Democracy Dies in Darkness

These chicken tacos with charred corn salsa embrace the heat

A little char brings complexity to the sweet, spicy, tart and herbaceous corn salsa.

May 28, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
Chicken Tacos With Charred Corn Salsa. (Rey Lopez for The Washington Post; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post)
3 min

As adept as I am in the kitchen, like anyone, I sometimes get careless or lose focus. When that happens, accidents can occur, and I might end up burning whatever it is that I’m making.

In most instances, I can play it off by just adding “blackened” or “charred” to the name of the dish. But when food reaches the point of being inedible, it’s simply burned.