By the way, as I searched for more info on how National Mole
Day came to be, I realized it wasn’t “Mole” the sauce; it was actually “Mole”
the scientific unit of measure. Now, why would scientists name a unit of
molecular weight after this delicious Mexican sauce? Anyway, enjoy the video (you can see the written recipe here),
and if you have any secret mole-making knowledge, feel free to pass it along. Enjoy!
8 comments:
In science, a mole is a quantity like a dozen, a couple, or a gross. A mole is 6.02 x 10^23 of something. Could be atoms or apples. But that would be one hell of a pie!
Maybe you can compromise with the day and give us 6.022*10^23 sauce recipes!
I can't wait to see your version of this incredible sauce! Believe it or not I had a "chef" friend of mine make a Mole using Nutella! I thought he was nuts, but it was really good!
When I studied chemistry I learned that the the word "guacamole" is a combination of the word "guaca" which means Avogadro's constant in Spanish, and the word "mole", meaning sauce. It has totally replaced the term "gram-molecule" except when making certain pie crusts or S'mores.
... and, why would the Mexicans name a sauce, and Science name a unit of measure, after the cursed varmints destroying my lawn??? Do you have a recipe for mole flambe?
A mole is a quantity of atoms, molecules or entities, approximately 6.022 x 10^23, equal to the number of atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon-12.
A mole of 5 minute Foodwishes videos would run >400 million times longer than the age of the universe. Can't wait to watch them all!
Mole has five constituent parts: chiles, nuts & seeds, fruits, aromatics & spices, and thickeners. The first four are usually prepared separately, combined in stages, with the thickeners added at the end.
Basically you cook/brown each part, make a puree (often strained), reduce slowly, and repeat with the next stage, adding it to the previous preparation in a big simmering pot. This maximizes all the flavors and slowly alters the character of the mole as it cooks together.
You can use lots of different ingredients. For the fruits I've seen roasted plantain added to the tomatoes and tomatillos. Besides peanuts, there's toasted almonds, pecans, and pepitas (hulled green pumpkin seeds) which are great. Other spices include oregano, star anise and black pepper. In Mexico they tend to use peloncillo instead of white sugar, but brown or demerara sugar works too.
You also need three or four abuelitas with nothing better to do than hang out in the kitchen all day cooking mole. It's very time consuming, but also well worth the effort.
I would love to see your version of mole. I tried another recipe that makes the sauce and then puts the sauce into a slow cooker with a pork butt. Easy, but missing something.....( http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/slow-cooker-mole-pork ) I can't wait to see yours!
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