Everything else on the table can change. The salsa never has.
For Daniel Castillo, that salsa is more than part of the meal. It is his grandparents' recipe, carried through his grandmother's kitchen, his mother's table, and now his own Sunday Supper.
Sunday Supper is a documentary series from Benchmade about family traditions that outlast every change around the table, and Episode 1 follows Daniel as he keeps his table going. His story begins in his grandmother’s kitchen and comes full circle as he starts passing those same recipes to his daughter.
Meet Daniel Castillo
Daniel grew up in Whittier, California. His mother’s side of the family carried Mexican and German roots, and his father came from Westminster, in Orange County. Those Californian and Mexican roots are still the inspiration behind every plate he serves.
Today he is the cofounder of Heritage BBQ and a James Beard Award finalist, but the flavors he cooks with were part of his life long before any of that.
Past: Learned by Being Underfoot
Daniel learned to cook the way many family recipes are learned: by being there often enough that the process became familiar before anyone thought to explain it.
He started in his grandmother’s kitchen, then his mother’s, growing up around spice, salsa, and the rhythms of a family meal. There were no formal lessons or written instructions. He watched, helped, tasted, and repeated the same motions until the recipes became something he simply knew.
That is how the tradition took hold. Long before a James Beard nomination or a restaurant of his own, the kitchen was already teaching him what would eventually become instinct.
Now: Still the One Who Hosts
Success has not changed the order of things. Every Sunday, the table still comes first, and Daniel still hosts and holds it together. Keeping that table going takes work, and he is the one who keeps doing it.
The salsa is his grandparents’ recipe. Whatever else changes around it, that part stays where it is.
Future: Passing It Forward
For most of Daniel’s life, he was the one receiving the tradition. Now that role is beginning to change.
His daughter is headed to culinary school, and Daniel has started teaching her the recipes that were once handed down to him. The same foods he learned by watching his grandmother and mother are beginning to move forward through another generation.
That is the part of Sunday Supper that Daniel is living now: keeping a tradition alive eventually means letting someone else carry it too.
The Recipe That Carries It
Santa Maria tri-tip tacos, rice and beans, handmade tortillas, and pollo asada all find their way onto the Castillo table. The menu can shift from one Sunday to the next, and the people sitting around it will keep changing.
The salsa is the thread through all of it. It has been the centerpiece of every Sunday Supper the family has shared, passed from his grandparents to Daniel and now from Daniel to his daughter. It is the part of the meal that lets one generation recognize the table of the one before it.
The Castillo Family Salsa
Ingredients
4 jalapeños
2 serranos
1 garlic clove
Olive oil
4 tomatoes
1 white onion, sliced
Cilantro (you can never have enough cilantro)
A pinch of cumin
Lime juice
Oregano
Salt, to taste
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Add a little olive oil to a cast iron pan and roast the jalapeños, serranos, and garlic until they pick up those roasted aromas. Deseed the jalapeños if you want less heat.
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Boil the tomatoes in water until soft.
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Add everything to a blender with the raw sliced onion, cilantro, cumin, lime juice, oregano, and salt, then blend.
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Taste it the right way: on a chip.
What Gets Carried Forward
A tradition lasts for a simple reason: the people at the table want another Sunday just like it. The meal comes together, the family gathers, and eventually there is room for someone new to learn how to carry it on.
Everything else on the table can change. The salsa never has.
Watch Daniel Castillo’s story in Sunday Supper Episode 1 on YouTube.
Sunday Supper Ep. 1: Keeping the Fire Going | Daniel Castillo | Benchmade