sauce

sauce, seasoning or flavoring composition, usually in liquid or semiliquid form, used as an appetizing accompaniment for meat, fish, vegetables, and desserts. Sauces, an important feature of quality cookery, especially in France, have often been named for the chefs who created them. Sauces may be classed as hot and cold; and divided again, the hot as white and brown, the cold as the mayonnaise type and the type used for coating cold foods and often containing gelatin. Hot sauces, made with a base of flour, fat, and milk or stock, may be varied by seasonings and added ingredients. Stewed fruits, such as apple and cranberry, are sometimes classified as sauces. Commercial sauces, which are finely blended extracts of various fruits and vegetables with vinegar and condiments, include Worcestershire sauce, Leicester sauce, chili sauce, creole sauce, soy sauce, Tabasco, and catsup. Sauces for puddings and desserts include syrup, custard, fruit, and creamed sauces (hard sauce and wine and brandy sauce).

Mole (Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl mulli or molli, "sauce") is the generic name for several sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. In English, it often refers to a specific sauce which is known in Spanish by the more specific name mole poblano. The word is also widely known in the combined form guacamole (avocado mole). In contemporary Mexico, the term is used for a number of sauces, some quite dissimilar to each other and include black, red, yellow, colorado, green, almendrado, pipián. The most popular kinds come from the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca, and there is an annual national competition in the town of San Pedro Atocpan in the Milpa Alta borough of Mexico's Federal District, on the southern outskirts of Mexico City.

Types of mole

Mole poblano

Mole poblano, whose name comes from the Mexican state of Puebla, is a popular sauce in Mexican cuisine and is the mole that most people in the U.S. think of when they think of mole. Mole poblano is prepared with dried chile peppers (commonly ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle), ground nuts and/or seeds (almonds, indigenous peanuts, and/or sesame seeds), spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon and occasionally nuts), salt, and a variety of other ingredients including charred avocado leaves, onions, and garlic. Dried seasonings such as ground oregano are also used. In order to provide a rich thickness to the sauce, bread crumbs or crackers are added to the mix. The chicken or turkey is cooked by completely boiling it in a pot with water, a little bit of salt and a piece of onion to give the broth some flavor.

One of the more popular dishes which includes mole is mole poblano de guajolote, or turkey (Mexican Spanish guajolote, from Nahuatl huexolotl) prepared with mole poblano.

Mole de cacahuate

Another somewhat less popular mole is mole de cacahuate, made of ground peanuts and chiles and also typically served with chicken.

Mole verde

Mole verde achieves its distinctive green color from the toasted pumpkin seeds that form the sauce's base. As well as using ingredients such as Roman Lettuce and Green Tomatoes

Mole colors

Ingredients

Preparation

There are various procedures to make mole. Generally the following are universal when making mole. Dried chili peppers, cut up onions and whole garlic are lightly fried in oil. In a blender, chicken broth along with the fried dried peppers and the rest of the ingredients are mixed and placed in a large pot. The resulting mixture sauce has to be continuously stirred on a low-medium flame. Bread crumbs or crackers mixed with chicken broth are also put in a blender and added to the pot.

Mole can be bought ready-made from local markets or supermarkets. It comes as a kind of paste or powder that can vary in color from deep black to green or even yellow, depending on the ingredients used. In modern supermarkets and corner shops, mole is sold either canned, in glass jars, or in cubes that can be dissolved in water or, more appropriately, broth.

In Guatemala, "mole" refers to a dessert composed of fried or boiled chunks of plantain in a chocolate/spice sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Festive use

Cinco de Mayo

parties

Quinceaneras

Competitions and festivals

Nutritional value

See also

• Cuisine of Mexico

References

External links

• A mole recipe from the Vegan Society