Mole Negro de Oaxaca with Turkey
A deep black sauce, almost ink-like, where dried roasted chiles, chocolate, seeds, fried bread, and more than twenty ingredients merge, coating pieces of turkey. Bitter, sweet, and spicy all at once: the masterpiece of Oaxacan cuisine, simmered all day long.
A deep black sauce, almost ink-like, where dried roasted chiles, chocolate, seeds, fried bread, and more than twenty ingredients merge, coating pieces of turkey. Bitter, sweet, and spicy all at once: the masterpiece of Oaxacan cuisine, simmered all day long.
Here is the dish of my city, the one brought out only on days of great joy. Believe me, it requires patience, as much as a people wanting their freedom: you must toast the chiles to the edge of black, without quite burning them, marry chocolate to bitterness and bitterness to sweetness. In Oaxaca, women spend the entire day before the metate. When the mole coats the spoon and shines like obsidian, only then do you call the household to table.
- •Chiles chilhuacle negro, mulato, and pasilla — a good handful of each (sauce base)
- •Turkey (guajolote) — one bird, cut up (meat)
- •Oaxacan chocolate — one tablet (smoothness and bitterness)
- •Sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds — two handfuls (thickener)
- •Tomato and miltomate (tomatillo) — a few fruits (acidity)
- •Stale bread and burnt tortilla — a little (thickener and color)
- •Cinnamon, clove, pepper, oregano — as needed (spices)
- •Lard — as needed (cooking fat)
- •Piloncillo (unrefined sugar) — one piece (sweetness)
Mole Negro de Oaxaca with Turkey
A deep black sauce, almost ink-like, where dried roasted chiles, chocolate, seeds, fried bread, and more than twenty ingredients merge, coating pieces of turkey. Bitter, sweet, and spicy all at once: the masterpiece of Oaxacan cuisine, simmered all day long.
Why this dish? Juárez was governor of Oaxaca before becoming president, and Oaxaca is the land of the seven moles. Mole negro, the most complex and solemn, is the dish for baptisms, weddings, and large gatherings in the city where he studied and built his career. It is the festive dish that would have been served to honor the Benemérito upon his return to his homeland.
Here is the dish of my city, the one brought out only on days of great joy. Believe me, it requires patience, as much as a people wanting their freedom: you must toast the chiles to the edge of black, without quite burning them, marry chocolate to bitterness and bitterness to sweetness. In Oaxaca, women spend the entire day before the metate. When the mole coats the spoon and shines like obsidian, only then do you call the household to table.
Ingredients (period version)
- Chiles chilhuacle negro, mulato, and pasilla — a good handful of each (sauce base)
- Turkey (guajolote) — one bird, cut up (meat)
- Oaxacan chocolate — one tablet (smoothness and bitterness)
- Sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds — two handfuls (thickener)
- Tomato and miltomate (tomatillo) — a few fruits (acidity)
- Stale bread and burnt tortilla — a little (thickener and color)
- Cinnamon, clove, pepper, oregano — as needed (spices)
- Lard — as needed (cooking fat)
- Piloncillo (unrefined sugar) — one piece (sweetness)
Ingredients
- Turkey thighs (or free-range chicken) — 1.2 kg (meat)
- Dried pasilla chiles — 6 (base)
- Dried mulato (or ancho) chiles — 4 (base)
- Dried guajillo chiles — 4 (base)
- Dark chocolate 70% (ideally Mexican table chocolate) — 60 g (smoothness, bitterness)
- Sesame seeds — 3 tbsp (thickener)
- Hulled pumpkin seeds — 2 tbsp (thickener)
- Ripe tomatoes — 2 (acidity)
- Tomatillos (or 1 green tomato) — 3 (acidity)
- Dried tortilla + slice of stale bread — 1 + 1 (thickener, color)
- Cinnamon, 2 cloves, 6 peppercorns, 1 tsp oregano — 1 stick + rest (spices)
- Onion, garlic — 1 onion, 3 cloves (aromatics)
- Lard or neutral oil — 4 tbsp (cooking fat)
- Piloncillo or cane sugar — 30 g (sweetness)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Poach the turkey in salted water with an onion and garlic; reserve the broth.
- Seed the chiles, then dry-toast them on the comal until they darken and become fragrant (without burning); soak in hot water.
- Toast the sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, tortilla, and bread separately until dark brown: this gives the mole its ink color.
- Sauté tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, and garlic, then add the spices.
- Blend the drained chiles with the toasted seeds, tortilla/bread, vegetables, and a little broth until smooth (strain if possible).
- Fry this paste in hot lard, stirring constantly for 10 minutes, then thin with broth.
- Add the chocolate and piloncillo, season with salt, and simmer over low heat for 30 to 45 minutes: the sauce should coat and shine.
- Reheat the turkey pieces in the mole and serve with rice and tortillas.
How it was made : In the 19th century, mole negro was a community dish: ingredients were toasted on the comal, ground on the metate for hours, and each family kept its own chile ratio. Turkey, a native Mexican bird, was the royal meat, reserved for great occasions.
The contemporary twist : Serve a small ladle of mole on a slate plate with a drizzle of crema and a line of toasted sesame seeds — Oaxaca's 'obsidian' dressed like a jewel.
Sources : Diana Kennedy, Oaxaca al Gusto (2010) · Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, Diccionario enciclopédico de la gastronomía mexicana (2012)
Benito Juárez · Charactorium
