Mole Chichilo Oaxaqueno con Res y Hoja de Aguacate

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot for the broth
• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven for the mole
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting and burning
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon, the longer the better, for stirring the mole as it fries

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the beef broth

   Place the beef chuck and marrow bones in a heavy stockpot. Cover with cold water by three inches. Add the halved onion, the halved head of garlic, bay leaves, and one tablespoon of salt. Bring to a slow simmer. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first twenty minutes. Cook at a lazy bubble for two and a half to three hours until the meat is tender enough to pull apart but still holds its shape. You need this broth dark and beefy. It will carry the mole.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles separately

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chilhuacle negro, the mulato, and the pasilla mexicano separately, about 30 seconds per side. The chilhuacle is the soul of this mole. It should puff and turn fragrant, never blacken. The mulato is meatier and takes a few seconds longer. The pasilla is thin and burns the fastest. The kitchen should smell like the chile alley at the Central de Abastos in Oaxaca. That smell is the oils releasing.

   Reserve the seeds from the chilhuacle negro. Set them aside in a small bowl. They go in later, burned, and they are part of why this mole is called chichilo. No me vengas con atajos.
3. 3

   Burn the seeds and the tortillas

   On the same comal, place the reserved chilhuacle seeds and the two day-old tortillas. Let them blacken. Yes, blacken. Not toast. Burn. The tortillas should turn into charred discs and the seeds should smoke and turn black. This is the controlled burn that gives chichilo its name and its bitter backbone. Most moles fear bitterness. Chichilo demands it. Asi se hace y punto.

   Open a window. The smoke is intense and the smell will linger. The Oaxacan cooks who taught me this work over outdoor fires for a reason.
4. 4

   Toast the avocado leaves and the spices

   Reduce heat to low. Pass the avocado leaves over the comal for about ten seconds per side until they release their anise-like perfume. Set six aside for the mole and reserve two for serving. On the same comal, lightly toast the cumin, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon stick for thirty seconds, just until fragrant. The avocado leaf must be from the criollo Mexican variety, not the Hass. Hass leaves are toxic in quantity. Criollo leaves are the herb. Get the right ones.

5. 5

   Char the tomatoes and tomatillos

   Raise the comal back to medium-high. Char the Roma tomatoes and tomatillos whole, turning them so the skins blister and blacken on all sides. About eight minutes. They should be soft inside and dark on the outside. The char is part of the smoke profile of the mole. Set them aside with their juices. Char the six reserved garlic cloves in their skins until soft, then peel.

6. 6

   Soak and blend the chiles

   Place the toasted chiles, the burned chilhuacle seeds, and the burned tortillas in a heatproof bowl. Cover with hot tap water, not boiling. Boiling water makes the skins bitter in the wrong way. Soak for 25 minutes until the chiles are soft. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid only as a last resort. Transfer the chiles, burned seeds, and tortillas to a blender with the charred tomatoes, tomatillos, charred garlic, six avocado leaves, the toasted spices, oregano, and two cups of the beef broth. Blend on high in batches until completely smooth. This will take three or four minutes per batch. You want a paste, not a chunky soup.

7. 7

   Strain the puree

   Pass the blended mole through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a wooden spoon. Discard the skins and fibers. The strained puree should be the color of wet ash, brown-black, glossy, and uniform. This step is not optional. The texture of mole chichilo is part of its identity, and unstrained mole feels rough on the tongue.

8. 8

   Fry the mole

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. When it shimmers, pour in the strained mole puree all at once. It will sputter and spit. Stand back. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 20 to 25 minutes. The puree will darken, deepen, and the fat will start to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Skip this step and you have a flat, raw-tasting sauce. Fry it properly and the mole takes on the dark, layered character that makes Oaxaca's seven moles famous.

9. 9

   Build the mole with broth

   Strain the beef broth and reserve the meat. Slowly ladle four to five cups of hot broth into the fried mole, stirring constantly to keep it smooth. The mole should coat the back of a spoon thickly but pour easily. If it is too thin, whisk in the masa harina slurry a little at a time. Add the tablespoon of salt and taste. The flavor profile should be smoky, bitter at first, then deep and warm. If the bitterness dominates, simmer ten more minutes. The bitterness should be a bass note, not the melody.

10. 10

    Cook the vegetables and finish

    Add the chayote wedges and green beans to the simmering mole. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes until the chayote is tender but still has bite. Slide the reserved beef and marrow bones back into the pot to warm through for the last five minutes. Tear one of the reserved avocado leaves and stir it in at the very end. The fresh anise note lifts the smoke. Taste once more for salt. Pull the pot off the heat.

11. 11

    Serve in deep bowls

    Ladle into deep clay bowls, one chunk of beef per person, a marrow bone if you have a lucky guest, vegetables alongside, and plenty of the dark mole spooned over. Crumble the last avocado leaf across the top. Serve with hand-pressed corn tortillas, no rice, no garnish chaos. Mole chichilo is austere. It does not want to be decorated. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The chilhuacle negro is non-negotiable. If you cannot find it, do not make this dish. Make a different mole. There is no honest substitute. Some online vendors ship from Oaxaca directly, and Mexican grocers in larger cities sometimes carry them. Ask. Insist.
• •The avocado leaves must be from the criollo Mexican avocado, not Hass. The criollo leaf has a strong anise perfume and is what Oaxacan and Pueblan cooks have used for centuries. Hass leaves do not carry the same compound and in significant quantities they are toxic. Buy them dried at a Mexican grocer labeled hoja de aguacate.
• •Mole chichilo is better the second day. The bitterness mellows, the smoke deepens, and the sauce thickens. Make it the day before you serve it. The dish was built for make-ahead because of how it was historically used, served at gatherings where the cook had grieving to do.
• •If your chichilo tastes too aggressively bitter the first time, the burn went too far. Next time pull the seeds and tortillas off the comal a few seconds earlier. The bitterness should haunt the dish, not punch you in the face.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole base, fried and ready to receive broth, can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor only deepens.
• •The full finished mole keeps refrigerated for four days. Reheat gently with a splash of broth to loosen.
• •Mole chichilo freezes well for up to two months. Freeze the sauce separately from the meat and vegetables for the best texture on reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 390g)