Mole Poblano de Santa Rosa

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Volcanic stone metate with tejolote, or a strong blender used in small batches
• •Dry comal for toasting chiles, seeds, spices, and vegetables
• •Wide barro rojo cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
• •Wooden spoon with a flat edge for constant stirring
• •Fine-mesh strainer if using a blender

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the chiles

   Wipe the mulato, ancho, and pasilla chiles with a barely damp cloth. Open them with kitchen scissors, remove the stems, and shake out the seeds. Save 1/2 cup of the seeds. Do not rinse the chiles. Water steals the first layer of aroma before the comal has a chance to do its work.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chiles separately, a few at a time, pressing them flat with tongs until the skins blister and the color deepens. The mulato needs patience, the ancho turns fragrant quickly, and the pasilla burns if you look away. They should smell like dried fruit, tobacco, and warm earth, never ash.

   If a chile blackens hard, throw it out. Burned chile makes bitter mole. No me vengas con atajos.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a large bowl and cover with hot water. Hot, not boiling. Set a plate over them to keep them submerged and let them soften for 30 minutes. Drain them, reserving 1 cup of the soaking liquid only if it tastes clean. If it tastes bitter, discard it and use stock later.

4. 4

   Toast seeds and spices

   On the same dry comal, toast the reserved chile seeds until deep brown but not black. Toast the sesame seeds until golden, then the almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, canela, cloves, peppercorns, allspice, anise, coriander, and cumin. Keep each ingredient separate. Everything has its own timing. This is convent architecture, not a pile of things thrown into a pan.

5. 5

   Char the vegetables

   Roast the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, and unpeeled garlic on the comal until blistered and softened. The tomatillos should turn olive green and slump. The garlic skins should darken and the cloves inside should feel soft when pressed. Peel the garlic after roasting.

6. 6

   Fry bread and fruit

   Melt 1/4 cup lard in a wide cazuela over medium heat. Fry the tortilla pieces until deep golden. Fry the bolillo slices until crisp. Fry the plantain until browned at the edges, then add the pear, apple, and raisins just long enough for the fruit to soften and smell sweet. La manteca es el sabor. Oil will not give the same body.

7. 7

   Grind the paste

   Grind the chiles, toasted seeds, nuts, spices, roasted vegetables, fried bread, tortilla, fruit, thyme, marjoram, oregano, nutmeg, and jerez on a metate in batches until you have a dense paste. Add warm stock only as needed to move the paste. If you use a blender, work in small batches and blend longer than feels reasonable. Smooth means smooth. A gritty mole tells on the cook.

   El metate es la regla. A blender is a modern tool, not an excuse for leaving pieces of chile skin and sesame in the sauce.
8. 8

   Fry the mole

   Heat the remaining 1/2 cup lard in a heavy barro cazuela or Dutch oven over medium. Add the mole paste carefully. It will sputter. Stir with a wooden spoon for 20 to 25 minutes, scraping the bottom constantly, until the paste darkens, thickens, and the fat begins to shine around the edges. This frying is where raw paste becomes mole.

9. 9

   Thin and simmer

   Add 4 cups warm stock slowly, one ladle at a time, stirring until the paste loosens into a thick sauce. Add the chocolate, piloncillo, and salt. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring often. The mole should move slowly from the spoon, glossy and dark brown with a red-black depth from the chiles. Add more stock as needed. Do not leave it alone. Mole sticks when the cook gets arrogant.

10. 10

    Rest and finish

    Turn off the heat and let the mole rest at least 1 hour, or cool and refrigerate overnight. The flavor settles after resting. Reheat gently with a little stock until it returns to a spoon-coating consistency. Taste for salt. Spoon into a serving cazuela and finish with toasted sesame seeds. This is a sauce for dressing turkey, chicken, enchiladas, or other dishes from the conventual main kitchen. It is not the plate by itself.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chiles that bend a little and smell alive. If the mulato snaps like old paper, it is dead. Ask the women at the market. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Mulato, ancho, and pasilla are the three chiles for this Puebla version. Guajillo gives a brighter red sauce and belongs in many good moles, but not as the backbone here. Chilhuacle negro belongs to Oaxaca. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
• •The chile soaking liquid is not automatically useful. Taste it. If it is bitter, throw it away. Stock is better than dragging bitterness through a sauce that took you all day.
• •Use pork lard. Not vegetable shortening. Not olive oil. La manteca es el sabor, and in mole it carries the chile paste into the sauce.
• •The mole should rest before serving. Overnight is better. The convent cooks knew this because they cooked for communities, not for impatience.

Advance Preparation

• •The chiles, seeds, nuts, spices, bread, tortilla, fruit, and vegetables can be toasted or fried one day ahead and stored separately at room temperature.
• •The finished mole improves after one night in the refrigerator. Reheat slowly with warm stock until glossy and spoon-coating.
• •Mole poblano keeps refrigerated for 5 days or frozen for 3 months. Freeze it as sauce, not already thinned too much, so it can be adjusted properly when reheated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 145g)