Cooking Recommendations
Cooking Recommendations
Tips for Making Your Marinades and Moles Perfect
By Eloísa Carmona - 2022-05-27T09:15:57Z
Read in English
Adobos and moles are a very important part of Mexican food, as they accompany all types of meats and are made with ingredients tied to our country and traditions. While the former are usually simple, making moles is an art.
Adobos and moles are a very important part of Mexican food, as they accompany all types of meats and are made with ingredients tied to our country and traditions. While the former are usually simple, making moles is an art.
According to the Larousse gastronomic dictionary, “adobo is a thick sauce” made from “dried chiles, spices, and vinegar in which meat is marinated for several hours.” The most common meat marinated with adobos is pork, followed by chicken, beef, and fish.
On the other hand, mole is also a thick sauce, but unlike adobos, it is used for stewing rather than marinating. Mole is a complex stew, but the word can also refer to “hearty soups,” such as mole de panza or mole de olla, for example.
Thus, the main difference between adobo and mole is that the former is used to marinate meats before cooking, while the latter involves stews. To make either one perfectly, the chefs at Kiwilimon have some tips for you.
Chef Brenda Villagómez indicates that, in general, adobos and moles contain toasted seeds, so it is very important to take care when toasting them, as they could make the adobo or mole bitter; “the same case happens with dried chiles, which is why traditional cooks dry their chiles and some seeds, like almonds, in the sun on a petate days before making their preparations.”
As a general tip for preparing either, she points out that it is very important to grind the spices in a molcajete, as the grinding will turn out much better than if you use a blender, especially if you do not have a grinder.
Chef coordinator Yamilette González tells us that when it comes to moles, it is a matter of taste, as you can prepare them spicy, sweet, more bitter, or sour. The difference between adobos and moles also lies in the amount of spices used.
“Adobo traditionally includes cumin, pepper, and clove; for a mole, it is more complex, as some types of mole may include anise, cinnamon, pepper, clove, cumin, and if it is a green mole, it includes completely different ingredients, such as spinach or Swiss chard.”
Tips for making adobos
- Take advantage of the variety of seeds that nature can provide and do not be afraid to use melon seeds or papaya seeds to prepare adobos, as they will add sweetness and a special touch.
- Charring the ingredients will always give an extra special flavor from the smokiness.
- Add orange juice, as every adobo should have a sweet element and an acidic one (vinegar, lemon juice, sour orange juice) to complement each other.
- The most common chiles for making adobos are ancho and guajillo, and all adobos should have dried chipotles, as they are the chiles that give the most flavor to the meat.
Tips for making moles
- The quality of the ingredients is very important; make sure that the nuts and seeds are fresh and not rancid.
- Mole should always be fried with lard, as it adds a different flavor.
- Nuts and seeds can be toasted in the oven, as is traditionally done, but they can also be fried in lard, because this way the lard becomes infused with the flavor of the seeds, giving you better control to avoid burning them.
- It is very important that all chiles are clean and deveined, especially if it is a sweet mole.
- The chiles most commonly used for moles are generally dark and slightly bitter, toasted over very low heat, such as ancho, mulato, guajillo, and pasilla chiles.
- The most common seeds for moles are usually peanuts, sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts, but you can also use hazelnuts or raisins to add a touch of sweetness.
- Chocolate is also important, but it always goes in at the end.
- Adding animal crackers or María cookies will not only help thicken the texture of the mole but also add sweetness.
