The Best Guacamole

I’ll thank my mom for this entry.

She tasked me to make guacamole for tomorrow’s Father’s Day BBQ. I’ve been doing this task since high school, a job I created for myself out of thin air when I requested the Mortar and Pestle on Sale at Costco. I believe Besito in Huntington (Mexican restaurant) had just opened and I was fascinated by the presentation of the guac — made in front of you at the table on the spot.

If you’re thinking about buying a Mortar and Pestle, especially for Guac, know that it is heavy and annoying. We still have it at my parent’s house, but I don’t think about using it anymore. 

There are some more interesting aspects about this guacamole to discuss while we’re here:

• Guac is simple - yet very easy to screw up. It’s the perfect marriage of Salt / Fat / Acid / Heat. In America and especially at my mom’s BBQ, NO HEAT.

  • Over the years I’ve gotten a decent education via feedback about rebalancing the acid / salt ratios

  • There was once a year the avocados were bright green and obvi I couldn’t make it. My mom now knows to buy avocados at least 4 days in advance.

  • My Uncle mixes Franks Red Hot with the Guac because he needs spicy — and it annoys me because it ruins the flavor… but I get it. I asked my mom to buy Jalapeños yet she wasn’t even confident that she knows what a Jalapeño looks like. Mom buy a Habanero or a few Jalapeños tomorrow at Victoria’s please and thank you — I’ll use them separately, but they’re a necessity for some of us!

• My Dad thinks Cilantro Tastes like soap. I used to make Guacamole without Cilantro just for him but my goodness that component is so important. No longer will I shy away from Cilantro.

• Salt the guacamole before people arrive as the visual of salt going in will typically cause a “do you really need that much salt?”

  • how else does your favorite guac taste so good lol

• I posted a video in 2022 of me making Guac. One of the first food videos I’ve ever made lol:

  https://www.tiktok.com/@jgeats/video/7142876585241185579

I write to you about Guac honestly because of 1 simple idea that I meant to get out 250 words ago.

This is a question for all you food shoppers that buy pre-cut fruit and veggies.

Has anyone ever bought a guac prep kit at the supermarket?

Guac is annoying, requires a decent amount of ingredients, and goes bad very quickly. Preparing the day before was the only way I’d be able to make it. Which brings the idea to my head — what if my mom could have bought this premade kit above?

Would have saved me 35 minutes and her the stress of remembering every ingredient.

Happy to hear your thoughts.

Happy Father’s Day to all Father’s out there, including my own sitting next to me right now.

-Jack