Cooking lessons are available throughout Mexico. If you strike up a conversation in the little three and four table restaurants, the cook will usually share her special receipes with you. Not so, though, in larger restaurants.
Foods are regional in Mexico, and what you find far down south in the country differs some from the food in the border states along Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
One terrific way to learn Mexican salsas is Spanish language immersion that offers cooking as part of its instruction. Of all the Spanish langauge schools in Mexico, one of the very best is in the ocean side city of Veracruz. Spanish immersion with cooking is one of its basic programs. The Language Immersion School, Veracruz, Mexico includes a great deal of cultural interaction for its students. Spanish study, cooking, culture, eco, and adventure tourism all fit together to make your stay as productive and fun as it can be. |
Flaked with black flavor accents, this is a cooked tomato salsa which goes superbly with tacos, tostadas, empanadas and any meat or chicken. Don't let the charred tomato skin scare you. There's no burned taste. Mild, medium, or hot, your guests will be dazzled.
Flaked with black flavor accents, this is a cooked tomatillo salsa and the perfect sauce to accompany enchiladas, tostadas, empanadas and any meat or chicken. The charred tomatillo skin has no burned flavor. Few green salsas are as popular.
One of Mexico's favorite for "chips and salsa," Pico de Gallo is often served as an appetizer. But it's also a salsa used on tacos, tostadas, empanadas, and along with meat and poultry dishes. 
Creamy because of the avocado, and spicy and soothing at the same time, avocado salsa is often included when a restaurant serves three or four salsas at the same time. It's especially good on tacos al pastor, enchiladas, and tostadas de pollo. It's also great all on its own with chips as an appetizer.
Chipotle has a taste all its own. It is one of those love it or hate it flavors. It is often very hot and even the chilies when you're preparing them need to be handled with care. For many, chipotle is a special treat.
A better name for this might be Instant Salsa. This is a full flavored, great tasting green sauce. It's often found in restaurants because the preparation is so easy. It's used anywhere that the more "sophisticated" burned green tomato salsa is used.
This is the standard and very tasty cooked red salsa. It's especially delicious on picadas and it's great with empanadas.
Not the most common guacamole, but the most common in Veracruz, this quick and easy recipe is great with chips as a snack. It's also used as a salad served with meals. Often it's rolled up with beef or chicken to add zest and balance to fajitas.
It's impossible to understand how salsa so simple to make can be so perfect. For chilies rellenos (in this case the chilies are filled with white cheese) nothing beats this quick and easy salsa. Included also are cooking instructions for the chilies.
CAUTION--This is hot!!! Habanero chilies can take your breath away. But if you really want to spice up a meal, there's no better way. Waiters warn about its use. You'll want to also. It's a robust green flavor, and is most commonly used with tacos, tostadas, empanadas or meats. 
Habanero is such a hot chili that when you're cutting it up you want to keep from getting it on your fingers. This salsa is in keeping with what we'd call a relish. For those who want it hot, this is it. Use Habanero chilies that are turning yellow for the hottest possible salsa.