AS IT HAPPENS, we addressed this very popular question in our new book, “Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts” (Feb. 22, HarperWave). There is really no better example of exquisite balance in the great taxonomy of dips than a super-salty tortilla chip loaded […]

Click here to view original web page at www.wsj.com

AS IT HAPPENS, we addressed this very popular question in our new book, “Food IQ: 100 Questions, Answers, and Recipes to Raise Your Cooking Smarts” (Feb. 22, HarperWave).

There is really no better example of exquisite balance in the great taxonomy of dips than a super-salty tortilla chip loaded with a mound of guac. So it’s sad when things go south. Salt and acid—or, more specifically, a lack thereof—is most often the sticking point.

What’s challenging about guacamole is that it doesn’t really have a recipe. (Consider the one below a starting point.) It’s more of a concept or a feeling. To get guacamole right requires tasting it along the way. Home cooks tend to be a little scared of adding the right amount of salt (you need a lot of it), leaving many guacamoles flabby and flavorless.

Let’s talk about buying avocados for a moment. When presented with a bin containing hundreds of choices, you need to be judicious. First, feel the leathery outer skin for a hint of the inner texture. Chances are, you know the difference between a hard avocado and a ripe one, but to refresh your memory, the right texture is soft but not mushy. Next, pull the nub off the top of the avocado to reveal the color of the flesh inside. That should be bright green, with no hint of brown. When avocados are overripe, the flesh under the little nub turns brown, just like a cut avocado does after it has been exposed to the air for some time. Like bananas, avocados are still okay to use when they’re slightly brown, but you should avoid any black or gray spots, and taste the flesh to make sure it doesn’t have a rotten flavor.

Be it freshly pounded at your favorite Mexican restaurant or served at a Super Bowl house party, the ripe, fatty avocado, in its trademark verdant hue, is showered with salt, lime juice, cilantro…and some other components that we may or may not recommend. For the record, tomatoes and hot sauce are not the way for these authors. But a guacamole does need something to take it over the top, to make it the star of the spread. And that something might just be mayonnaise. Truly, mayonnaise can solve a lot of your problems, though we want to be clear that it’s never required. We’re simply saying that when you add a couple tablespoons of Hellmann’s or Best Foods or whatever your brand happens to be, you’re adding a perfectly seasoned dollop of salty, acidic richness that contributes to the flavor while adding an inexplicably silky texture.

Finally, guacamole is meant to be served à la minute. With too much exposure to air, the lime juice turns bitter and the color transforms from green to brown. This is why tableside guacamole service is no mere restaurant gimmick. It’s the best possible way to eat it.

To explore and search through all our recipes, check out the WSJ Recipes page.

Quick and Creamy Guacamole

Pro tip: Pickling the onion in the lime juice for a few minutes before mixing them both with the rest of the ingredients helps mellow the raw flavor and keep your guacamole fresher for longer. This recipe serves two, but it is easy to scale up for a crowd.

Total Time: 10 minutes

serves: 2

Ed Anderson

Ingredients

• ¼ cup minced white onion
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 large, ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• Tortilla chips for serving

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix onion and lime juice. Let sit 5 minutes.
2. Add the avocado, mayonnaise, salt and cilantro, and mix gently to incorporate. Serve immediately with salty tortilla chips.

—Adapted from ‘Food IQ’ by Daniel Holzman and Matt Redbard (HarperWave)

MORE IN FOOD & DRINK

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8