Why not Mesoamerican Influences on Mole?

Some time ago, a commentator (Tim) raised the following question about my thesis that Mexican mole is basically an Islamic dish transported to Mexico (just hit mole in the tags section). Here’s what he said. Your argument is well and good until you look at the bigger picture. You don’t need a liberal attitude toward [...]

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A Query about Banana Peel in Mexican Cooking

And one from Karen Howe. “In a Mexican manuscript cookbook dated 1908 which I bought at a flea market in Mexico, I found a recipe for banana peel stew. The fruit was not used, only the peel, which was chopped up and fried in lard and then ground up with cloves and cinnamon. Other ingredients [...]

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The Technical Bases of Mole and Curry

A very knowledgeable Indian correspondent, V. Gautam, sent me this comment. “When an Indian looks at a mole, we see, deconstructed, the following parts to the gravy: 1) a garam masala, the sweet spice paste 2) the chile/chile seed paste + any chocolate 3) nut/bread/plantain paste thickener, raisin 4) fried onion base, thickener [optional] 5) [...]

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