Guacamole, my way
I’m often asked why I don’t have a guacamole recipe on my site. I reckon the simplest answer is because I don’t have a recipe for guacamole. Instead, I just add some ingredients to a smashed-up avocado and call it a dip.
When my mom was in the liturgical nacho stage of her life (so-called because she made her daily lunch of nachos always the exact same way) she’d whip up a batch of guacamole to go with them. She totally cheated, however, as she mashed an avocado with bottled hot sauce.
My mom can do many things very, very well, but I have to admit that this guacamole was not the best I’d eaten in my life. (And, for the record, she insists that she no longer makes guacamole this way.)
Guacamole is all about freshness and using a bottled hot sauce is anathema to this underlying principle. While you want the avocado to be the star, the other ingredients need to be heard as well, and nothing is louder than the crunch of fresh chiles, the tang of lime juice and the bite of fresh garlic.
There’s also the problem of bottled salsa having tomatoes as a base. I’m a firm believer that tomatoes shouldn’t be in guacamole; the texture is just wrong. Tomatoes are too juicy and soft and I want my accents to the avocado to be firm. I realize most people would disagree with me, but that’s OK as that’s probably the best thing about guacamole—everyone makes guacamole the way that they like it.
Take my uncle, for instance. He stirs in a heaping spoonful of mayonnaise into his guacamole, which he swears makes it super creamy. Then there’s a friend who’s been known to add sesame seeds to her guacamole, which is a subtle yet surprising accent. Obviously, the ways to make guacamole are infinite.
So, I’m happy to share with you how I make my guacamole, but what I really want to know is how you make your guacamole.
Guacamole
Ingredients
- 2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted, and cut in half
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Serrano chile, seeded and diced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Mash the avocado with a fork in a bowl or Mexican mortar and pestle (molcajete) until desired consistency. Stir in the garlic, Serrano, cilantro, lime juice, and salt, then taste and add more salt if desired. Serve immediately.
I made this last night with fajitas. It was ridiculously delicious. Best guacamole ever.
Thanks.
LOVE your blog! Guacamole is one of those hot-button topics. I recently hosted a guacamole competition in my backyard and boy, do people get COMPETITIVE about guac. But let's face it, differing guacs is what makes the world go round! Mine tends to be pretty cilantro heavy and chunky. I go back and forth on tomatoes.
Just wanted to say I have you to thank for my trying guacamole without tomatoes this weekend—it was supersimple with just an avocado, lime juice and salt and pepper, so it definitely needed something to kick it up like a jalapeno and/or cilantro, but I loved it. The lime is a must!
Ahhh, guacamole! Perhaps it's the West Texas roots, but for me some textural variation is necessary, so always rough chopped onion and drained tomato with the avocado, pepper, and garlic. Beyond that, mix is more a function of occasion, consumers, and availability. I've even been known to use cayenne powder off-season. Thanks for your blog!
Okay…I make several different versions of guacamole, depending on the occasion.
For a dip, I do use the food processor and some mayo and garlic. It makes a smooth consistency. Everyone likes this..no texture issues, no caliente issues, etc.
When it's just me to please, I take a garlic clove, put some salt on it and mash it with the blade of a knife until it becomes a nice paste. Then I slice the white part of a scallion very, very thinly, chop a serrano or two, chop up some cilantro, add some cubed tomato and then quite a bit of lemon juice. Add all this to the fork mashed avocado and it's heaven with some HEB brand corn chips!
I had this sort of 'sauce' when I went 'across' one year and had cabrito in Laredo. I obsess over it still and that was at least 15 years ago.