Toby Appel's Turkey Mole


Violist and faculty member at Julliard, Appel, first shared his famous recipe for molé with host Lisa Simeone on NPR's Performance Today back in November 1998.

INGREDIENTS

  • 9 dried peppers: 3 each of mild, medium and spicy, preferably red
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup almonds or walnuts (shelled)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup chopped onions
  • 1 cup peeled and seeded tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 corn tortilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher if possible)
  • 1/2 inch stick cinnamon
  • 12 cloves
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon anise seed
  • 3 squares unsweetened chocolate
  • 1 12 to 14 lb. Turkey

    METHOD

    For Mole sauce:
    Rinse peppers and heat in chicken broth until softened. Once softened, remove seed and grind in blender. Add almonds or walnuts (shelled), garlic, chopped onions, tomatoes, raisins, and corn tortilla. Blend until finely chopped. Set aside.

    Combine salt, stick cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, and anise seed. Put mixture into a dry frying pan and roast over medium heat until mixture begins to smoke (approximately 5 minutes). Remove from heat and spoon mixture into a coffee mill.

    Grind it until it becomes a powder. Add powder to ingredients in blender and grind. (The end result should be a little wetter than concrete mix--nice and thick).

    Pour contents of blender into a big pot and add unsweetened chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Cook for thirty minutes on a low temperature and set aside.

    For Turkey:
    Heat oven to 550 degrees. Rinse turkey well, pat dry, and rub inside and out with olive oil and kosher salt.

    Sprinkle 2 or more cloves of finely chopped garlic with kosher salt and rub inside of turkey (can also add a chopped onion or a lemon).

    Roast for 1 hour, 15 minutes. DO NOT STUFF--the turkey won't cook properly. Use internal meat thermometer and cook until thigh temperature is 160 degrees. Remove from oven at 160 degrees--it will continue cooking for another 20 minutes to an internal temperature of 170 degrees. (Do not cook to 180 degrees-it will be overdone) .

    Remove turkey from oven. Spoon sauce over turkey and let it cool down. Carve and serve. Be sure to save some sauce to use at the table.

    Confused? Try listening to Toby's methodical process.


    ENJOY!