Chef Olvera’s Madre Mole: A Dish 1,000 Days in the Making

Diners Club International

No matter where your travels take you, no journey is truly complete without experiencing its local cuisine. The culinary delights awaiting the expansive and culturally diverse regions of Mexico will both tantalize and enchant, leaving your taste buds to dance with delight. One such regional staple is mole, which comes from the Nahuatl word for ‘sauce’.

Traditional mole recipes have continued to evolve from generation to generation so each sweet, savory taste becomes a truly unique masterpiece of flavors for the palate. The intricacies of mole recipes are both elaborate and complicated, with over 6 different types up that can include to 30+ different ingredients. A combination of core native ingredients used to make mole include a variety of chiles, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Other ingredients used to establish its more regionally unique flavor include tomatoes, raisins, avocado leaves, and chocolate (as found in Mole Poblano).

Chef Olvera’s Madre Mole

Similar to the positive effects of aerating a mature red wine, many say that allowing the flavors of mole to settle and blend together enhance the complex taste and intensify the delicious rich fragrance of the sauce. This notion inspired Chef Enrique Olvera to experiment with ‘living mole’, or better known as Mole Madre, at his Mexico City Restaurant, Pujol. The motivation behind the creation of the first 15-day-old mole came at the invitation to cook at Quintonil to help Enrique’s protégé, Jorge Vallejo, celebrate his restaurant’s first anniversary. It was then that Enrique decided to focus on making a Mexican staple with a twist.

Chef Enrique’s living creation has its own unique “attitude” that can change each day, from dull and tired to lively and bright. The mole’s ‘attitude’ dictates what new ingredients are added into the sauce. From apples to purple bananas and even tamarind, the Mole Madre continues to fluctuate in flavors through the nurturing of Chef Enrique. The famous mole is now over 1,000 days old and is one of Enrique’s most famous creations. The sauce is served as a dish on its own with tortillas rather than an accompanying sauce.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranked Pujol No. 25 on their prestigious list for 2016, so when he decided to open a New York based restaurant, Cosme, it came to no surprise that it was a huge success. With a dish that never expires, Enrique Olvera’s growing popularity is bound to do the same.

As a Diners Club member, you too can dive into the fusion of fun in Mexico through exclusive offers in various restaurants in 9 different cities all across the country. Privileges extend beyond to include shopping, travel, and entertainment experiences. Be sure to check out what other prospects are yours to enjoy and don’t miss the opportunity to use your Diners Club® Privileges to explore this exceptional country.

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