Gollita’s Recaudo, Mexico’s Essential Cooking Base

Recaudo—a garlic-tomato cooking base—will likely be put to work with Gregoria “Gollita” González steps into her kitchen to make a family-favorite Mexican traditional dish. This sauce is the foundation of many her go-to recipes, including her Essential Mexican Rice and her chicken soup, a hit with her grandkids: Gollita’s Mexican Sopa de Pollo.

Recaudo is a simple sauce made with just three ingredients: tomato, onion and garlic. It adds flavor, creamy thickness, and acidity to so many Mexican sauces and dishes—making this a perfect Abuela 101 recipe for Familia Kitchen.

As Gollita’s daughter Ana González Quaid, puts it, “What sofrito is to Puerto Ricans, red-sauce ragú is to Italians, and sausages are to Germans: recaudo is to Mexicans.”

Ana learned to make recaudo when she left home for the first time and missed Gollita’s cooking. “I knew what it was and how it was made, but I never had to cook it myself until I went away to college. My mom learned it from her mom, when she was a young girl in a family of seven kids in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. She was one of the oldest and helped make meals and take care of the other kids.”

Tip for the wise cook: Gollita makes recaudo in big batches and freezes it in small zip bags for easy thawing and daily use.

If you like this recipe, check out more recipes from Gollita’s family: her daughter Sagra’s shrimp, cucumber and chiles ceviche, her daughter Gracie’s chilaquiles verdes, her daughter Ana’s nopalitos with pickled jalapeños, her sister Nata’s pozole rojo, and her son-in-law Brian’s take on Gollita’s killer porkchops steeped with tomato sauce and onions. And last but not least is the always-delicioso Gollita’s essential guacamole!

Ready to Make & Freeze Recaudo for Authentic Mexican Cooking?

Gollita’s Recaudo, Mexico’s Essential Cooking Base

Recipe by Gregoria ”Gollita” González

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings

5

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 7 to 8 roma tomatoes

• 1/4 yellow onion, medium,

• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled

Directions

• Place tomatoes in a large pot or caldero of boiling water.
• Boil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the skin of each tomato starts to blister and seems ready to burst.
• Scoop out the tomatoes from the boiling water and set aside to cool.
• Once cool, peel the skin off the tomatoes and cut them in half.
• Peel the onion and chop into quarters.
• Place tomatoes, onions and garlic in a mixer. Blend for 3 to 5 minutes, until creamy and thoroughly dissolved.
• Peel the garlic cloves.
• Your recaudo is ready! Gollita recommends scooping into small zip bags and freezing in batches of 6 to 8 ounces each. You’ll be able to quickly thaw and use at a moment’s notice the next time a Mexican recipe calls for recaudo.

Notes

• Gollita only uses (and grows her own) Roma tomatoes, but you can use any kind of tomatoes you may have on hand.