Holy mole, Batman

[bobmac]

I have a Tex-Mex book that seems to use the terms "mole sauce" and "mole paste" interchangably. Specifically, it calls for a tablespoon of sauce and then refers to a mail-order source for paste. Since "mole sauce" is in itself redundant, what gives? Are paste and sauce the same?

[sladeums]

Generally speaking I would understand 'mole sauce' to be prepared from 'mole paste' and whatever desired liquid medium.

I would think a tablespoon of a 'mole sauce' would not go very far in flavoring anything, depending on the context of the recipe.

[fifi]

Sladeums is correct. You can buy jars of mole paste and that is used to make the sauce. Dona Maria is a fairly common brand, click here. There is a link to the Dona Maria page but apparently the English version isn't available. It does appear that there are some recipes available in the Spanish version.

Sounds like the book needs an editor. I can't even imagine using just a tablespoon of the paste for anything. The jarred pastes usually call for 1 part paste to 3 or 4 parts broth. Which book and recipe is it?

[bobmac]

Oops, my bad. On further inspection, it seems I misunderstood a direction. A recipe that required a footnote instead referenced the footnote of another recipe and I thought it referred to the whole recipe. I guess the point was to avoid redundancy and I didn't read carefully enough.

[fifi]

Oops, my bad. On further inspection, it seems I misunderstood a direction. A recipe that required a footnote instead referenced the footnote of another recipe and I thought it referred to the whole recipe. I guess the point was to avoid redundancy and I didn't read carefully enough.

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I'm not sure it is your bad. Sounds like an editor is still in order. Sheesh. It shouldn't be that convoluted. Why? To save a little ink? Now I am really curious as to which book.

[lovebenton0]

Me too! What book is this?

[ariggsby]

Yes. "Mole sauce" is essentially redundant. "Mole" is an indigenous word meaning something like sauce, though somewhat broader (hence, guacamole = "avocado sauce"). I think there's a thread about this somewhere.

For mole in the narrow sense (chile-seed-fruit sauces) pretty much any recipe will involve making a fairly think preparation (which may or may not be as thick as what you'd usually call a "paste"), then simmering it with a bunch of water or broth to make the final product.

Andrew