Mole Prieto Tlaxcalteca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart cazuela or Dutch oven (clay barro if you have it)
• •12-inch cast iron comal or heavy skillet
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh sieve or chinois
• •Wooden spoon or stirring paddle long enough to reach the bottom of a deep pot
• •Large stockpot for cooking the meat

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the meat broth

   Place the turkey and pork in a large stockpot or clay olla. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved garlic head, halved onion, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a slow simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first twenty minutes. Cover partially and cook at a lazy simmer for ninety minutes, until the turkey loosens from the bone and the pork is fork-tender. Cold water draws the flavor out. A rolling boil clouds the broth and tightens the meat.

   Turkey is the original meat of mole prieto. Pork came later. If you can find a heritage Mexican turkey (guajolote), use it. Otherwise, a good farm-raised turkey leg is closer to the traditional flavor than supermarket breast meat.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles separately

   Heat a dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet over medium. Toast each chile variety separately. The guajillo takes about 30 seconds per side. The ancho and mulato puff faster and burn quickly. The pasilla is thin and turns bitter the moment you look away. The chipotle meco only needs a kiss of heat. You want the skins fragrant and pliant, never blackened. Burned chile is bitter chile. There is no recovering from it later.

3. 3

   Char the tomatoes and tomatillos

   On the same comal, char the whole tomatoes and the husked tomatillos until the skins are blackened in patches and the flesh has collapsed. This takes about ten minutes. Turn them as they go. The char is part of the color of mole prieto. A clean blanched tomato will not give you the same depth.

4. 4

   Soak the chiles

   Transfer the toasted chiles to a heatproof bowl. Cover with hot tap water, not boiling. Hot water softens the flesh and lets the flavor come through clean. Boiling water cooks the skin and the salsa turns bitter. Let them sit for 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the chiles. Discard the soaking water. It carries the bitter notes you toasted out.

5. 5

   Toast the seeds, nuts, and aromatics

   On the comal, toast the sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, and peanuts in separate batches until each one is fragrant and lightly browned. The sesame turns gold. The pepitas pop. The peanut skins darken. Reserve a tablespoon of sesame seeds for garnish. Toast the cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and cumin seeds for about thirty seconds, just until they wake up. The kitchen should smell like the spice aisle of any mercado in Tlaxcala or Puebla.

6. 6

   Burn the tortillas, toast the avocado leaves

   Here is the step that separates mole prieto from every other mole. Take the day-old corn tortillas and lay them directly on the comal over high heat. Let them char until they are nearly black. Not toasted. Burned. This is intentional. The burned tortilla gives the mole its dark color and the deep, faintly bitter note that defines the prieto. Toast the bread slice until dark brown. Pass the avocado leaves over the flame for a few seconds until they release their anise scent. Avocado leaf is essential. It is the herb of Tlaxcala and the central Mexican highlands.

   If you cannot find avocado leaves at a Mexican grocery, do not substitute. Leave them out and serve the mole with a small bowl of dried Mexican oregano on the side. A wrong substitute is worse than an honest omission.
7. 7

   Blend the mole base

   Work in batches. In a high-powered blender, combine the drained chiles, charred tomatoes and tomatillos, chopped onion, the six garlic cloves, toasted seeds and nuts, toasted spices, the burned tortillas broken into pieces, the toasted bread, and the avocado leaves. Add about a cup of the meat broth to each batch to help it move. Blend each batch until completely smooth, then strain through a medium-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Press on the solids with the back of a ladle. Discard what does not pass through. A grainy mole is a lazy mole.

8. 8

   Fry the mole paste

   Heat the lard in a wide, heavy cazuela or Dutch oven over medium heat until it shimmers. La manteca es el sabor. Add the strained mole base all at once. Stand back. It will sputter and pop violently for the first minute. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for ten to twelve minutes, scraping the bottom so nothing sticks. The paste will darken from rust-red to a deep brown-black and the fat will start to bead at the edges. This is when the mole becomes prieto. Skip this step and the flavors stay raw and separate.

9. 9

   Thin and simmer

   Ladle in the warm meat broth, two cups at a time, stirring after each addition. You want the consistency of heavy cream that coats the back of a spoon. Most of a six-quart pot. Add the piloncillo, broken into pieces, and the dried oregano. Bring to a slow simmer. Cook uncovered for thirty minutes, stirring often. The mole will thicken and the surface will develop a thin sheen of dark fat. Taste for salt. It will need more than you expect.

10. 10

    Thicken with masa

    This is the step that makes it mole prieto and not mole poblano. Mix the fresh masa with about a cup of warm broth or water in a bowl, whisking with your hand until it is the consistency of thin pancake batter and there are no lumps. Pour the masa mixture into the simmering mole in a slow stream, stirring constantly. The mole will thicken and turn glossy. The toasted corn masa gives the prieto its body and that faint, sweet corn-note that distinguishes it from the moles of Puebla and Oaxaca. Cook for another fifteen minutes, stirring often so the masa does not sit on the bottom.

    Fresh masa from a tortilleria is the right ingredient. Masa harina mixed with warm water is the compromise. Either way, dissolve it fully in liquid before adding it to the pot, or you will fight lumps for the rest of the cooking.
11. 11

    Return the meat to the pot

    Lower the cooked turkey and pork into the simmering mole. Tuck the epazote sprigs into the pot. Cover and cook over very low heat for thirty minutes, so the meat drinks the mole and the mole drinks the meat. Do not stir hard now. Just turn the pieces gently. This is the marriage step. The longer it sits, the better it gets. Mole prieto cooked today and eaten tomorrow is a different and better dish.

12. 12

    Serve the village way

    Pull out the epazote sprigs. Ladle the mole and meat into wide barro plates. Scatter the reserved toasted sesame seeds across the top. Serve with a stack of hand-pressed corn tortillas wrapped in a woven servilleta, raw white onion, and lime wedges. In Tlaxcala this is the dish of Carnaval, of mayordomias, of bodas. It is what you bring to the table when something matters. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •The four chiles are the spine of this mole: guajillo for body and brightness, ancho for sweetness, pasilla for the dark fruit-and-tobacco depth, mulato for the smoky-chocolate undertone. If your mercado is missing one, do not substitute with chile de arbol or chipotle alone. Increase the others proportionally and accept that you are making a slightly different mole. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Fresh corn masa from a tortilleria is the right ingredient. Ask for masa para tortillas. It should be soft, slightly tacky, and smell faintly sweet. Masa harina mixed with warm water is a compromise but it works. Do not use cornstarch, flour, or polenta. Those are not corn in the same way.
• •Burning the tortillas is not a mistake. People who learn this recipe for the first time always panic at this step and pull the tortillas off the comal when they are merely toasted. Let them go further. They should be black at the edges and dark brown across the surface. That bitter char is the soul of the prieto.
• •Mole prieto is better the next day. And the day after that. Make it on Saturday for Sunday lunch. The masa, the chiles, and the meat go on negotiating in the pot for forty-eight hours. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole base can be cooked through step 9 up to three days ahead and refrigerated. Reheat slowly with additional broth before adding the masa and meat. The flavor only deepens.
• •The toasted chiles, seeds, and spices can be prepared one day ahead and stored in a sealed container at room temperature. Do not pre-soak the chiles until the day of cooking.
• •Leftover mole keeps refrigerated for one week and freezes well for three months. Many Tlaxcalteca cooks keep a jar of mole prieto in the freezer year-round, ready for an unexpected guest or a Sunday with no plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)