Salsa, which means simply "sauce," is, perhaps, Mexico's most popular and ubiquitous food-export. It is well known that in the U.S., salsas now capture a larger market-share than ketchup. Salsas, which can be smooth or chunky, have many functions in Mexican cuisine. They are used as a dip for chips, to coat enchiladas, to moisten shredded meat for empanada filling, and as a sauce for grilled fish. A salsa in the form of a hot relish will often be on the table at a restaurant, so the diner can help herself. There are simple red salsas made from chiles and tomatoes, green salsas made from chiles, herbs, and tomatillos; salsa borracha (drunken sauce) made from chiles and tequila; or roasted pepper and achiote sauces. Many are cooked, but some are left raw. A mortar and pestle certainly will come into play at some point in their preparation.

The constant ingredient in all these sauces is, of course, chiles. To the Mexican palate, each kind of chile, or combination of chiles, or dried as opposed to fresh, roasted as opposed to raw, possesses an unmistakably unique taste. To the untrained tongue, however, there is one common denominator -- heat.