Mole and Curry
Mole’s on my mind again (find previous posts by clicking on the tag “mole”).
Last night I was lucky to attend a reception with Patricia Quintana prior to the mole festival here in Guanajuato. Not surprisingly in her eloquent history of mole, she affirmed that the basic techniques were indigenous with some Islamic ingredients added later. No chance, of course, in the crowd, to pursue this further.
Just a couple of days ago, though I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of the second issue of a new Mexican culinary magazine, Sabor (highly recommended by the way). The banner headline on the title page was mole and curry, backed by photos of the kinds of spices used in these dishes. The culinary editor, Marina Skipsey, had been to India and come back with wonderful photos. These preceded analysis of ingredients common to mole and curry and those that were unique to each, and then photos of the making of a mole amarillo and a rogan josh. One of the references cited was the book Mulli by the eminent Mexican culinary entreprener, Patricia Quintana. The other, I was delighted to see, was my article on the Mexican Kitchen’s Islamic Connection. An honor for me.
Congratulations Rachel!
Your article which I have read is indeed pioneering in the subject!
Do you know if sabor is available to suscribe to from the US? The webpage only lets you buy their wine guide.
Thanks,
Alex
I like cooking exercises like this. Seems to save a lot of words when people can see the continuities and similarities in cooking techniques. It’s been done at a professional culinary school, when you put tagine cooking techniques in between a curry and a mole, you have a lot of “AHA!” moments with Mexican, South Asian and North African students.
Your article is great! I just skimmed it, going to read it more thoroughly now.
Thanks all. Ji-Young I have a pile of mole recipes on my desk and really will post them. They are just so very long I need to find a time when I am happy to just sit and type away.
Alex, I can’t see how to subscribe either. My experience with mail order in Mexico has been very mixed. I’m writing them about other things and will mention this.
Congrats Rachel on the honor. that is the same article that has made me a regular reader of your blog.