With Ree having won the last couple of fried, creamy, gritty battles against me, I called in a special chef with a cerebro as big as his corazon, Mr. Danny Trejo. I knew he would not let me down…right?
But I needed recipes that would be of the same name, the same ilk, the same spicy tradition, but with enough of a different taste—somewhat—that it could be fairly judged by an outside party. I gathered up the quintessential items needed for these side-by-side salsas, as well as the very few ingredients needed to make them different enough from each other.
With my heart afire, I started with the pico of the true first lady of Oklahoma, Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. After slicing them into somewhat smaller bits, the tomatoes, red and purple onions, diced cilantro and the asphyxiated peppers—their insides cut out, leaving only the thin outsides—they were mixed in a bowl, almost ready to taste.