"mexican cooking" news and stories

That's mole as in "mo-lay," not mole as in "Whack-a-Mole" at Chuck E. Cheese. But be not mistaken, making the former is no less difficult than playing the latter.

Mole is a traditional Mexican sauce that has a reputation of being rather difficult to make, not because the technique is all that complicated, but because there are over 30 ingredients and according to Matt Armendariz of food blog MattBites who finally attempted to make the sauce himself, at least 43 steps in making it. Just a few of the ingredients, which seem strange, but are essential to the sauce are chiles (not surprising), nuts (still not quite surprising), ripe plaintains, raisins, bread and tortillas as thickeners, chocolate and cinnamon! Matt does a quick history of mole, talks about his grandmother's mole, and shares the recipe he used to make it at home, which comes from Bon Appetit magazine.

"Drupe" is the botanical term for a fruit with an exocarp and fleshy mesocarp surrounding a hardened endocarp that protects a seed inside. In other words, a drupe is a stone fruit. Peaches, nectarines, plums.

But be not mistaken, not all fruits that have a hard center and a fleshy outside are drupes, and fruits that you'd never guess were drupes, in fact, are. I thought I was brilliant when I thought an avocado was a drupe because technically, an avocado is a fruit, but it's not a drupe. An avocado is a berry. But there are berries that are really drupes. Blackberries and raspberries, also known as bramblefruits, are aggregates of little drupelets.

A mango is a drupe. Duh. Of course it is.

Dice a couple of mangoes, which is a drupe, a couple of avocadoes, which is a berry, a couple of tomatoes (also a berry) and toss it with cut grilled shrimp, a squeeze of lime juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. If you are so inclined, add a splash of tequila. Serve with tortilla chips, and I guess if you think about it, you're eating one hell of a fruit cocktail!