Mole Negro de Santa Catalina

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Volcanic stone metate with tejolote, or high-powered blender
• •Cast iron comal for chiles, spices, tortilla, and vegetables
• •Wide barro rojo cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
• •Wooden spoon with a long handle
• •Medium sieve or fine-mesh strainer
• •Barro negro serving cazuela

Instructions

1. 1

   Sort the chiles

   Wipe the chiles clean with a dry cloth. Open them, remove the stems and seeds, and keep one tablespoon of chilhuacle negro seeds aside. The chiles should be flexible and smell fruity, smoky, and deep. If they crumble like old paper, they are dead. Preguntale a las señoras del mercado before you spend money on bad chiles.

2. 2

   Toast each chile

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast each chile variety separately, pressing briefly with a spatula, 10 to 20 seconds per side depending on thickness. Chilhuacle and ancho can take a little more time. Pasilla and guajillo burn fast. The skin should darken, puff in spots, and release a deep chile smell. Do not let the flesh turn black.

   Burned chile makes bitter mole. The blackness of mole negro comes from chilhuacle negro, chocolate, fried paste, burned tortilla, and careful simmering, not from ruined chiles.
3. 3

   Soak the chiles

   Place the toasted chiles in a large bowl and cover with hot water, not boiling water. Weigh them down with a plate and soak for 30 minutes. Hot water softens the flesh without cooking the skins into bitterness. Drain the chiles and discard the soaking water unless your chiles are unusually mild and sweet.

4. 4

   Burn the tortilla

   Set the tortilla directly on the comal and let it burn until black all the way through. This is intentional. Toast the reserved tablespoon of chilhuacle negro seeds beside it until they are very dark but not ashy. The burned tortilla and dark seeds give the mole its convent shadow, that bitter edge that keeps the chocolate and raisins from making it sweet.

5. 5

   Fry the bread

   Melt 2 tablespoons of lard in a heavy skillet. Fry the bolillo pieces until golden on both sides, then remove them to a large bowl. They give body to the sauce. This is a sauce with weight, not a thin salsa pretending to be mole.

6. 6

   Fry nuts and fruit

   In the same lard, fry the almonds, peanuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and raisins in batches. Stir constantly. The sesame should turn gold, the almonds should smell toasted, and the raisins should puff. Remove each batch before it crosses into bitterness. Add more lard by the tablespoon as needed.

7. 7

   Fry the plantain

   Fry the plantain slices in the same pan until deep golden on both sides. They should smell caramelized and hold their shape. Add them to the bowl with the bread, nuts, and fruit. Plantain gives roundness and body, not dessert sweetness.

8. 8

   Char the vegetables

   On the comal, roast the onion, garlic, tomatoes, and tomatillos until blistered and softened. The tomatoes should slump, the tomatillos should turn olive green, and the onion should have brown edges. Scrape any good browned bits into the bowl. Those marks matter.

9. 9

   Toast the spices

   Toast the canela, cloves, peppercorns, allspice, and anise seed on the comal for 30 to 45 seconds, just until fragrant. Add the thyme, Mexican oregano, and bay leaf for the last 10 seconds. Spices this small go from alive to bitter quickly. Watch them.

10. 10

    Grind the paste

    If using a metate, grind the soaked chiles first, then the fried nuts, bread, plantain, vegetables, spices, burned tortilla, and toasted seeds, working everything into one dark paste. If using a blender, blend in small batches with just enough warm stock to move the blades. Do not make soup. Make paste. Strain each batch through a medium sieve if your blender leaves skins or seed grit behind.

11. 11

    Rest overnight

    Cover the paste and refrigerate it overnight. This is not laziness. This is how the fried ingredients hydrate evenly and the chile settles into itself. The convent kitchens had time because they cooked for institutions, feast days, and saints, not for a rushed Tuesday dinner.

12. 12

    Fry the paste

    The next day, heat 1/4 cup lard in a wide barro rojo cazuela or heavy Dutch oven over medium. Add the mole paste carefully. It will sputter, so use a long wooden spoon. Fry for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring constantly, until the paste darkens, thickens, and the fat begins to shine at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Without this frying, the mole tastes raw.

13. 13

    Thin and simmer

    Add the warm stock one cup at a time, stirring until each addition is absorbed before adding the next. Stir in the jerez, salt, and chocolate. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 2 to 3 hours, stirring often so the bottom does not catch. The mole should move like heavy cream, coat the spoon, and leave a dark glossy trail when you stir.

14. 14

    Correct the balance

    Taste only after the mole has simmered at least two hours. If it tastes flat, it needs salt. If it tastes sharp and harsh, add the piloncillo. If it tastes sweet, do nothing except simmer longer. A proper mole negro is bitter, fruity, smoky, spiced, and dark all at once. It should not taste like chocolate sauce.

15. 15

    Finish the sauce

    Toast the remaining 2 tablespoons sesame seeds until pale gold. Serve the mole as a sauce in a warm barro negro or barro rojo cazuela, glossy and thick, with the sesame scattered over the surface. The turkey or chicken it dresses belongs to another recipe. This is the mother sauce. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Chilhuacle negro is not easy to replace. Look for Oaxacan chile vendors, Mexican specialty markets, or reputable online sellers who name the growing region. If you cannot find it, use more mulato and ancho, but understand what you are missing: the dark fruit, smoke, and Oaxacan identity. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Use real pork lard, not shortening. The conventual mole needs the flavor and carrying power of manteca. Vegetable oil makes the paste greasy without giving it depth.
• •The metate gives the best texture because it crushes the chile skins, nuts, spices, and tortilla into one body. A powerful blender is acceptable if you work in small batches and strain carefully. El metate es la regla, the blender is the modern concession.
• •Do not rush the simmer. At the beginning the mole tastes like a list of ingredients. After hours of slow movement, it becomes one sauce. That is the point of baroque cooking.
• •This sauce is for celebrations: weddings, saints' days, Christmas tables, and family meals where someone planned ahead. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only if you respect the time.

Advance Preparation

• •The mole paste can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated before frying. It can also be frozen for 2 months, tightly wrapped, before the final fry and simmer.
• •The finished mole keeps 5 days in the refrigerator and improves after the first night. Reheat slowly with splashes of stock, stirring from the bottom.
• •For a feast day, complete the sauce one day before serving. On the day of the meal, warm it gently and adjust salt only after it is fully hot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 125g)