- Kristen Miglore, Senior Editor, Food52.com
The guacamole recipes in life tend to fall into two categories: The Chunk and The Blend (a.k.a. The Tableside).
Both are good; both disappear quickly. You still need to know about a third method. It skates between The Chunk and The Blend, and it might change the way you think about guacamole. The technique comes from Roberto Santibañez' book, Truly Mexican.
It's in his Cla**ic Guacamole that Santibañez takes the traditional ideal for guacamole from his native Mexico and defines it for modern American kitchens, using everyday tools.
What Santibañez wants cooks to realize is this: "There is a very important textural thing to guacamole -- we never really mush up the avocado. You want to feel everything."
Roberto Santibañez' Cla**ic Guacamole
Adapted slightly from Truly Mexican (Wiley, 2011)
Makes about 1 3/4 cups
2 tablespoons finely chopped white onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh serrano or jalapeño chile, including seeds, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1 large of 2 small ripe Mexican Ha** avocados, halved and pitted
A squeeze of lime, if desired
1. Mash the onion, chile, salt (the coarseness of kosher salt helps you make the paste), and half of the cilantro to a paste in a molcajete or other mortar. You can also mince and mash the ingredients together on a cutting board with a large knife or a fork, and then transfer the paste to a bowl.
2. Score the flesh in the avocado halves in a crosshatch pattern (not through the skin) with a knife and then scoop it with a spoon into the mortar or bowl. Toss well (it should be like salad properly dressed in vinaigrette), then add the rest of the cilantro and mash very coarsely with a pestle or a fork. Season to taste with lime juice (if you'd like) and additional chile and salt.
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