Guacamole recipes?

January 30, 2004 8:22 AM

I'm looking for an extraordinary guacamole recipe. Any recommendations?
posted by anathema to Food & Drink (29 answers total)

I use the following recipe given to me by the girl I love.

Guacamole

1 large or 2 small avocados
1/2 cup peeled, cored and diced tomato
1 T. minced onion or shallot
1/4 t. minced garlic
1 t. minced jalapeño OR 1 t. chili powder
1 T. fresh lemon or lime juice (I've tried them both, either is good)
salt and pepper to taste

Remove the pit from the avocado. Scoop out the pulp and mash sightly with a fork or potato masher. Add the remaining ingredients except for the tomato and mash until well blended. Stir in the diced tomato. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired. This is a mild guacamole; add more jalapeño or chili if desired.

If you're not serving it right away, sprinkle some lime or lemon juice, cover and store in the fridge. It will help prevent it from turning brown.
posted by riffola at 8:36 AM on January 30, 2004

Response by poster: Remove the pit from the avocado.

Ah! There lies the problem.
posted by anathema at 8:38 AM on January 30, 2004 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I made this recipe for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner appetizer. It was widely acclaimed as the Best. Guac. Ever. Thanks to Mighty Girl for linking to it, as well as a method for opening the pomegranates it requires.

Obviously non-standard, but you did say extraordinary.
posted by donnagirl at 8:39 AM on January 30, 2004

Here's a bunch of guacanmole recipes from Avocado.org
posted by riffola at 8:41 AM on January 30, 2004

er guacamole
posted by riffola at 8:42 AM on January 30, 2004

Response by poster: That one sure is interesting. I'm trying to imagine what it tastes like.
posted by anathema at 8:42 AM on January 30, 2004

anathema, if you're saying you need help with the pit, try running a knife around the avacado the long way - top to bottom back to top. Keep the knife touching the pit - you'll feel it in there. Then grasp the avacado gently in both hands, with the cut in the middle. Twist one half back and the other half forward. It will come apart nicely, and you can scoop the pit out of the half it sticks to with a spoon.
posted by donnagirl at 8:43 AM on January 30, 2004

Response by poster: Heh. Sorry, I was completely kidding.
posted by anathema at 8:46 AM on January 30, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks, riffola, but I really want one that a MeFite can vouch for personally.
posted by anathema at 8:48 AM on January 30, 2004

Don't forget to add cumin. I forgot to list it in the recipe above. You'll need 1/4 t. of cumin in the above recipe.
posted by riffola at 8:54 AM on January 30, 2004

I base mine on this recipe from Food Network, although I increase the garlic and jalapeños, and omit the cilantro.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:56 AM on January 30, 2004

If you're not serving it right away, sprinkle some lime or lemon juice, cover and store in the fridge. It will help prevent it from turning brown.

Consider 3 hours your upper limit.
posted by nthdegx at 8:56 AM on January 30, 2004

Asian Guacamole



1 Advocado, mushed up

1/4 - 1/2 Diced onion (to taste)

Juice of 1/2 Lime

Tamari

Bonito Flakes (available in any asian grocery)

1 squirt of Rooster Sauce (Optional)


Combine 1st 4 ingredients and blend, until smooth. Dust witha generous portion of Bonito Flakes. This recipe makes guacamole quite dif't from what everybody expects, but its always well received.
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:59 AM on January 30, 2004

My wife gave me permission to post her recipe:

Step-father-in-Law's Awesome Guacamole

4 ripe Haas avocados (other varieties can be watery, stringy, and flavorless!)
1 fresh lime
1 clove garlic
3 - 6 fresh serrano peppers
1/2 to 1 tsp salt
a tiny pinch of sugar (optional)

Peel and mash the avocados in a bowl, adding about 1 teaspoon of lime juice so that they stay nice and green. Set aside at least one pit to keep the guac fresh in the fridge for another day or two. Press or puree the garlic clove and add along with the peppers, finely minced. Sprinkle with a little salt, mix well, then taste.

Now you'll have to adjust the flavors to your liking. You may need to add a tad more lime juice or salt. But remember that the main thing you should taste is the avocados! Don't mess up beautiful fruit by adding too much junk to them. The lime should add a hint of tang, and the heat from the garlic and the peppers will leave a nice aftertaste. If your lime is very very sour you can add a small pinch of sugar, but be careful not to add too much. You're not making desert!

This is a great guac to use as a dip (of course) or to add to other recipes or use as a topping for burritos, enchiladas, etc.

[One other tip, keep the pit. Place the pit with any leftovers. The pit helps keep the guac from turning brown too soon (even with lime juice)]
posted by terrapin at 9:01 AM on January 30, 2004

Let me just say here that I love avocado pits. I don't know why. Unlike other pits/stones, they seem so perfectly formed, nicely colored and comfortingly heavy. Whenever I get one out of an avocado, I want to play bocce or something with it.

Anyway, thanks for asking about this, anathema - I keep saying I'm going to make guacamole some weekend, and this one I really will!
posted by soyjoy at 9:05 AM on January 30, 2004 [1 favorite]

re: getting the pit out

- if you follow donnagirl's instructions about running a blade around it and twisting the sides apart, then (carefully) with a large knife strike the pit right in the middle with the sharp side of the knife so the blade gets stuck in the pit. then twist the knife and the pit will come out stuck to the knife. I like to eat avocados by pouring vinaigrette into the hollowed out pit area and scooping out the avocado, so this trick is useful to me as it keeps the pit-pit neat.
posted by soplerfo at 9:05 AM on January 30, 2004

My thought on guacamole is that all you really want to do is enhance and emphasize the flavor of the avocado. Guacamole should not be green salsa.

I use about 2 avocados, toss in about 1/2 a teaspoon of chili powder, and maybe 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, mash it all together. Really, season to taste with those two spices.

This recipe is easy to make and scales very well, but either eat it immediately after preparing or refrigerate it in an airtight container with as little headroom as possible. Air exposure will turn avocados a nasty brown color, so you'll want to mix it up frequently to maintain its pretty green color.
posted by rocketman at 9:33 AM on January 30, 2004

I second soplerfo's pit-removal trick. It turns your knife into a flat-head screwdriver, and usually pops the thing right out. [If the pit doesn't slide out easily (with a satisfying schlorp!), it probably means your avocados are seriously underripe or out-of-season.]
posted by dsandl at 9:40 AM on January 30, 2004

Don't keep the pit to prevent browning - it doesn't work. Personally, I lime my guacamole to the point it never gets brown, but if you don't just press plastic wrap onto the surface of the guacamole to prevent contact with air.
posted by O9scar at 10:01 AM on January 30, 2004

I find often the thing that makes my guac not all it can be is being skimpy on the salt. For some reason the lemon juice & salt combo, in proper measurement, really brings out the flavor in a good way. My recipe is 1 avocado, 1/4 onion, minced, 1 clove garlic, minced, 1/4 tomato, minced, 1-2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper. Giving it a little while in the fridge [with plastic pressed down on top of it to prevent browning] seems to make the flavors mesh really well.
posted by jessamyn at 10:29 AM on January 30, 2004 [1 favorite]

with a large knife strike the pit right in the middle with the sharp side of the knife so the blade gets stuck in the pit. then twist the knife and the pit will come out stuck to the knife

You know, that's what I always see the TV chefs doing, but whenever I try to do that, instead of the entire pit twisting out, part of the pit breaks off, and most of the pit is left still stuck in the avocado half. Am I doing something wrong? Or is it just an underripe avocado, as dsandl suggests? (I've tried it on more than one occasion, at different times of the year.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:33 AM on January 30, 2004

First, steal your avocado(s)....
posted by Utilitaritron at 11:09 AM on January 30, 2004

I grew up on an Avocado farm and am still marginally in the business through my family. My main advice is to make sure you get California avocados. If they are Chilean (available mainly East of the Mississippi), even if they are Haas, they will have about 1/3 of the flavor because they have been refrigerated. If they are Mexican you are also OK but us California growers won't be happy :) Look for the CalAvo (grower-owned co-op packing company) sticker on the avo to be sure.

In my opinion, the best guac is the simplest. Salt, lime or lemon, a little onion, a little cilantro. Add cumin if you want to get fancy. If you are going to add tomato (a better solution is to have pico de gallo or other salsa next to the guacamole) make sure they are not too watery.

Another tip that a few others mentioned is the potato masher. It's the best way to get the perfect texture, which is very important. I always err on the side of being too chunky, but the potato masher will make it just right.
posted by cell divide at 11:22 AM on January 30, 2004

avocados that have just hit the mushy point
sour cream
jalapenos
bell peppers
onions
taco seasoning
hot sauce
garlic
lime juice

mix until it tastes the way you want. Just don't eat it all.
posted by Katemonkey at 12:09 PM on January 30, 2004

It may have been mentioned already - The most important thing about making really great guacamole is...
Quality Avacados... as in ripe, little extra even.

Seems obvious, I know. But substituting with not-so-ripe fruits will result in not-quite-as-good-as-it-could-be guacamole.
posted by Witty at 3:29 PM on January 30, 2004

Ana: I asked the very same question on eGullet about two weeks back and, although some recipes are very good, the one by Jaymes has been tested and lipsmackingly approved - here's the thread!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:26 PM on January 30, 2004

Response by poster: If I can find a pomegranate tomorrow I'll try that recipe first. If not, I'll try your recommendation, Miguel.
posted by anathema at 6:42 PM on January 30, 2004

I make a variety of the basic recipes provided above, and I agree that the avocado is the thing. I will, however, highly recommend adding some finely diced tomatoes (not too many, though), a touch I adopted from a favorite Mexican restaurant that made it tableside with them.
posted by rushmc at 6:49 PM on January 30, 2004

Response by poster: The pomegranate recipe was amazing. I doubled it and also added a clove of garlic, a jalepeno, and a garnish of caviar.
posted by anathema at 9:43 PM on February 1, 2004