I love mole. It’s truly one of those tasks that has to be a labor of love, because it takes an entire day to do it properly. THIS particular recipe for black mole is one I read about a few years ago when Rick Bayless made it at the White House for President Obama. He mentioned how difficult it is to procure the chihuacle chiles and talked about the authenticity of using them.
Challenge accepted!
I scoured the web trying to find them. No luck. We went to Mexico with our lesbii for Christmas and I asked everywhere…nada. They’re native to a very small region in Oaxaca. Back to the internet. Zip. I blamed my husband David, because he’s the reason I can’t have nice things. That didn’t work either.
Finally, I found Michael Beary, the chef at Zocalito Latin Bistro in Aspen. He was mentioned in some articles online and it turns out he also does mail order for hard to find ingredients. You can find chihuacles at his website, www.zocalito.com.
Here’s the deal with mole. Because it’s a pain in the ass to make, MULTIPLY the recipe. It freezes really well. In this case, I made it according to how many chihuacle chiles I bought. I ordered two packages, unsure how the weight would convert into actual chiles. Turns out two was a LOT so I ended up making a quadruple batch. Boo hoo, right? Too much mole. There are worse things.
As with all Bayless recipes, everything worked without exception. His instruction is always golden for me. The only note I’d add is that when you defrost and reheat the mole, it tends to be a bit on the dry side, so I end up adding chicken stock. I also added a tiny bit more piloncillo to taste.
When I made the large batch of this, I did it exactly as described in the recipe below, which I lifted from an article on Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/20/bayless-black-mole-recipe_n_583397.html ). Last night,we did a tex-mex theme at our place, so I did a chili-rub on some ribeyes, slapped them on the grill and served them over the mole with some chile-fried onions on top. We served them with the Firecracker cole slaw from Dean Fearing’s new book, “The Texas Food Bible” and some Mexican street corn. For you cookbook hoarders, the inspiration for the chile rub and the onions came from Stephan Pyles' book, "New Tastes From Texas".
If you decide to give this a go, you won’t be sorry. You’ll just be bored. And irritated at the amount of dishes you have to do. And then bored again as you stir that damned pot….but hey, sometimes pot stirring is fun. Mole is also a perfect example of a dish where you can taste the time going into it—those layers of flavor add a depth and nuance making every minute worth it.
OAXACAN BLACK MOLE WITH BRAISED CHICKEN
Serves 8 (with about 10 cups of sauce, which will mean leftovers to make enchiladas or more chicken)
11 medium (about 5 1/2 ounces) dried mulato chiles
6 medium (about 2 ounces) dried chihualces chiles (see note in Variations and Improvisations below)
6 medium (about 2 ounces) dried pasilla chiles
1 dried chipotle chile (preferably the tan-brown chipotle meco)
1 corn tortilla, torn into small pieces
2 1/4-inch-thick slices of white onion
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
About 2 cups rich-tasting lard or vegetable oil (for frying the chiles)
1/2 cup sesame seeds, plus a few extra for garnish
1/4 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup unskinned or Spanish peanuts
1/4 cup unskinned almonds
About 10 cups chicken broth (canned or homemade)
1 pound (2 medium-large or 6 to 8 plum) green tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 ounces (2 to 3 medium) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 slices stale bread, toasted until very dark
1/4 teaspoon cloves, preferably freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, preferably freshly ground
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, preferably freshly ground Mexican canela
A scant teaspoon oregano, preferably Mexican
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 ripe banana
1/2 cup (about 3 ounces) finely chopped Mexican chocolate
2 or 3 avocado leaves (if you have them)
Salt, about 1 tablespoon depending on the saltiness of the broth
Sugar, about 1/4 cup (or a little more)
2 large (3 1/2- to 4-pound) chickens, cut into quarters
1. Getting started. Pull out the stems (and attached seed pods) from the chiles, tear them open and shake or scrape out the seeds, collecting them as you go.
Now, do something that will seem very odd: scoop the seeds into an ungreased medium-size (8- to 9-inch) skillet along with the torn-up tortilla, set over medium heat, turn on an exhaust fan, open a window and toast your seeds and tortilla, shaking the pan regularly, until thoroughly burned to charcoal black, about 15 minutes. (This is very important to the flavor and color of the mole.) Now, scrape them into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse for 30 seconds or so, then transfer to a blender.
Set an ungreased skillet or griddle over medium heat, lay on a piece of aluminum foil, and lay the onion slices and garlic cloves on that. Roast until soft and very dark (about 5 minutes on each side of the onion slices – peel it off the foil to turn it; about 15 minutes for the garlic – turn it frequently as it roasts). Cool the garlic a bit, peel it and combine with the onion in a large bowl.
While the onion and garlic are roasting, turn on the oven to 350 degrees (for toasting nuts), return the skillet to medium heat, measure in a scant 2 cups of the lard or oil (you'll need about 1/2-inch depth), and, when hot, begin frying the chiles a couple at a time: They'll unfurl quickly, then release their aroma and piquancy (keep that exhaust on and window open) and, after about 30 seconds, have lightened in color and be well toasted (they should be crisp when cool, but not burnt smelling). Drain them well, gather them into a large bowl, cover with hot tap water, and let rehydrate for 30 minutes, stirring regularly to ensure even soaking. Drain, reserving the soaking liquid.
While the chiles are soaking, toast the seeds and nuts. Spread the sesame seeds onto a baking sheet or ovenproof skillet, spread the pecans, peanuts and almonds onto another baking sheet or skillet, then set both into the oven. In about 12 minutes the sesame seeds will have toasted to a dark brown; the nuts will take slightly longer. Add all of them to the blender (reserving a few sesame seeds for garnish), along with 1 1/2 cups of the chicken broth and blend to as smooth a puree as you can. Transfer to a small bowl.
Without rinsing the blender, combine the green tomatoes and tomatillos with another 1/2 cup of the broth and puree. Pour into another bowl. Again, without rinsing the blender, combine the roasted onion and garlic with the toasted bread, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, banana and 3/4 cup broth. Blend to a smooth puree and pour into a small bowl.
Finally, without rinsing the blender, scoop in half of the chiles, measure in 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid, blend to a smooth puree, then pour into another bowl. Repeat with the remaining chiles and another 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid.
2. From four purees to mole. In a very large (8- to 9-quart) pot (preferably a Dutch oven or Mexican cazuela), heat 3 tablespoons of the lard or oil (some of what you used for the chiles is fine) and set over medium-high heat. When very hot, add the tomato puree and stir and scrape (a flat-sided wooden spatula works well here) for 15 to 20 minutes until reduced, thick as tomato paste, and very dark (it'll be the color of cinnamon stick and may be sticking to the pot in places). Add the nut puree and continue the stirring and scraping until reduced, thick and dark again (this time it'll be the color of black olive paste), about 8 minutes. Then, as you guessed it, add the banana-spice puree and stir and scrape for another 7 or 8 minutes as the whole thing simmers back down to a thick mass about the same color it was before you added this one.
Add the chile puree, stir well and let reduce over medium-low heat until very thick and almost black, about 30 minutes, stirring regularly (but, thankfully, not constantly). Stir in the remaining 7 cups of broth, the chocolate and avocado leaves (if you have them), partially cover and simmer gently for about an hour, for all the flavors to come together. Season with salt and sugar (remembering that this is quite a sweet mole and that sugar helps balance the dark, toasty flavors). Remove the avocado leaves.
In batches in a loosely covered blender, puree the sauce until as smooth as possible, then pass through a medium-mesh strainer into a large bowl.
3. Finishing the dish. Return the mole to the same pot and heat it to a simmer. Nestle the leg-and-thigh quarters of the chicken into the bubbling black liquid, partially cover and time 15 minutes, then nestle in the breast quarters, partially cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the chicken is done.
With a slotted spoon, fish out the chicken pieces and transfer them to a large warm platter. Spoon a generous amount of the mole over and around them, sprinkle with the reserved sesame seeds and set triumphantly before your lucky guests.
Advance Preparation: The mole can be completed through Step 2 several days ahead (it gets better, in fact); cover and refrigerate. Completele Step 3 shortly before serving.
VARIATIONS AND IMPROVISATIONS: Chilhuacle chiles are very difficult to find unless you're in Oaxaca (even then they're sometimes hard to obtain). Without them you can make a very respectable black mole with 6 ounces (12 total) dried mulato chiles, 2 1/2 ounces (8 total) dried pasilla chiles and 1 ounce (4 total) dried guajillo chiles.
For the Chile-Rubbed Ribeyes and Red Chile Onion Rings:
(Yields 4 servings)
4 bigassed ribeyes (Bone-in if you want to serve huge, impressive man-steaks)
Spice Blend ( mix 1 cup ground chiles, 1 cup paprika, 1/3 cup sugar, salt and pepper to taste)
Canola Oil for Frying
3 onions, cut into rings
1 quart buttermilk, for soaking
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup paprika
1/2 cup chile powder
2 tbsp ground cumin seeds
salt to taste
cayenne powder to taste
For the steaks: Rub spice blend on both sides of ribeyes, place in the refrigerator and allow to marinate 8-12 hours. Remove an hour before grilling and allow to come to room temperature. Grill to desired doneness. We tend to pull them at about 120 degrees and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.
For the onion rings: Pour enough canola oil in a large frying pan to come 3 to 4 inches up the side. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F or until lightly smoking. Place the onions in a large bowl and cover with buttermilk; let soak for 20 minutes. Combine the flour, paprika, chile powder and cumin in a medium bowl; mix thoroughly. Shake the excess milk off the onions and toss in the flour mixture until well coated. Fry in the hot canola oil until golden. Drain the rings on paper towels and season with salt and cayenne to taste.
Ladle mole onto plate, place grilled ribeye on top, and scatter onion rings over that. We served this with margaritas and far, far too many bottles of a big red zinfandel.
Enjoy!
