Beer-Poached Pulled Chicken Mole

Date Prepared: 02/10/11

Source: Rachael Ray, 30-minute meals. Recipe also available at foodnetwork.com

Beer-Poached Pulled Chicken Mole (served with Queso Fresco and Pepitas)

 *Recipe:

3 medium onions
8 boneless chicken thighs
1 Mexican-style beer (recommended: Negra Modela)
4 fresh bay leaves
3 ancho chilies, seeded and stemmed
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1 red chile pepper, such as Fresno or Holland
2 small stems fresh oregano or marjoram, finely chopped
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons unsweetened Mexican cocoa powder
Pinch cinnamon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
Small corn or flour tortillas
Toasted pepitas, for garnish

Quarter one of the onions and place in a pot with the chicken, beer and 2 bay leaves. Add just enough water to come up to the top of the chicken pieces. Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, and then lower the heat and simmer until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove chicken from the hot liquid to a bowl and shred the meat with forks. Strain and reserve the stock.

Meanwhile, in a small pot, cover the anchos with just enough water to cover and simmer to reconstitute, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the anchos to the food processor bowl, reserving the cooking liquid.

Toast the almonds in a saucepan large enough to which to make the sauce. Remove the toasted nuts to the food processor bowl.

Slice the 2 remaining onions. Heat the extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat in the same pot you toasted the nuts in. Add the onions, garlic, last 2 bay leaves, raisins, red chile, oregano, cumin, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Cover and cook to soften the onions, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the crushed tomatoes and heat through. Transfer to the food processor with the reconstituted anchos and almonds. Process into a thick paste and return to saucepan. Add a little of the chicken stock and ancho stock to thin the sauce a bit. It should remain thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the shredded chicken to the sauce then serve with warm corn or flour tortillas for wrapping. Garnish with pepitas.

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Difficulty: Easy - This recipe is relatively straightforward. The extent of the difficulty lays in understanding technical terms like "reconstitute" and ingredient references like "pepitas" and "ancho chili."

Pepitas: In short, "pepitas" refers to pumpkin seeds. According to the website gourmetsleuth.com, these seeds are a popular Mexican ingredient consumed by foodies as far back as the Aztecs. They can be consumed in several forms but have a high oil content and can go rancid relatively quickly.

Ancho Chili: Dried Poblano peppers. They are a deep reddish-brown in color and have a mild flavor when reconstituted.

Reconstitute: A technique used to rehydrate a dried ingredient. Often this involves soaking the ingredient in warm water or other liquid to soften the flesh. In this recipe, the Ancho chillies are simmered in water for a short period of time. This process produces not only the softened ingredient but a stock of sorts imparted with the flavor of the ingredient, as well.

Accessibility: Limited Specialty - Most of the ingredients I was able to find at a typical grocery store. The Ancho chillies, red finger pepper (Holland or Fresno), and Mexican cocoa might be more difficult to locate, but a Mexican or ethnic grocery store should have these ingredients. The Mexican-style beer is common enough and should be available in a basic liquor store.

Visual Appeal: As the recipe is prepared, it is very unappealing to look at. However, a basic fact about mole is that it is not the prettiest dish to look at. As with this dish, the addition of the cocoa produces a generally unappealing brown color. The corn or flour tortillas don't have much chance to enhance the blase color scheme. The addition of the pepitas does brighten up the picture some. Optional ingredients not listed could provide additional color contrast if you are worried about serving this dish to your friends and family (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, etc.).

Overall Taste: In my opinion, mole is not a dish that is unanimously enjoyed. The mixture of cinnamon and cocoa, in particular, can be difficult to get past for some. This mole is not particularly sweet but does have a certain depth inherent to mole. There is some heat but not overwhelming.

Overall Experience: I was really excited to make this recipe and the final product was rewarding. The preparation did take longer than the original recipe indicated, but I am not always the most efficient chef at home and tend to allow things to cook longer than, perhaps, necessary. The quest to locate all the ingredients was frustrating (see notes for omissions and substitutions). During the preparation, the ingredients need to be pureed. Having only a mini food processor I was initially discouraged. However, having watched other cooking shows, I have observed chefs utilize blenders to puree their sauce or breakdown a mixture of ingredients. I attempted this and, initially, it was a disaster! I had neglected to replace the o-ring from the last time the blender was used. As soon as I started to blend the mixture of ingredients, liquid began to leak from the base of the machine! I immediately stopped the processing and transferred the mixture to a bowl only to realize the o-ring was missing. My original concern was that the warm mixture would shoot out the top. I hadn't considered that it would just leak out everywhere! My encouragement for this dish would be to approach it with optimism. It has some different flavors but is an interesting addition to your repertoire.



The blender disaster

Additional Notes: The substitution of a blender for a traditional food processor has already been discussed. I would probably recommend using a glass blender over a plastic construction but either appears to work. Regarding ingredient changes. I neglected to pick up a can of roasted tomatoes and had to substitute regular diced tomatoes in a pinch. Mexican cocoa and Fresno or Holland peppers proved to be elusive and were replaced by regular unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 Serrano chillies. Serrano chillies are, in fact, hotter than Fresno peppers and Jalapeno peppers would have been a more appropriate substitute, in hindsight. Regarding ingredient additions, no significant amount of garnish was included. As pictured, the pepitas were used in addition to some Queso Fresco.

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.