TRADITIONAL MEXICAN GUACAMOLE

The few simple ingredients in an everyday Mexican guacamole.

Attend to the last two syllables of the word “guacamole” to re-discover how, for millennia, the peoples of Mesoamerica ate their mashed avocado fruit. And, for the most part, do today. (We norteamericanos didn’t get into guacamole until the 1990s and after NAFTA.) 

The OG guac was not a chunky chop-up of ripe avocado, spiked with pieces of red onion and chile pepper, leaves of cilantro, and some squeezes of lime.

No, it was a “mole”—from the original Aztec, or Nahuatl, language, “ahuacamolli”—emphasis on the “molli,” or “sauce.” Traditional Mexican guacamole is a smooth mash, not a “chopped salad.” 

Let’s make it that way, to see (and taste) what the ancients had in mind and today’s traditionalists keep alive.

For several thousands of years, the original guacamole was, well, just a paste.

RECIPE: Traditional Mexican Guacamole
Adapted from Roberto Santibáñez. Makes about 1 cup.

Ingredients
1/4 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, chopped; divided into 2 parts
2 tablespoons white onion, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
1 fresh serrano chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced (do not strip away the “veins”)
2 small or 1 large ripe avocado, pitted and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Tortilla chips, for serving

Directions
Use a molcajete or mortar and pestle (see note) and pound 1/2 of the cilantro, the white onion, salt, and serrano into a paste. 

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Step 1.

Step 2. This way of making a flavoring base releases much more flavor than the conventional “chop ‘n‘ dice.”

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In a bowl, add the flavoring paste, the avocado, lime juice, and the remaining 1/2 of the cilantro and pound or mash to the consistency of thick mush or pulp.

Serve with the chips.

(See note below)

Yums, just yums.

Note: Few non-Mexican cooks own a molcajete or, for that matter, a mortar and pestle. In the first step of the recipe, you may make a paste using a very sturdy zippered plastic bag (or two, one inside the other). Put the cilantro, white onion, salt, and serrano into it, zip it closed, and pound the ingredients with a work mallet or the bottom of a thick-walled ale glass. When finished mashing, snip a corner of the bag(s) and squeeze out the paste into the bowl, proceeding with the recipe.

You also may mime a mortar and pestle (or molcajete, though little ceramic or glass mimics its rough, volcanic stone surface) by using a cocktail muddler and a thick-bottomed ale glass or coffee mug, or the handle of a large wooden spoon or spatula, and in the same way as the muddler or pestle.

You may make the “flavoring paste” using a very sturdy zippered plastic bag