Mole Rojo con Borrego Ceremonial de Zacán

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Comal de leña or heavy cast iron comal for chiles and vegetables
• •8-quart stockpot for lamb broth
• •Black-clay cazuela from Patamban, heavy clay cazuela, or Dutch oven
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Long wooden spoon for frying mole

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the lamb

   Pat the lamb pieces dry and season them with 1 tablespoon of the salt. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes while you clean the chiles. Bone-in meat matters here. The bones give the broth body, and the broth is what carries the mole.

2. 2

   Build the broth

   Place the lamb pieces, neck bones or shanks, cold water, halved onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram, toasted avocado leaves, and nurite or epazote if using in a heavy stockpot. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam during the first 15 minutes. Lower the heat and cook partially covered for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the lamb is tender but not shredded. Lift the meat into a bowl, strain the broth, and reserve at least 8 cups.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho, chile guajillo, and chile pasilla separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side for the ancho, 15 to 20 seconds for the guajillo, and 10 to 15 seconds for the pasilla. The skins should puff and darken slightly. They should not blacken. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 20 minutes.

   Burned chile turns bitter. If one goes black, throw it out. A bitter mole is not fixed with sugar later.
4. 4

   Char the vegetables

   On the same comal, char the sliced onion, unpeeled garlic cloves, Roma tomatoes, and tomatillos. Turn them until the skins blister and the flesh softens. Peel the garlic after charring. This is where the mole gets depth before it ever touches the cazuela.

5. 5

   Fry the builders

   Melt 1/4 cup of the manteca in a wide skillet over medium heat. Fry the bolillo slices, torn tortillas, and plantain slices until golden, then remove them to a plate. In the same fat, fry the raisins just until they puff. Add the sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and cumin seeds, stirring until the sesame turns gold and the spices smell warm. Do not walk away. Seeds burn faster than pride.

6. 6

   Blend the mole

   Drain the soaked chiles. Blend them in batches with the charred vegetables, fried bread, tortillas, plantain, raisins, seeds, nuts, spices, dried Mexican oregano, and enough lamb broth to move the blades, about 4 cups total. Blend until the puree is completely smooth. A rough mole feels lazy in the mouth.

   Hot broth expands in the blender. Fill the jar only halfway, hold the lid down with a towel, and work in batches.
7. 7

   Strain the paste

   Pass the blended mole through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing hard with a spoon. Discard the chile skins and seed bits left behind. This takes time. Do it anyway. Zacán's ceremonial mole should be thick and smooth, not gritty.

8. 8

   Fry the mole

   Melt the remaining 1/4 cup manteca in a deep black-clay cazuela, heavy clay pot, or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the strained mole paste carefully. It will sputter. Stir with a wooden spoon for 18 to 22 minutes, scraping the bottom constantly, until the color deepens to brick red and small freckles of chile-stained fat show at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This frying is the difference between raw chile paste and mole.

9. 9

   Simmer the sauce

   Add 4 cups of the reserved lamb broth and stir until the mole loosens. Add the chopped chocolate de metate and the remaining salt. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and the surface looks glossy. Taste. If the chiles are harsh, add the grated piloncillo, but only then. The chocolate is a shadow, not the dish. Mole is not chocolate sauce.

10. 10

    Return the lamb

    Add the cooked lamb pieces back to the cazuela. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, turning the meat gently so the mole clings to every surface. If the sauce gets too thick, add more lamb broth a half cup at a time. The final mole should move slowly when you drag the spoon through it, with enough body to sit beside rice without running all over the plate.

11. 11

    Prepare the table

    Toast the final 2 tablespoons sesame seeds until pale gold. Mash the avocados with the chopped serrano, chopped white onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste. Keep the guacamole direct. Warm the corn tortillas on the comal and have the rice ready. Flour tortillas are a northern wheat tradition. They do not belong on this Zacán table.

12. 12

    Serve Zacán style

    Rest the mole off the heat for 20 minutes before serving. Spoon the lamb and mole into a loza de barro cazuela from Capula or Tzintzuntzan, or a black-clay cazuela from Patamban if you have one. Scatter toasted sesame seeds over the top. Serve family-style with rice, guacamole, and warm corn tortillas. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chiles from a vendor who sells through them quickly. Chile ancho should smell like raisins and tobacco. Guajillo should be flexible and brick red. Pasilla should be dark, glossy, and not dusty. If the chiles crack like old paper, they are old.
• •Do not replace the manteca de cerdo with neutral oil. Oil can fry, yes, but it will not carry the chile flavor the same way. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Nurite is a monte herb in P'urhépecha cooking. If you are outside Michoacán and cannot find it, use a small amount of epazote or leave it out. Do not add random dried herbs and pretend the monte followed you home.
• •This mole is deep, not hot. Do not throw in chile de arbol to prove something. Not all Mexican food is a test of pain. The ancho, guajillo, and pasilla are here for color, fruit, bitterness, and structure.
• •A pressure cooker can cook the lamb in about 55 minutes at high pressure with natural release. That is a useful tool, not a betrayal. But you still toast the chiles, fry the paste, and simmer the mole. Some steps are the recipe.
• •Serve it with rice and guacamole the way the Zacán cocineras do for fiestas patronales. The rice catches the mole. The guacamole cools the richness. The corn tortilla cleans the plate. Así se hace y punto.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the lamb and strain the broth one day ahead. Refrigerate the meat in a little broth so it does not dry out, and skim only the excess hardened fat. Leave enough fat for flavor.
• •The mole sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead before adding the lamb. Reheat gently and loosen with reserved lamb broth.
• •The chiles, seeds, nuts, bread, tortilla, and spices can be toasted and fried the day before. Store them airtight once cool.
• •Make the guacamole the day you serve. Avocado waits for nobody, and brown guacamole on a fiesta table is careless.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 560g)