Mole Rojo Oaxaqueño con Res

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart cazuela or Dutch oven for the mole
• •Large stockpot for the beef broth
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting and charring
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer (essential, not optional)
• •Wooden spoon long enough to stir the cazuela without burning your hand

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the beef broth

   Place the beef in a heavy stockpot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, halved head of garlic, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first fifteen minutes. Reduce the heat until you see lazy bubbles every few seconds. Cover partially and cook for two and a half hours, until the beef pulls apart with light pressure from a fork. Cold water and a low simmer pull the flavor out clean. A rolling boil will cloud the broth and toughen the meat. You will need this broth to build the mole, so do not rush it.

   Beef shank with the marrow bone in is the better cut here. The marrow enriches the broth and the broth is half the dish.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   While the beef simmers, heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast each variety of chile separately, about 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 at the Central de Abastos. The pasilla oaxaqueño is the thinnest and burns the fastest. Watch it. The guajillo and ancho hold up better but still need your attention. Burned chile is bitter chile and there is no fixing it later.

   If you cannot find chile pasilla oaxaqueño, use chile mulato. It is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it will hold the smoky note that pasilla oaxaqueño brings.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Place the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl and cover with hot tap water. Hot water, not boiling. Boiling water cooks the skin and makes the mole taste like burned rubber. Let the chiles soften for 25 minutes. They should bend without cracking when you lift one out.

4. 4

   Char the tomatoes and tomatillos

   On the same comal, char the tomatoes, tomatillos, quartered small onion, and 6 garlic cloves (still in their skins) over medium-high heat. Turn them as the skins blister and blacken in spots. The tomatoes should collapse and weep their juice. The tomatillos turn from green to olive. The garlic skins blacken and the cloves soften inside. This char is where the mole gets its depth. Slip the garlic out of its papery skins once cool enough to handle.

5. 5

   Toast the seeds, nuts, and aromatics

   Lower the comal to medium. Toast the sesame seeds, stirring constantly, until they turn pale gold and start to jump. Set aside, reserving 1 tablespoon for garnish. Toast the almonds and pepitas the same way, separately, until fragrant. Last, toast the cinnamon stick, cloves, and peppercorns for about a minute, until you smell them. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Every one of these toasted bits is layered flavor that you cannot fake later.

6. 6

   Fry the plantain, tortilla, and bread

   In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the lard over medium heat. Fry the plantain slices until dark gold on both sides and soft in the middle. Lift them out. In the same lard, fry the torn tortilla and the slice of bread until both turn deep brown and crisp. The plantain brings sweetness and body. The bread and tortilla thicken the mole and give it the velvety texture that distinguishes a serious mole from a thin chile sauce.

7. 7

   Blend the mole in batches

   Drain the soaked chiles, reserving the soaking liquid for emergencies but do not use it unless you must. Working in batches, blend the chiles with the charred tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, and peeled garlic. Add a ladle of the warm beef broth to help the blender move. Blend until completely smooth. In a second batch, blend the toasted sesame, almonds, pepitas, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, oregano, fried plantain, fried tortilla, and fried bread with another ladle of broth until you have a thick paste. Strain both purees through a fine-mesh sieve into the same bowl, pressing hard on the solids. Discard the skins and grit. The strain is non-negotiable. Skip it and your mole will be sandy. Asi se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Fry the mole

   In a heavy 6-quart cazuela or Dutch oven, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of lard over medium heat. When it shimmers, pour in the strained mole base. It will sputter. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for 8 to 10 minutes. The mole will darken from bright red to a deep brick red, and the fat will start to glisten on the surface. La manteca es el sabor. This frying step is what turns a chile puree into a mole. Skip it and you have soup.

9. 9

   Build the sauce with the broth

   Strain the beef broth and reserve the meat. Add 4 to 5 cups of the warm broth to the fried mole, one ladle at a time, stirring to incorporate. The mole should coat the back of a spoon and slide off in a slow ribbon. Drop in the chopped Mexican chocolate and stir until it melts. The chocolate is not for sweetness. It rounds the edge off the chile and gives the mole its red-brown shine. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring often so nothing sticks. Taste for salt now. The mole should be deep, complex, faintly sweet, faintly bitter, with the chile carrying everything underneath.

10. 10

    Return the beef and serve

    Slide the cooked beef back into the mole and let it warm through for 10 minutes, spooning the sauce over each piece. Serve in shallow clay bowls with the sauce ladled generously over the meat. Scatter the reserved sesame seeds and a few rings of raw white onion across the top. Serve with white rice and warm hand-pressed corn tortillas at the table. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Source your chiles from a vendor who can name them by region. Chile pasilla oaxaqueño is not the same chile as chile pasilla negro from Mexico City. They are different plants with different flavors. If your vendor cannot tell them apart, find another vendor.
• •Use Oaxacan chocolate if you can find it. Mayordomo and La Soledad are reliable brands. The chocolate is not for sweetness. It rounds the chile and gives the mole its red-brown shine. Cocoa powder is a compromise. Sweet baking chocolate is wrong.
• •Mole is better on day two and day three. Make it ahead. Refrigerate the mole base separately from the meat. Reheat gently with a splash of broth to loosen it. The flavor only deepens. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Beef shank with the marrow bone in is the better cut. The marrow enriches the broth and the broth becomes the mole. Boneless chuck works but you will need to add a little more salt and a longer simmer.

Advance Preparation

• •Mole rojo can be made up to three days ahead. Refrigerate the mole sauce and the cooked beef separately. The flavor of the mole only deepens overnight as the spices and chile marry.
• •The mole base, without the broth thinned in, freezes well for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and rebuild with fresh broth on serving day.
• •The beef broth can be made one day ahead. Strain it, refrigerate it, and lift the solidified fat off the top before using. That fat is good for frying beans next week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 310g)