Sauce is basically salt in liquid form, gussied up with any manner of delicious glutamates, lipids, acids, and aromatics. There are nuances, sure, but the nuances are, well, nuances. Sauces can be more than that. Mango salsa is an example of a sauce so succulent that it challenges the raison d’être of the food for which it was created. Tacos, empanadas, tortilla chips, hamburgers, pizza—all become mere delivery vehicles for the lush, tart, spicy salsa. All the more so when the salt is introduced as a distinctive ingredient in its own right. Confettied with onyx black or garnet red crystals of Hawaiian salt, this salsa brings a firecracker pop of festivity that celebrates saucing not just for flavor, but as visual and textural celebration of food. Use it atop anything from fried fish tacos to green salad to yogurt to steak.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　2 ripe mangos

　　1 red chile pepper such as medusa head, red serrano, or red jalapeño pepper, minced

　　3 tablespoons minced red onion

　　Juice of 2 limes

　　3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro leaves

　　1 three-finger pinch coarse Hawaiian black lava salt or alaea Hawaiian salt, plus more for sprinkling

　　

Step 1

Using a sharp knife, cut the flesh of the mangos from the pits, leaving two halves with the skin still on. Make parallel cuts 1/4 inch apart into the cut surface of each mango half, slicing through the flesh but not through the skin. Make another set of cuts the same way, this time running perpendicular to the first cuts to make squares. Slice the mango cubes from the skin by inverting each mango half and running your knife carefully between the flesh and the skin.

　　

Step 2

Combine the mango cubes with the chile, onion, lime juice, cilantro, and salt in a bowl and refrigerate for about 1 hour before using. Mix gently, sprinkle with the salt, and serve with an additional small bowl of salt on the side.

　　Salted