Two closely related raw finishes from Ecuador and Colombia. What is in each, how they differ from a Mexican salsa, and why they are made fresh rather than bought.
A guide to Latin American seasoning, by preparation and by ingredient.
How long each of the three families actually keeps, why a base outlasts a finish by weeks, and what the failure signs are for each.
The method behind hogao, aderezo, refrito and sofrito. What order things go in, how long it actually takes, and the four mistakes that produce a fried mixture instead of a base.
A smoked, ground Mapuche seasoning from southern Chile. What goes into it, how it is made, and why reading it through Mexican vocabulary gets it wrong.
Four names across four countries for the same cooked aromatic base. What actually changes between them, what does not, and why the differences are smaller than the names suggest.
The Chilean table finish that appears at almost every meal. What goes in it, the versions that carry ají and the versions that do not, and how it differs from chimichurri.
Most sazón packets are salt, MSG and dye. What the blend is supposed to contain, which versions leave the additives out, and how to read the label.
Bases, finishes and dry blends across South and Central America. What separates the three, why country is an attribute rather than the organising idea, and where to start.
Jarred hogao, sofrito and aderezo are a real shelf-stable category. Where to find them, what the label should say, and when making it is the better call.
Not a regional variety of the same herb. Different botanical families, different flavour, and the substitution most recipes make without saying so.
Fruity rather than merely hot, and orange despite the name. What it tastes of, the forms it is sold in, and why nothing substitutes cleanly.
Tomato and long onion cooked down in oil. What makes it Colombian rather than generic, how long it actually takes, and how to judge a jarred one.
Annatto in its raw form. What the seed does, why water will not extract it, and how to buy and store it.
Deep red, smoky and sweet rather than fiery. What it does that ají amarillo cannot, and why it is the pod for anything slow-cooked.
Achiote-tinted oil, onion and tomato with cumin. What the annatto step does, and why it is the one base defined by its fat.
The pungent Peruvian herb behind ocopa and many an ají verde. What it tastes of, why the English name misleads, and how to buy it in the United States.
Red onion, garlic and ají paste reduced until dark and thick. Why it is the densest of the four mainland bases, and how far to take it.
Hotter than anything else in the Peruvian kitchen, juicy like an apple, and a different species from every other pod on this site.
What drying does to the pod, why the two are not interchangeable, and how to rehydrate it properly.
Tomato, locoto and quilquiña, ground rather than blended. What goes in it, what never does, and why it is not a salsa.
The Peruvian onion relish that resets the palate. Why the slicing and the rinse decide it, and how it differs from a pico de gallo.
Chopped rather than blended, loosened with water and vinegar. What separates it from ají criollo, and why nobody sells it.
Roasted tomato chopped with onion, coriander and lime. The one finish on this site with a cooked component, and why that does not make it a base.
Stronger, tougher and a different plant from coriander. Where it belongs, how to buy it, and why the names confuse everyone.
Garlic, oregano and turmeric rather than annatto. Where the two blends diverge, how to read a jar, and why the word adobo means three things.
Small, floral and genuinely hot, sold in half a dozen colours. Why it belongs in leche de tigre, how it differs from amarillo, and the one honest substitute.
Tiny, yellow, intensely citric and very hot, from the Peruvian Amazon. What it tastes of, what the expensive-chile claim actually rests on, and why growing it is the sensible route.
A habanero relative bred out of its heat, carrying the aroma without the burn. Why it anchors Venezuelan and Caribbean-coast cooking, and what actually substitutes.
A pungent Andean herb used in ají sauces and stews across southern Peru. What it is, what it tastes of, and why it is nearly impossible to buy fresh in the United States.
The high-altitude Peruvian and Bolivian herb used in teas, stews and potato dishes. What it is, how it differs from huacatay, and why the altitude claim follows it everywhere.
The powder that makes Peruvian stews yellow. What the name actually covers, why turmeric is sold under it, and what that means when you buy a jar.
The dry mix that seasons most Chilean home cooking. What the standard four are, what gets added, and why the supermarket jar is not the same thing as the one made at home.
Tomato, onion and fat, cooked down slowly until it stops being two vegetables. The method, the timing, and the four mistakes that produce a sauce instead of a base.
The same seed under a Spanish name and an English one, sold as whole seed, ground powder, oil and a Yucatecan paste. Which form does what, and where the paste stops being the seed.
Both words mean pepper and neither is a translation of the other. Where each belongs, why English collapses them, and what gets lost when a recipe swaps one for the other.
One is a coloured seasoning salt, the other a garlic and oregano blend, and both names mean something different depending on which country you are standing in.
The same herb, Dysphania ambrosioides, called paico in the Andes and epazote in Mexico. What each tradition does with it, and why English treats them as two ingredients.
Not a spice blend and not a marinade exactly. The family of ground pastes from the Yucatán, what the main colours are, and why recado rojo is the only one most people meet.
The concentrated base sold in jars and by weight, what separates the main colours, how to thin it, and why a jarred mole is a starting point rather than a finished sauce.
Ground achiote with oregano, cumin, garlic and sour orange. What is in a block, how to use it, and why it is not the same as ground achiote seed.
A marinade of rehydrated dried chiles with vinegar, garlic and spices. What separates it from the dry Caribbean blend sold under the same name, and how to make it.
Smoked jalapeños stewed in a vinegar and chile sauce. The two chipotle types, why the sauce matters as much as the chiles, and how to store an opened tin.
Sweet, raisin-like and barely hot. What ancho is, how it differs from mulato and pasilla, and how to tell a good one in the bag.
Bright, tangy and mildly hot, with a tough skin that has to be dealt with. What guajillo is, what it does that ancho cannot, and how to get a smooth sauce from it.
Chocolate, liquorice and smoke, and almost always mistaken for ancho. What mulato is, how to tell the two apart, and why mole poblano needs all three.
Herbaceous, cocoa-like and moderately bitter. What pasilla actually is, why California grocers call something else by the same name, and where it belongs.
A small round dried chile named for the sound its seeds make. Nutty, woody and moderately hot, and easy to identify because nothing else looks like it.
Nearly extinct commercially, grown in one Oaxacan valley, and the chile mole negro is named for. What it is, why it costs what it does, and what to do without it.
A thin-skinned Oaxacan and Guerrero chile sold as red or yellow, brighter and hotter than guajillo. What each colour does and where to find them.
Clean, sharp heat with little sweetness. What chile de árbol is, how hot it actually is, and why it is the standard heat chile in a Mexican kitchen.
A smoked red jalapeño smoked for less time than a meco. What separates the two chipotles, and why morita is the one in the tin.
Toasted avocado leaves season beans, barbacoa and tamales across southern Mexico. What they taste of, which variety is used, and why the safety question turns on species.
The soft, layered Ceylon cinnamon used across Mexico, and how it differs from the hard cassia sold as cinnamon in the United States.
A pea-sized chile that grows wild across northern Mexico and Texas, hot, fruity and fast-fading. What it is, why it is expensive, and how to use it.
Pungent, resinous and unlike anything European. What epazote tastes of, why it is paired with beans, and what the safety discussion is actually about.
A large heart-shaped leaf used as a wrapper and a seasoning in southern Mexico. What it tastes of, how it is used, and the safrole question stated honestly.
Smaller and hotter than guajillo, with the same bright fruit. What puya is, when to reach for it instead, and why the two are sold side by side.