Mexican · Oaxaca · main

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño con Guajolote

Mole Negro Oaxaqueño con Guajolote reads richness 5.4, umami 5.4 and sweetness 4.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Mexican · Oaxaca main, about 4 hr 25 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 5.4 · Umami 5.4 · Sweetness 4.8 · Nutty 3.5 · Fruity 3.4 · Warm Spice 3.2 · Allium 2.8 · Earthy 2.7 · Floral 2.2 · Salinity 2.1 · Sourness 1.7 · Heat 1.6 · Bitterness 1.4 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Citrus 0.5 · Smoke 0.5

What's in it (23)

Time & effort: about 4 hr 25 min (3 hr 55 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 158.3 kcal, 14.9 g protein, 7.2 g fat, 11.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

  1. Be honest with yourself about the clock before you start. A real mole negro is a two-day dish: four to five hours of standing at the stove, and it is better on the second day than the first. Nothing here can be hurried without showing.
  2. Simmer the turkey in the stock with half an onion for 45 minutes, until the meat is just tender at the bone. Lift the pieces out and keep them warm; the broth you are left with is the spine of the sauce.
  3. Tear the chiles open flat and toast them on a dry comal over medium heat, 20 to 30 seconds a side, pressing them down until they smell nutty and go a shade darker. Burnt chile is bitter and there is no correcting it later — if one blackens, throw it out and start that one again.
  4. Now the step that makes the mole black rather than red: put the reserved chilhuacle seeds in a heavy dry pan and burn them deliberately until they are charcoal and smoking hard, about 8 minutes. Do this with the windows open or outdoors. Rinse the ash off in cold water and add them to the soaking chiles.
  5. Soak all the chiles in hot water for 30 minutes until they are limp. Meanwhile toast the sesame, almonds, raisins and whole spices until fragrant, fry the plantain in a little of the lard until golden at the edges, toast the avocado leaves for a few seconds until they smell of anise, and dry the tortilla and bread on the comal.
  6. Char the tomatoes, tomatillos, onions and garlic on the comal until they are blistered and blackened in patches, 10 to 12 minutes — this is char, not colour, and the smoke is part of the flavour.
  7. Blend everything in batches with a little broth and press it through a medium sieve. Heat the remaining lard in a heavy cazuela until it shimmers, then add the paste all at once — it will spit — and fry it, stirring almost constantly, 20 to 25 minutes, until it darkens, thickens and the fat begins to separate at the edges.
  8. Add the stock, chocolate and avocado leaves and let it barely blip for 90 minutes, stirring often so nothing catches. It should coat a spoon heavily. Season with salt, return the turkey, and simmer 20 minutes more.
  9. Substitutions: tomatillos can stand in for the miltomates; chicken stock can stand in for the turkey stock.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.