History

Mole negro is the most labour-intensive dish in the Mexican kitchen, requiring the charring and grinding of multiple dried chile varieties alongside sesame, almonds, charred tortilla, Mexican chocolate, and spices into a paste that cooks slowly for hours. The dish traces to Oaxacan and Pueblan haute cuisine traditions, where it was reserved for celebrations and feast days. Don Artemio, which opened in Fort Worth in 2022 to bring refined northern Mexican cooking to the DFW market, created one of the few North Texas destinations where a true mole negro is available without flying to Oaxaca.

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Common allergens: Tree Nuts, Sesame, Gluten

Make it at home

Yield 6Hands-on 3 hrTotal 72 hrDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 6 duck legs
  • 5 mulato chiles, stems and seeds removed
  • 4 ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
  • 3 chipotle chiles (dried), stems and seeds removed
  • 30 g sesame seeds, toasted
  • 50 g blanched almonds
  • 4 tablespoons lard or neutral oil
  • 1 small white onion, charred in a dry pan
  • 4 cloves garlic, charred
  • 1 ripe plantain, sliced and pan-fried
  • 2 stale corn tortillas, charred until nearly black
  • 60 g Mexican chocolate (Ibarra or similar), chopped
  • 1 litre chicken stock
  • Salt and a small pinch of sugar to taste

Method

  1. Day one: toast the chiles in a dry skillet until fragrant and blistered. Soak in hot water for 30 minutes, then drain. Toast sesame and almonds separately until golden.
  2. Char the onion, garlic, and tortillas directly over a gas flame or in a cast-iron skillet until blackened in spots. The tortilla should be deeply, deliberately charred.
  3. Blend chiles with a small amount of their soaking water, charred onion, garlic, sesame, almonds, fried plantain, and charred tortilla in batches until completely smooth.
  4. Fry the mole paste in 2 tablespoons of lard over medium heat, stirring constantly for 20 minutes as it darkens and becomes deeply fragrant.
  5. Add chocolate and stir until melted. Add stock gradually, stirring to combine. Simmer on low heat for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool and refrigerate overnight.
  6. Day two: reheat the mole slowly and adjust seasoning with salt and a pinch of sugar if bitter. The mole should coat a spoon thickly. Refrigerate again for another night.
  7. Day three: nestle the duck legs into the mole in a covered casserole at 150 C (300 F) for 2 to 2.5 hours until the meat is pulling from the bone.
  8. Serve with black beans and handmade corn tortillas.

Tip from the editors. The deeply charred tortilla gives the mole negro its characteristic dark colour and slightly bitter backbone.

Where to eat don artemio-style mole negro with duck

Don Artemio-style mole negro with duck in Fort Worth

Don Artemio ★ 4.8

$$$ MexicanWest 7th

Don Artemio in Fort Worth brings refined northern Mexican cuisine to W 7th St, a 2023 James Beard finalist celebrating heritage dishes of northern Mexico.

OrderBirria de res, chiles en nogada, traditional mole negro with duck.

TipSunday brunch 10:00-15:00 is the most relaxed seating. The mole negro takes three days to prepare and is not always available.

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