Mexico

Mexico by M
I love Mexican food. It is one of my favorite types of foods.  Though I will say there seems to be a lack of creativity in the mexican culinary world.  Someone, somewhere, sometime in history, in Mexico rolled out a tortilla, put some stuff in it and the ‘taco’ was born and it was good.  But then they were like you know what would be really crazy, if we made the tortilla soft instead of hard, and there you have a ‘soft taco’, and it too was good. And that is where Mexican culinary creativity peaked.  Because then someone was like what if you wrap up the soft taco instead of folding it, let’s call that a ‘burrito’.  And then someone was like, what if you serve the stuffing separately on the side, let's call that a ‘fajita’.  Or let’s take the ‘burrito’ and put some sauce on it, now we have an ‘enchilada’.  Or let’s take 2 tortillas and leave them flat, we’ll call that one a damn ‘quesadilla’.  Or let’s take the ‘taco’ and just throw it into a pile with the other stuff we like and call it ‘nachos’, unless the portioning of lettuce is higher than the other ingredients; that is a ‘taco salad’.

Special Note by R, Media Relations Specialist and Mexican Citizen
Thanks to the American assassination of Mexican food, there seems to be not much creativity in “Mexican” cuisine served in the US.  In reality someone, probably in Texas, dreamed up that stuff without even realizing that a hard shell taco belongs in Mexico as much as a whale belongs in the Texan desert. After all, in Mexico, tortillas are nothing else than the staple bread and therefore, tacos are just bread with fillings.

Back to M
To me, Mexican food is all good.  It doesn’t hold back on hardiness or flavor and it is best when spicy.  What would Mexican food be without a variety of hot sauces or salsas picantes?  Salsa actually translates to ‘sauce’.  Mexican Salsas are such great condiments and cooking ingredients that people dance about them all the time.  You don’t hear about people taking ketchup lessons or going out for a night of soy sauce, do you?
Sauce: Salsa Norteña estilo Chihuahua
Manufacturer: Cocina Mestiza
Chile Pepper: Chipotle (smoked dried jalapeño)  Capsicum annuum
Country of Origin: Mexico (Estado Unidos Mexicanos)
Score: 8/10

The hot sauce we are reviewing today is Salsa Norteña.  Hot sauces like this are the reason I got into this business.  It is much different than any hot sauce I have had in the states, and it feels closely related to our Peru review, which was really good too.  If you remember, that sauce had a great roasted red pepper flavor, where this one has a great chipotle flavor to it.  Ok, Chili lesson.  What is a Chipotle? Besides a McDonald’s-owned food chain that shortens your life span.  Chipotles are actually jalapeños that are smoked, often packaged in an adobo sauce, which is like a spicy bbq sauce.  This gives the jalapeño a really strong, unique, smoky flavor.  See, there is some culinary creativity.  I had my Norteña sauce with a guacamole burger.  This sauce easily upgraded my burger to elite burger status, a ‘Burger Deity’ if you will.  The sauce has a ton of flavor but a smoothness to it from the vegetable oil.  It is pretty calm in terms of spice, which makes it optimal for folks who like a lot of flavor but can’t handle the heat.  

We give this sauce an 8/10.....We are starting a new kind of Salsa dancing called Norteña dancing.