"chipotle" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> As far as I know, mole (yes, there are many) is a complicated and
> sublime sauce.
> I have just encountered a recipe for chili that calls for powdered
> mole.
> Is there such a thing?
> How do you powder a complex sauce?
>
> Could this person mean something else, such as powdered chiles of some
> sorrt?

"How do you powder a complex sauce"?

Google came up with 1.3 million pages to sift through! Wow. However, first
take out the Complexity through the marvels of modern chemistry Chip. It
is not difficult if you follow the trades and the advances in sciences.
Lots of folks have self professed snobbery about cooking but Blind taste
tests show otherwise in many case in establishing a norm.

A "Chile or Chili Powder of sorts" yes. It is the dried form of the
ingredients and you just add your preference of liquids. If you know there
are many style of Moles, you can imagine there as many powders as there are
jars of Mole paste ranging from good to bad. Google for them. Just as RR's
30 minute meals irks the Gourmets, this thought of "prepared" really hacks
the " authenticos". But lets face it " home replacement meals", take out
dinners and frozen dinners are growing in the rest of the world just as they
are here in the US. There are more changes fast coming down the pike.

While I do like to know and want to "preserve the old ways", personally I am
not of the opinion that mole preparation for daily life has to be difficult
nor involve 12 distant family members and their offspring in a crusade
search for the holy grail of ingredients for a week before a weekend long
cooking marathon competition. It just has to address your tastes.
Restaurants cut corners all the time so do home cooks. I will, in order,
grab a fresh broth/stock, if available then a canned broth, then a paste
like "better then Bullion, then the grab for the cubes if all else is not
available, your broth can be fresh, canned, or cubed.

My favorite Mole is Verde made from toasted pumpkin seed with Poblano chiles
and slow cooked smothering a brined and spatchcocked chicken. I can get
the Pumpkin seed in the Bulk food isle, the dried chiles and other
ingredients such as Mex Chocolate in the International isle, the fresh
chiles, garlic, onion, cilantro, tomatillos, etc from the produce section
or my garden depending on the time of season and any eccentric ingredients
such as sesame paste for the Organic foods isle. I just do not have
culantro nor ezopte up here. So understand alot of what you read in
authentic recipe is the way it was back in the day. Well we have mixers,
food processors, microwaves, self programmable ovens that convect, grill
broil, bake and dry, slow cookers, toaster ovens, etc. Hell I grill indoors
as well as smoke and BBQ outdoors. Use what you have and if it passes the
taste test? , you done good; passing the Snob Test?, priceless!