Can anybody tell me where in the store I should look for this fresh salsa? I’m going to be making a trip there later this week. I’m eager to try it after reading all of these good reviews.[/quote]
My worst answer is I forget. My best is that it’s around the cheese section (where the cheese is in low open freezers not the tall closed class cases). Essentially it’s a chilled product so it’s not in the regular aisles but where the other chilled stuff is (but not the chilled stuff in tall glass fridge cases).[/quote]
Which Costco? In the Zhonghe one, it is indeed amongst the chilled stuff in low open refrigerators. To the left of the Babybels, to be precise .
But how could anyone feel that the humble cilantro “overwhelms” anything? Even if you eat it on its own it’s just a mild, fresh flavor. The world needs more herbs like cilantro, I say.
Absolutely. It has such a fresh flavor, so unlike your typical store bought salsa. It’s almost exactly like my own homemade stuff. [/quote]
Well, I meant that even if you eat cilantro on its own, it’s mild and fresh. But the Costco salsa isn’t bad either.
Actually, one of my favorite contexts for cilantro apart from salsa has to be those icecream-filled pancakes with peanut powder and little sprigs of cilantro. They’re great. A perfect balance of tastes. Surely they would appeal to even the hardened cilantro haters.
It appears to be a genetic thing. For some of us - me included - cilantro is incredibly strong. I can handle it better than I used to, but I still find that it does not “add” flavour to a dish: it becomes the flavour. I certainly never use it when cooking.
(Those peanut snacks for me are utterly destroyed by the cilantro!)
Can anybody tell me where in the store I should look for this fresh salsa? I’m going to be making a trip there later this week. I’m eager to try it after reading all of these good reviews.[/quote]
My worst answer is I forget. My best is that it’s around the cheese section (where the cheese is in low open freezers not the tall closed class cases). Essentially it’s a chilled product so it’s not in the regular aisles but where the other chilled stuff is (but not the chilled stuff in tall glass fridge cases).[/quote]
Which Costco? In the Zhonghe one, it is indeed amongst the chilled stuff in low open refrigerators. To the left of the Babybels, to be precise .
But how could anyone feel that the humble cilantro “overwhelms” anything? Even if you eat it on its own it’s just a mild, fresh flavor. The world needs more herbs like cilantro, I say.[/quote]
Cheers guys. Yes, the Zhonghe Costco is indeed the one I’ll be visiting sometime later on. I’ll be waiting until the CNY madness dies down (hopefully). I figured the salsa must not be on the regular unrefrigerated shelves if it’s fresh, but thank you for confirming that. I can never gets me enough chips and salsa. I must have consumed several meals’ worth during my time in Texas this past Christmas vacation.
It appears to be a genetic thing. For some of us - me included - cilantro is incredibly strong. I can handle it better than I used to, but I still find that it does not “add” flavour to a dish: it becomes the flavour. I certainly never use it when cooking.
(Those peanut snacks for me are utterly destroyed by the cilantro!)
Yes, count me in.
I can smell the tiniest bit from 20 yards, and can tolerate only the scarcest presence, when expertly blended with many other strong flavours, like in Thai cuisine.
Mostly it just makes me cack.
I had an uncle who told me that in the bars in Central America, they hand out free snackies, called bogus, and one of them is just fresh cilantro in a dish!
I’m glad to hear I ain’t alone in loathing this vile weed.
That’ll be bocas, Chief. Appetizer-size dishes along with your beer. Really good stuff. Sincerely, I find pork rinds -chicharrones- less appealing.
For me, the key to good salsa is fresh ingredients and a lot of lemon. As with everything, a balance of flavors can be achieved.
Salsa, pico de gallo:
Cut up the white onion into the smallest pieces possible. Try to do the same with the bell pepper, celery -optional- and coriander. Give them all a nice bath in lemon juice, until they are swimming in it. Add a couple tomatoes, ripe but not soft. Bit of salt, bit of pepper, bit of Worcestershire sauce, a sprinkle of sugar, maybe a few drops of tabasco sauce if you are into that sort of thing.
Chimichurri, Argentinian style:
In a mortar, mash 3 garlic cloves, a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper. Add 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar -preferably-, bit of oregano and hot pepper, bit of lemon. Mix in 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and less than half a cup of coriander. Put in blender in low setting or mash finely. Great with steak.
As I said, it’s those Europeans. Perejil for me is parsley, but I know in some countries they use the word perejil for coriander/cilantro. We’ve got a lot of regional lexical variations.
Try asking several Spanish speaking people what they call the humble pumpkin.
There’s a guy up in Maokong who makes decent salsa but only as a light condiment with his meals. He was a chef in south america before he came back so I guess he learned it there.
Interesting. Actually, cilantro and culantro and are two different herbs, but people do often use the terms interchangeably and the herbs are said to have similar tastes (I’ve never had culantro, so I can’t say). In my part of the world, Spanish speakers call it cilantro, but I definitely don’t claim to speak for Spanish-speakers worldwide. People (obviously) have different names for the same thing.
Whatever it’s called, I like it in any cuisine in which it features. My favorite is in DongBei lamb dumplings.
I’ll move this to Food, as with all WCIF (non-restaurant) food items.
On cilantro, I agree with the genetic comment. People differ widely in their reactions to it, and I wouldn’t be surprise if they found that we have different taste buds, just as with broccoli, where some can taste a certain bitter chemical in it (and hate it) and some can’t. Since you can’t tell what it tastes like to another person, there’s really no point in criticizing when someone else doesn’t like something. The faintest smell or taste of mustard makes me want to gag, for instance.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]Since you can’t tell what it tastes like to another person, there’s really no point in criticizing when someone else doesn’t like something.[/quote]In my defense, I would like to say that I wasn’t really criticizing but sympathizing. I can’t imagine what kind of repressed trauma would lead to this pathological dislike of a fresh, healthful plant which has brought so much joy to so many.
Where might one find the imported ones? The ghastliness of the expensiveness is inversely proportional to one’s longing for some good guacamole and the proximity of the Superbowl.
Count me in as a cilantro hater, I have to pluck it out of everything. If it’s cooked or steeped it doesn’t bother me, I guess the costco fresh salsa has it and it doesn’t bother me. but i don’t like it added in fresh at the last minute to something like they do here a lot.
Try going to Bongos near Gongguan MRT. They have awesome nachos! Really exceptional. Just don’t add the beef or chicken. Stick with the default cheese and salsa.
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- haven’t tried it.