Mole Manchamanteles con Cerdo y Frutas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and charring tomatoes
• •Wide 5-quart cazuela or Dutch oven for cooking the mole
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon long enough to stir without burning your hand

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the pork broth

   Place the pork shoulder and chicken thighs, if using, in a large stockpot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, the halved head of garlic, the bay leaves, and the salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam in the first fifteen minutes. Cook at a low simmer for one hour and fifteen minutes, until the pork is tender but not falling apart. Strain and reserve the broth. You should have about six cups. Set the meat aside, covered. Cold water and a slow simmer make a clean broth. A rolling boil clouds it and toughens the meat.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   While the meat simmers, heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the ancho, guajillo, and pasilla separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, pressing them flat with a spatula. The skin will puff and the kitchen will smell like the inside of a chile vendor's stall. That smell is the oils releasing. Do not let any of them blacken. Burned chile is bitter chile. Transfer the toasted chiles to a heatproof bowl, cover with hot tap water, not boiling, and let them soften for 25 minutes.

   Hot water softens the flesh and lets the flavor come through clean. Boiling water cooks the skin and turns the salsa bitter. This is the difference between a mole that tastes like chile and a mole that tastes like burned rubber.
3. 3

   Toast the seeds, nuts, and spices

   On the same comal, toast the almonds for two to three minutes until they smell nutty. Push them to one side and add the sesame seeds. Toast, stirring constantly, until they turn pale gold and start to jump in the pan. Pull everything off the heat. In a small dry pan, briefly toast the canela stick, cloves, and peppercorns for thirty seconds, just until fragrant. The spices in this mole are subtle. Toast them once and stop.

4. 4

   Char the tomatoes and fry the plantain

   Set the tomatoes directly on the comal over medium-high heat and char them on all sides until the skin blisters and the flesh softens, about eight minutes. Set aside. In a small skillet, melt one tablespoon of the manteca over medium heat. Fry the plantain rounds until deep golden on both sides, about three minutes per side. The plantain is the backbone of manchamanteles. It gives the mole its sweet, full body. Fry the bread slice in the same fat until golden, then set everything aside.

5. 5

   Blend the mole base

   Drain the soaked chiles, discarding the soaking water, which is bitter. Place the chiles in a high-powered blender with the charred tomatoes, the chopped half onion, the four reserved garlic cloves, the toasted almonds, half of the toasted sesame seeds, the fried plantain, the fried bread, the canela stick (broken in half), the cloves, the peppercorns, and the oregano. Add two cups of the reserved pork broth. Blend on high for two full minutes until completely smooth. You should have a thick, deep red-brown puree. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids with a wooden spoon. Discard what stays behind.

6. 6

   Fry the mole

   In a wide, heavy cazuela or Dutch oven, melt the remaining two tablespoons of manteca over medium heat. When the fat shimmers, pour in the strained puree all at once. It will sputter, so stand back. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for ten to twelve minutes. The puree will darken and the fat will start to separate at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This step is what separates a serious mole from a thin one. Skip it and the chile will taste raw and the spices will taste loose.

7. 7

   Loosen with broth and balance

   Stir in three more cups of the reserved pork broth. The mole should now have the body of heavy cream. If it is too thick, add a little more broth. Add the apple cider vinegar and the grated piloncillo. Stir and let simmer for ten minutes. Taste. The mole should taste sweet but not dessert-sweet, slightly tart, deeply chile-forward, with the spices behind everything. Adjust salt now. The vinegar and piloncillo balance is the heart of manchamanteles. Sweet alone is a fruit compote. Sweet with acid and chile is a mole.

8. 8

   Add the meat and the fruit

   Return the cooked pork (and chicken, if using) to the cazuela. Add the pineapple, pears, and apple. Stir gently to coat everything in the mole. Simmer over low heat, partially covered, for 25 to 30 minutes. The fruit should soften but still hold its shape, the pineapple should give up some of its juice into the sauce, and the meat should finish becoming tender. The mole will turn slightly more orange from the pineapple. That is correct. Manchamanteles means tablecloth-stainer. The color is the dish's signature.

   Use firm-ripe fruit, not overripe. Mushy pears and brown apples will fall apart and turn the mole grainy. The fruit needs to hold up to thirty minutes in the pot.
9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Pull the cazuela off the heat and let it rest, covered, for fifteen minutes before serving. Mole always needs a rest. The flavors settle and the fat rises. Spoon the meat, fruit, and a generous ladle of mole onto warm plates. Scatter the remaining toasted sesame seeds across the top. Serve with white rice and warm corn tortillas. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy whole dried chiles from a Mexican market, not pre-ground chile powder. The toasting and soaking is the recipe. Pre-ground chile cannot be toasted properly and will give you a flat, dusty mole. If your only option is supermarket chiles, look for chiles with some pliability. Brittle, dusty chiles have lost their oils and the mole will suffer.
• •The plantain must be ripe, with a yellow skin heavily speckled with black. Green plantains are starchy and will make the mole taste like raw banana. Fully black plantains are too soft and will fall apart in the fat. Find one in between.
• •Manchamanteles is better the second day. Make it the day before you serve it, refrigerate it overnight, and reheat gently. The chile and the fruit need time to settle into each other. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
• •Use Mexican canela, the true cinnamon with the flaky, soft bark. Cassia, the hard dark cinnamon sold in most supermarkets, is too aggressive and will overpower the chile. If you cannot find canela, use less than the recipe calls for.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole base, through step seven, can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. The flavor only deepens. Reheat gently, add the cooked meat and the fresh fruit, and finish on serving day.
• •The pork can be cooked one day ahead and refrigerated in its broth. Lift off the solidified fat before reheating, or save it for refrying beans.
• •The fruit must be cut and added on serving day. Pre-cut pineapple and pears oxidize and turn brown, and the texture suffers in the refrigerator overnight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 410g)