I’ve started to make salsa and I can’t emphasize enough just how much it helps to cook stuff with the method of taking it off of the stove and wrapping it into towels and blankets to cook on its own. It’s so much easier, not just on the gas bill, but on summer heat - kitchen doesn’t heat up from the little bundle of towels that traps the heat inside the pot, it’s soothing on my exhaustion because I get that big break in the middle of cooking where I don’t have to worry and check up on it all of the time; it can’t boil over, it can’t spill, it can’t spray the kitchen, it can’t cool down. It’s overall good and making cooking attainable goal for me even when I’m tired and can’t do 3-5 hours of work.
So the only potential drawbacks are that usually when you cook over a stove, you will constantly stir to make sure the salsa is reducing and liquid is evaporating to get a good, thick mixture. I went around this by letting the tomatoes sit in a big bowl for a bit, and then squeezing the juice out of them with my hands. Then I cooked that juice separately, and canned it as tomato sauce. I did set both of them on the stove to reduce for maybe 10 minutes, with stirring, but I let them cook all wrapped up for 2 hours. Both salsa and sauce were the most delicious ones I’ve ever made.
I know I’m a newbie at this but I am so excited to share what I’ve learned! I never thought making salsa would become this easy and more tasty second year around! Last year I felt so tired I would cook it for 45 minutes and call it a day and it was undercooked and watery I loved it all the same in winter but now I feel like I’m going to have a fancy time next winter. Honestly if you don’t wanna heat up your place and need to cook something, I have done this a hundred times now: get it to boil, close the lid, wrap in a cloth, then in a towel and blanket, or two towels, leave on the couch or anywhere. It will cook almost the same as on the stove and you wont have to give it any of your attention. If it needs to cook for an hour or longer, reheat after half an hour to make sure its still boiling temp. I swear by this trick because I cooked everything with it.