, but nowadays cooks use manual or electric mills and blenders.

Once you have ground the ingredients to a powder, add them to the sauce and let it cook for a few minutes. If the sauce becomes too thick, you can add some chicken broth until you get the desired thickness.

Another ingredient that can be used to thicken salsas is corn in one of its various forms. Corn flour (maicena), which is traditionally used to make the beverage called atole, is one option. We also thicken sauces with tortilla dough or with fried tortillas or cooked tortillas soaked in water or milk. Even though they are all made of corn, each imparts a different flavor to the sauce.

If you want your senses to travel to an unknown world, try one of our unique Mexican sauces. Your mouth will experience a burst of flavors and textures fit for an experienced gourmet.

Pasilla salsa for pork/Salsa de chile pasilla para cerdo

5 large chiles pasillas, toasted, soaked in water (20 minutes), seeded and deveined

2 dry corn tortillas fried in pork lard and then ground

3 toasted whole cloves, ground

6 toasted whole black peppercorns, ground

Half a toasted cinnamon stick, ground

2 cloves of garlic 

1 thickly sliced white onion

Salt to taste

3 to 4 cups of chicken broth

1 tablespoon pork lard or vegetable oil



1- Prepare the chiles.

2- Prepare the tortillas (as noted above), cloves, black peppercorns 

and cinnamon.

3- In a blender, combine the prepared chiles, garlic, onion, 

salt and 2 cups of chicken broth. Strain and set aside.

4- In a small cazuela or saucepan, heat the pork lard and fry the blended 

and strained chiles.

5- Add the tortillas, cloves, black peppercorns and cinnamon to 1 cup 

of chicken broth and cook over slow heat for 15 minutes, 

stirring constantly. If this salsa becomes too thick, add more broth.

Use this salsa as a topping or as a salsa for pork, nopales (cactus) or potatoes.

To learn about María's cooking classes, check out her website: www.traditionalmexicancooking.com.mx or call 152-4376.