OAXACA
neat, while I wait for the Tres Generaciones mole — Olga’s recommendation — to arrive. Jutting out of a rust-coloured sauce is the
Clockwise from top left: Fresh bread is delivered inside Tlacolula market just outside Oaxaca; tomatoes roasting on hot coals — these will be used in the mole coloradito at Alfonsina; Thalia Barrios García turns a corn tortilla on the comal at Levadura de Olla; wild mushroom mole served with red rice, mole verde and mole de cenizo at Levadura de Olla
slim, foot-long leg bone of an heirloom turkey, blanketed with aromatic mole. The mole itself is velvety and weighty, a good match for the tender smoked meat, and has a slow heat that creeps up my tongue from the back of my palate. My mental Rolodex of flavours whirls as I taste chocolate, peanuts, sesame seeds and thyme, all of which I know it contains. I coat my spoon with the creamy sauce, lift it to my nose and inhale. I smell, taste and smell again, desperate to identify more of the 27 ingredients. Yet I struggle to pinpoint specific flavour profiles — a fact not entirely unexpected. They say the essence of a great mole transcends its individual components. The complexity of Tres Generaciones is on
my mind as I sit down with chef Jorge León the next evening at his acclaimed restaurant, Alfonsina. “We just see a plate of mole, but we don’t know all the work there is behind it,” he says. “People think mole is just a jarred chilli paste,” he adds, in reference to the pre- ground blend available at markets and shops throughout the city. “But mole is a process — it’s going to collect the chillies, cleaning them, deseeding them and toasting them.” Chillies are just one component; the same
procedure must be gone through with the other tens of ingredients, which vary depending on the mole in question and can include almonds, chocolate, peanuts, banana, cloves, raisins, pineapple and fresh or dried herbs, alongside staples such as onions and tomatoes. At Alfonsina, Jorge eschews traditional
ingredients like the pork lard, for frying the paste, and the chicken stock, used to loosen the mole into a sauce, instead relying on seeds for fat content and vegetable stock. The result comes alive on the palate. It’s the lightest, most vibrant mole coloradito — a guajillo- chilli-based variety — I’ve ever tasted. Jorge serves his version with a thick, flaky and tender mahi mahi fillet, and it’s spectacular. In other ways, Jorge’s dishes, including
the moles, are the epitome of ancestral, incorporating as many ingredients native to Oaxaca’s various microclimates as possible. “That a tortilla would be made from quality, local corn — that’s how I see contemporary cuisine,” he says. For Jorge, returning to his roots is an innovation. “Cooking with what we’ve always had, that is contemporary,” he tells me. At Levadura de Olla, chef Thalia Barrios
García also designs her menus to emphasise the depth and breadth of the state’s larder. During the rainy season, when wild mushrooms crop up across the cloud forests of Oaxaca, Thalia prepares a duo of foraged- mushroom moles that are dished up alongside one another. The mole de cenizo is rustic and roughly ground, served with burnt tortillas and toasted chillies. Light in body
Olga Cabrera’s mole estofado almendrado Almond mole is one of Oaxaca’s best known and beloved moles. Normally served with chicken, it also pairs well with pork or duck. SERVES: 6 AS A SIDE TAKES: 1 HOUR
INGREDIENTS 100g whole almonds 50g toasted sesame seeds 50g raisins ½ tsp thyme leaves, plus a sprig of thyme ½ tsp cumin ½ tsp oregano 1 ¼ tsp black pepper ½ tsp cloves 4 bay leaves 1 clove garlic, minced and sauteed 15g onion, chopped and sauteed 50g peanuts 75g ripe plantain 50g pork lard 250g tomatoes, chopped 125g tomatillos, chopped 750ml chicken stock 250ml jar escabeche (pickled jalapeños and carrots), or pickled jalapeños, thinly sliced
35g olives 35g capers 2 bay leaves 75g sugar cooked chicken, pork or duck, to serve
METHOD Fry the almonds in a large frying pan
until golden. Add the sesame seeds and cook for 5 mins, then tip in the raisins and continue frying until they plump up. Add the thyme leaves, cumin, oregano,
pepper, cloves, 2 bay leaves, the sauteed garlic and onion, the peanuts and plantain and cook for 5 mins. Remove from the heat and tip into a
blender. Blitz to emulsify. Heat half the pork lard in a large pan, add the blended mixture and fry until it forms a paste that detaches easily from the pan. In a separate pan, fry the tomatoes
and tomatillos in the remaining pork lard until well-cooked. Blitz thoroughly in a blender, return the mix to the pan and set over a medium heat. Add the fried paste and cook until smooth, stirring every few minutes to prevent it sticking to the pot. Add the chicken stock, jalapeños,
olives and capers and cook for 20 mins on a low heat, stirring regularly to avoid the mixture sticking to the pot. Add the sprig of thyme and the
remaining bay leaves. Add the sugar and cook for 5 mins more, stirring every minute or so. Season to taste. Serve alongside chicken, pork or duck.
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