Ina Garten-Inspired Guacamole

Compiled by Igor Kukolj, Editor. Nobody here has cooked this — how these are made.

Everyone knows lime keeps guacamole green. Almost everyone adds it in the wrong order.

Browning is an enzyme reaction that starts the moment the flesh meets air, and lime juice only stops it where it actually lands. Mash first and the surfaces inside the bowl have already begun before the acid arrives. Dice the avocado into the lime juice, toss it so every cut face is coated, and only then mash — the same ingredients, in the order that works.

The pit does nothing. Nor does the film of water some people pour on top.

Soak the onion before it goes near the avocado

Raw onion carries sulphur compounds that keep developing after chopping, which is why leftover guacamole tastes harsher the next day than it did when you made it. Ten minutes of the chopped onion sitting in the lime juice draws most of that out, and it seasons the juice at the same time.

Mash half, dice half

Fully mashed guacamole is a dip with no interest in it. Mash about half to make the creamy body that holds everything together, then fold the rest in as cubes.

Judging a ripe avocado

Press at the stem end, not the middle — the middle bruises under everyone else's thumbs in the shop. It should give slightly. If the little stem cap flicks off and it is green underneath, it is ready; brown underneath means it is past it.

Storing

Press cling film directly onto the surface so no air touches it, and it holds a day. The trick is contact, not the pit — an avocado stone protects exactly the patch of guacamole it is sitting on.