Amy and I planned a mole party for my visit to Austin (we served sixteen people). We chose a Rick Bayless recipe out of an old Fine Cooking. Mole is a lot of work – it was a three-day, laborious process but very satisfying to make. The article says it takes a total of six hours to make, most of which is unattended, but even with two of us it was much longer than that. The end result was excellent. Very authentic, and perfectly seasoned. Amy‘s husband, Gary, made margaritas that were absolutely perfect. The beans were started on the stove, but then were moved to a slow cooker to simmer for several hours. I made a chunky version of guacamole, and Amy made my favorite Mexican rice, which looked gorgeous in her silver serving bowl. This was a terrific menu for a party, especially with two of us sharing the workload.
– We couldn’t find mulato chiles. We got advice from the staff at Fiesta and at Central Market, then decided to substitute equal amounts of ancho and pasilla chiles instead. I’ve never seen mulato chiles in any Latino store, so mail-order might have been the best way to go.
– Seeding the chiles wasn’t difficult, but gloves are recommended. Although the chiles aren’t spicy, the residue will cause burning if you touch your hands to your eyes or other mucus membranes, even after multiple hand-washings.

The dried chiles, seeded and torn into large pieces.

– We decided to make the mole as traditional as possible by using lard to fry the chiles and other ingredients. The aroma of the hot lard was very strong and off-putting for both of us (probably because it’s not something we’re accustomed to.

The chiles, after quickly frying them in lard.

– We pureed the mole ingredients and chiles using a blender. The recipe says to use enough chicken broth in the blender to keep the ingredients moving (about 1/4 cup), then once it’s smooth strain it through a sieve. We ended up using a lot of chicken broth – just over four cups, because the mixtures were just too thick. We finally figured out the trick: add chicken broth to the bottom of the blender and slowly add the solid ingredients or chiles until the mixture is thick and smooth, but not so thick that it doesn’t move around in the blender.

Some more mole ingredients – tortilla, bread, tomatoes, raisins.

– We ended up adding another four cups of chicken broth to the mole when we simmered the chile and tomato purees together, The recipe calls for a total of ten cups. We used a total of eight cups.
– The recipe notes that it’s important to drain and blot the grease from the various ingredients. We drained at ever step, to ensure a non-greasy mole.
– We added 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar to the mole before cooking the mole with the turkey, plus another tablespoon after.

The turkey pieces after browning – ready to bake in mole sauce.

The mole sauce after simmering – ready to bake with the turkey.

– It was difficult to remove the skin and slice the meat off of the turkey legs, thighs and wings. Amy thinks she would just buy turkey breasts next time. We both think it would be best to remove the skin before it goes into the mole, because it was difficult to tell what was skin and what wasn’t. This was an especially messy step.

The mole and turkey before going into the oven.

The turkey and mole after baking – after this step, we separated the turkey and sauce. We tore the meat off the bones the next day.

– We brushed flour tortillas with butter on one side, then sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top and popped them under the broiler. When they were nice and toasty and slightly crispy, we repeated the procedure with the other side of the tortillas, then cut them into triangles for the ice cream sundaes. We found that to prevent the tortillas from puffing (and breaking apart), it was best to cut them in half before broiling them.

Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sundae.

• White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Roasted Tomato Salsa
• Black Beans
• Guacamole (with Jicama, Fresh Corn, Green Onion and Cilantro)
• Mole Poblano (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 65)
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Vanilla Ice Cream with Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sauce (Fine Cooking #61, Winter 2004 Holiday Baking, p. 30)

Margaritas