Mole

[gt6267a]

After college, my first job was in San Francisco. A co-worker took me out for Mole and I was hooked. It’s the first thing I look for on a menu and sadly they are usually disappointing. After many broken promises to make it myself, I took the plunge over the weekend. 26 ingredients and 6 hours later, the result is a wonderful batch of brown pudding like sauce that reminds me of that first trip into the middle of nowhere 17 years ago:



This picture was taken while the turkey stock was brewing.



Cough Drop (The Dog) is always interested in stove top activities. That dutch oven is 9 3/4 Q. Total batch was 12 x 2 person portions. With 11 in the freezer, we'll be in mole for a while.



Plated up and ready to rumble.

[David Tollefson]

Since I bring the listing up as "new posts", I rarely pay attention to what area of VS a particular thread resides. That said, this is not what I was expecting when I opened the thread. Happy to be wrong. Kudos.

[dashDustin]

so you approve of the recipe? where'd you find it?

[gt6267a]

so you approve of the recipe? where'd you find it?

Rick Bayless's book "Authentic Mexican". The end product is excellent. Once through the 11 planned-over packages, I will not hesitate to make this again. To be fair, its not a trivial effort. Between making turkey stock, frying / toasting / grinding every ingredient, and pureeing everything ... its a good amount of work. To make 12 double portions, its worth it.

[bking]

I spent two years, 1978 to 1980 in the yucatan peninsula and gained a great appreciation for a good mole. i think i tried one once here in the states and it was so poor i never went back. lovely, complex stuff when done right. good for you. i may look bayless recipe up and try one day. maybe when i get over my smoking everything craze.

[Mark Walberg]

Looks great.
We made a big batch of mole once using a recipe from Diana Kennedy's book "Cuisines of Mexico".
Wow ! Truly delish !

Anchos, mulatos, pasilla, turkey giblets with carrots onion garlic, tomates verdes, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, coriander seed, aniseed, sesame seeds, more garlic, raisins, almonds, pumpkin seeds, a bit of tortilla or bread, chocolate, turkey broth, and most of a day's work.

Sounds like yours was similar.

[gt6267a]

I spent two years, 1978 to 1980 in the yucatan peninsula and gained a great appreciation for a good mole. i think i tried one once here in the states and it was so poor i never went back. lovely, complex stuff when done right. good for you. i may look bayless recipe up and try one day. maybe when i get over my smoking everything craze.

Having just acquired a BGE over the summer, I am also smoking everything. Without question, I plan to try smoked Turkey with mole sauce.

One item to mention, the Bayless recipe calls for roasting the Turkey. The best mole I've had on the east coast used poached chicken. When I asked the owner, a Mexican who would not share his grandmothers recipe, he swears she poached the meat with onion and garlic in the water. We made it this way and its helpful to have the poaching liquid on hand. The sauce tends to get fairly thick and its good to have a little broth to thin as needed.

How did they serve the mole on the peninsula? Baked vs poached vs some other way?

[Cookietruck]

i started making a sauce similar, much simpler though, after we got a vitamix.

i get some of the large pepper, like pasilla or ancho, and also some chipotle for heat.
destem and deseed them.
heat a large skillet with a small amount of butter, throw the peppers in there, along with a clove of garlic if you please, and also a half an onion face down to blacken.
let that go for about 10 mins.

combine all that in the vitamix with salt pepper cumin, a small ~14oz can of diced tomato with all the juice. add a little water or broth to get the consistency you want. sometimes i add a tbl or two of sour cream...
make it a sauce.
then simmer it all for about 20 mins.

then i just treat it as salsa.

[benito]

diana kennedy is my favorite.

but if i have to feed a lot of people, rick bayless' recipes are not only delicious, but more adaptable to a western kitchen.

also, if using turkey pieces i like to finish roasting everything in the sauce, in the oven.

congrats on your mole!

postscript: you peeps in LA can find pretty good mole at grand central market in downtown. I recommend the coloradito!

[Too Tall]

Hat offf and kudos. You are a man after my own heart to chase authentic variations done right regardless of the effort.

There is a fruit based pasta sauce I make which takes all day gently tending a heavy pan. This reminds me of that. Awesome and so worth it.

[bking]

"How did they serve the mole on the peninsula? Baked vs poached vs some other way?"

poached. no one has ovens, or i should say they are rare. one Christmas there we were invited by a family to come for dinner, very small village called oxkutzcab--dare you to get that one right (oh shews cob, more or less). they held by it's feet an old turkey that would be poached in broth and onions a week later.
Mole is served all over the yucatan. some did it well, some a bit bitter, some dark, some lighter shades, and some were just wonderful.

[Shinomaster]

I had green mole in Mexico city.. there are so many kinds!