Making Mole Poblano for the Mexican Grand Prix
Welcome to Grand Prix Gastronomy! This week, I’m cooking Mexico's national dish, mole poblano, and trying my hand at homemade tortillas.
This project is pretty simple. As a complement to each race weekend, I’ll be cooking the national dish of that race’s host country and sharing information about the process and that dish’s history along the way in an effort to grow more deeply immersed in the local culture from my own home.
What Is Mole Poblano?
Growing up in rural Michigan, my experience with Mexican food for a long time was strictly limited to whatever you could find at Taco Bell or from Old El Paso — and it was never my favorite. So, when my mom moved to Texas and I started visiting her more frequently, I remained deeply skeptical of all Mexican food. For years. I remember we frequented a local restaurant, where I insisted upon ordering chicken breasts with garlic butter sauce.
In high school, my Spanish teacher required us to cook a Mexican meal as a project, with the intention of everyone sampling national flavors. Unfortunately, my classmates and I were shopping exclusively from a limited, middle-of-nowhere food selection, which meant that the folks who prepared mole… made it with Hershey’s chocolate. I wish I was kidding. It was offensive to my palate on so many levels that I never went out of my way to try mole again. I’ve had it a few times since, but usually only inside one small taco in the throes of a taco sampler, and generally not with gusto.
So when I discovered that Mexico’s national dish is mole poblano — reader, I fully grimaced. Knowing that most of my previous encounters with the dish weren’t exactly promising, though, gave me hope that I’d be able to whip up something that would change my perceptions of the food.
Mole is technically just a name given to a ton of different sauces, and it’s evolved over the years to encompass so many of Mexico’s diverse cultures. The word itself is believed to stem from the Nahuatl language, where “molli" or “mulli" meant “sauce” and was made from chilies and tomatoes; later, ingredients brought to Mexico by colonizers were added to the original base. Mole poblano itself originates from the Mexican state Puebla, and there are so many legends surrounding the creation of this dish — ones that usually involve some form of divine intervention.
Mole poblano, much like the chili we cooked last week, is one of those infinitely customizable recipes that mostly depends on the whims of the chef. Everyone includes a little something different, or has a different twist when it comes the preparation. It is, ultimately, a delicious way to express the local flavor.
This Week's Recipe
I picked out a recipe from Mexican Food Journal, and I will warn you — it’s a little bit intensive, and there’s a good chance it’s going to take you a while to complete all the steps because most of the ingredients need to be toasted, then blended, then cooked separately or in small batches. It’s worth all the time you’re going to put in because the depth of flavor is delicious. Jarred mole sauce just doesn’t compare.
This recipe serves the mole over shredded chicken, but you can always use it in other ways: on enchiladas, tacos, you name it! You can also serve it with any kind of meat — but chicken or turkey is the more traditional choice of protein.
I considered making my own homemade tortillas for this recipe, but I can get them freshly made from HEB (a Texas grocery chain, for those who aren’t familiar), and I opted for that instead. I’m also pairing it with a nontraditional take on esquites, or Mexican street corn, that comes from another local Texas chain, Torchy’s Tacos. I’m also adding my favorite side ever, charro beans (also known as cowboy beans). And, to round out a full meal, I’m serving Mexican rice on the side; that recipe came from The Austin Cookbook by Paula Forbes. The book is worth a buy; I cooked my way through a handful of the recipes after I moved from Austin the Philadelphia and have loved every single one of them.
Cooking Mole Poblano
I highly, highly recommend working through this feast in batches! I did pretty much all of my prep the day before I wanted the mole for dinner, and I still spent most of the following day actually finishing up and cooking. Make sure you're ready to give this dish an ample amount of time.
And, for space-saving purposes, I'm also foregoing a detailed description of cooking the charro beans, because that was also quite a bit of work. Just make sure you leave plenty of time for your beans to cook, then soak up all that tasty, meaty flavor.
Alright. On to the mole!
First off, you'll want to quickly fry up some dried chilis — and I mean quickly fry them up, because I left mine in a hot pan with some beef tallow for about a minute, and some bits of mine got burned. If you want to avoid a shitload of spice, also make sure you've deseeded your chilis and removed the veins. Fry ‘em up, then drain the oil and set them to the side to cool for a bit. After they have, add your chilis to a blender until you get a nice red paste.
After that, work in batches to fry almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, stale bread, garlic, cinnamon sticks, raisins, tortillas, sesame seeds, and spices like peppercorns, cloves, and coriander seeds. This is a little bit of a tedious process, so make sure you set aside plenty of time to let everything cook up nicely. (I also recommend cooking each ingredient on its own; they all cook at different temperatures and times, so you don't want to burn up your pumpkin seeds by adding them into your almonds too quickly.) After you cook up each batch, then drain the oil and place your goodies on a towel-lined plate.
Let everything cool a bit, then start throwing your fried goods into the puréed chilis. You'll likely need to work in batches to be most efficient about the whole thing, adding in plenty of chicken broth until you reach a thick but still a little runny consistency. I also added in some tomatoes for that little extra bit of tartness; the recipe I chose doesn't call for them, but I like ‘em, so in they go.
Next, slice up some onions and sauté them up before blending them as well.
Finally, you'll cook the mole! Pour all the sauce into a big pot, then stir in a tablet of Mexican chocolate, some chicken bouillon cubes, chicken stock, and salt. Let the whole thing simmer until it has reduced — and then it's ready to serve.
I served mine with shredded chicken (turkey is more traditional) that I had boiled with aromatics the day before. Spoon the mole over your chicken and then serve as you like! I popped mine into some tortillas (I preferred corn tortillas for this dish) and added cilantro, guac, diced onion, and cotija cheese on top. On the side, I had esquites, charro beans, Spanish rice, and a fruity zinfandel wine.
So, What's the Verdict?
I've always been skeptical of mole. I'm not a big peanut person, and nuts in general aren't my favorite. I like them all by their lonesome, but add them to a dinner or dessert, and I check right out. Peanut butter cookies? Nope. Coffee cake with walnuts? Nope. Pad thai with peanuts? No way. I like two peanut products: peanut butter (exclusively spread over semi-burned toast in an extremely thin layer) and Reese's peanut butter cups cups.
So with the mole — which my husband also kept referring to as “Reese's sauce, which definitely did not help the matter — I was hesitant. I wasn't sure I'd like it. I am so pleased to report that my opinion has changed!
There are a whole lot of flavors in mole, and also a lot of textures and consistencies, so my worry that all I would taste was chocolate or peanuts was pleasantly disproved. Instead, you're in the throes of flavor heaven with every bite. It's nutty and bitter and a little sour and smoky and earthy. You don't really taste any chocolate, since the chocolate is pure dark chocolate; instead, it lends a depth and bitterness to the sauce that absolutely rips. The raisins offer a little sweetness, while the nuts and seeds make it seem like you're feasting on the best trail mix of your life. Paired with the spice of the peppers, it's a real win.
That being said, I found it to be a pretty intense flavor — not in a bad way, but in a way that made me feel like I wanted to balance it all out somehow. That's what made the taco so tasty; the corn tortilla somehow grounded the whole dish, while the guac offered a green creaminess, the cotija offered a salty bite, and the onions and cilantro gave everything a fresh kick.
Of course, you can also have mole in about a thousand different ways: spooned over a protein of your choice, stirred into a little rice, layered into enchiladas or burritos, drizzled on your eggs in the morning — the options are literally endless, and they're all tasty. Plus, this recipe makes a ton of sauce, so feel free to portion it out and freeze it for a few months to use later.
I will be totally honest, though. For me, the star of the dinner was the charro beans. If I'm at a Mexican restaurant, it is an absolute guarantee that I'll substitute my refried beans for a little cup of charro beans — which can be an entire meal in and of itself. It's the perfect blend of smoky and meaty and hearty, and I think I could literally eat ‘em for the rest of my life.
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This looks amazing!