Long story short - I decided to make some authenticish Mexican Red sauce from dried chiles. I watched various YouTube videos in Spanish and English and settled on what seemed a traditional approach. After toasting some of the chiles and adding some chicken broth, I simmered and tasted - awful. It wasn't done yet, but I'm accustomed to building flavors - not trying to (for lack of a better word) salvage them.
But I continued on faith. After straining, reducing, adding the required cumin, oregano and salt, something started to work. It did take a bit of adjusting, but in the end the result was remarkably good.
I thought about Mole, which seems similar. Is Mexican cuisine unique in this regard? I can't think of anything in American, British or French cuisine where you start out with something awful and somehow fix it to great effect.
