Oaxaca

Chichilo, Oaxaca’s forgotten classic mole

Chichilo, Oaxaca’s forgotten classic mole

Posted on by Pat and David
Chichilo is perhaps the most unorthodox of Oaxaca's seven classic moles. Thickened with corn masa, it lacks the fatty richness of seeds or nuts. Nor does it boast the sweet and round flavors of the tomatoes, tomatillos, raisins, or plantains found in other moles. The simplicity of chichilo is very similar to a Texas all-meat chili con carne. It consists primarily of meat stewed in a sauce of puréed chile peppers. But chichilo is also one of the Oaxacan ‶burnt″ dishes that get part of their flavor from charred ingredients. Some of those recipes call for blackened onions, fire-roasted tomatoes, or even fire-roasted green chiles with the charred flesh left on. This version of chichilo, adapted from Zarela Martinez's seminal The Food and Life of...Read More
Mole negro with sweet potato and feta salad

Mole negro with sweet potato and feta salad

Posted on by Pat and David
Fans of Mexican cuisine dream about this mole. It's practically the national food of the region of Oaxaca. If you go to the fresh market in Oaxaca city, you can select all your ingredients and have the market miller grind them together for you into a paste. (The miller will use toasted cacao seeds, sugar, and almonds rather than pre-made chocolate tablets.) Admittedly, the market approach has a few disadvantages. You don't get the rounded flavor that comes from roasting the seeds, nuts, and spices. This recipe gives you full control, but it takes most of a day to make. We often double the recipe and pressure-can the leftovers in 12-ounce canning jars. That way we can enjoy mole negro at will. If you're a...Read More
Mole amarillo meets champagne for New Years Eve

Mole amarillo meets champagne for New Years Eve

Posted on by Pat and David
If there's one shortcoming of Mexican mole sauces, it's that many of them are not exactly wine-friendly. Mole amarillo, however, is an extreme exception. It's a bright, sprightly sauce with a nice acidic tang and a heady combination of sunny spices. Amarillo is a perfect riposte to the cold and dark days immediately following the winter solstice. It also pairs spectacularly with sparkling wines, champagne included. One of our favorite choices is Gruët Brut, a terrific American sparkling wine from New Mexico made by a family with roots in France's Champagne district (gruetwinery.com). They blend it from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grown at 4,000-5,000 feet of elevation between Albuquerque and Las Cruces, New Mexico. (The company's Blancs de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs also go...Read More
Starting on Oaxaca’s seven moles with mole rojo

Starting on Oaxaca’s seven moles with mole rojo

Posted on by Pat and David
For many years we cooked a Christmas Eve spread for around 25 family members. Since we have only our own palates to please this year, we decided to make the holidays festive by beginning a marathon of cooking dishes often associated with good times and holiday cheer, at least in Mexican and Latinx households. We're talking about tamales and moles (MOH-lays, in case you were wondering how to pronounce it). This will be the beginning of a series with recipes for our versions of the seven classic moles of Oaxaca and some ways to serve them. Why Oaxaca? Mexico has a rich variety of regional cuisines, but we think of Oaxaca as the mother kitchen for them all. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec was the spice...Read More
Cradle of Mexican cuisine, Oaxaca relishes mole negro

Cradle of Mexican cuisine, Oaxaca relishes mole negro

Posted on by Pat and David
No one escapes untouched by Oaxaca. This lyrical, magical city has been a powerful cultural and trade center for millennia. It is also arguably the cradle of Mexican cuisine. You can always eat well in Veracruz, Mexico City, and Puebla. But in Oaxaca, you feast. Every dish is a taste revelation. Tomatoes and chile peppers were domesticated in northern Oaxaca around 4500 BC—presumably to spice up all those meals based on beans and corn, which the ancient Oaxacans had domesticated 3,000 years earlier. And Oaxaca continued to expand its larder. By the time the high culture of Monte Alban (right) arose around 500 BC, the Oaxaca Valley was a crossroads of trade between South and North America. Foodstuffs poured in from as far north as...Read More