Happy Sunday.

Our goal is to get your cooking juices flowing and inspire you to try new meals.

This week, we’re featuring a framework for how to dive into the world of mole sauces. It’s a food that deserves to be explored, understood, and experimented with, and can’t really be pigeonholed into one recipe.

As always, a grocery shopping list is linked in Notion at the end of this email.

In This Week’s Edition

Try Something New 🤯 — Mole Sauce Framework

Throwback Time 🍳 — Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

The Leftover Shelf 🥡 — Short Rib Grilled Cheese

Extra Helpings 🤤 — Freezing Meat Guidelines?

Shopping List ✅ — Ingredients sorted for easy shopping!

Try Something New 🤯

Expand your culinary horizons. Making mole is a practice in connecting with ancient Mexican traditions and flavors.

Mole Framework

Mole sauces are incredibly varied. The name comes from the word “moler” in Spanish, which means “to grind.” Indeed, mole sauces can be many combination of ingredients ground together and prepared in a multitude of colors, textures, and timeframes.

You can find red moles, thinner and brighter mole amarillos, or thick, black moles that have been stewing for over 2500 days, as made famous by Enrique Olvera’s Mole Madre in Mexico City.

Regardless of the mole you make, here is a framework to help demystify this legendary sauce. Below will be an example recipe for a beginner-friendly mole, or just follow these three pillars with any ingredients you have (as Meso-Americans have done for centuries).

General Guideline: Use 2 or more ingredients from each pillar to create a balanced mole! The more ingredients you use, the more complex and nuanced your sauce will be.

Pillar 1: Dried Aromatics

All moles have dried elements, usually dried chilis and warm spices, that create the signature smoky-spice backbone to the sauce.

Ingredient Examples: Dried Chilies (Pasilla, Morita, Guajillo, Ancho, Arbol, Negro, Mulato, etc), Dried Spices (Cumin, Star Anise, Cinnamon, Cloves, Black Pepper, Oregano, etc), and sometimes other Dried Fruits (like Raisins).

Culinary Roles: Color, heat, spice, earthiness, complexity, and fruity notes (dried chilis are dried fruit, after all).

Pillar 2: Fresh Aromatics

Moles also take advantage of fresher ingredients like alliums, fruits, or vegetables that add a flavorful base when cooked down into the sauce.

Ingredient Examples: Mostly Alliums (Onions, Garlic, etc), and sometimes Fruits & Vegetables (Most commonly: Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Plantains, Squash, or Fruit).

Culinary Roles: Freshness, contrast, acidity, sweetness, aromatic base.

Pillar 3: Texture/Flavor Modifiers

Lastly, moles require ingredients that can thicken or thin out the sauce, bring different textures, or balance out the flavors at the end of cooking.

Ingredient Examples:Consistency Adjusters (Broth or Water, and Starches: Bread, Tortillas, Masa, Ground Corn, Animal Crackers, Bolillos), Texture & Richness Enhancers (Chocolate in any form, Nuts & Seeds in any form: Peanuts, Almonds, Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Nut Butters, etc), and Seasoning Adjusters (Sugar, Salt)

Culinary Roles: Texture control, creaminess, earthiness, nuttiness, sweetness, complexity, and balance.

Cooking Method

1. Toast or fry all ingredients: Heat a layer of oil in a wide pot to medium heat. Pass all ingredients (except for liquids, chocolate, nut butters, salt & sugar) through the hot oil, frying until fragrant, and then remove with a spider strainer to set aside. Make sure to deseed/destem any chilies first. If you are using pre-ground dried spices instead of whole, toast those in a dry skillet instead. Repeat with all ingredients.

2. Blend or grind ingredients & combine: In batches, thoroughly blend together all fried ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pass through a fine mesh sieve for a smoother texture (optional) and add back into a large pot with a layer of oil to fry and simmer. Repeat until all ingredients have been blended and added back to the pot.

3. Adjust consistency, simmer, and season: Add any other starches, chocolate, and nut/seed products followed by broth until the mole is thinned to a sauce consistency. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for as long as you want. Reduce or add broth until your desired consistency is reached, using more consistency adjusters if needed. Adjust seasoning with salt & sugar (should be both deeply savory and a bit sweet).

Serve over any protein with rice. Doubles as an enchilada sauce or a stewing liquid.

If you want an example recipe and more granular instructions, Rick Bayless has a great video and written recipe that walks you through making a classic mole poblano in under an hour.

Pro (Unorthodox)—Tip: Because many moles utilize a combination of chocolate and nuts, try melting in a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (or multiple!) at the end to balance out your mole sauce.

Throwback Time 🍳

Here are three reasons you should braise short ribs this week:

1. They are almost foolproof and very easy to make.

2. They are best made ahead of time: perfect for prepped fancy weeknight meals or no-stress dinner parties.

3. They teach you the fundamentals of braising (if you’re new to braising, check out this troubleshooting guide too)

Check out the short ribs video, or read the written recipe here, which also includes recipes for creamy polenta and a zesty gremolata topping.

And, making this recipe will leave you with some of the best shredded-beef leftovers ever…

The Leftover Shelf 🥡

Leftovers are back in style…if you know how to use them.

This week’s move:

Leftover Short Ribs → Short Rib Grilled Cheese

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If you have bread and cheese around, you can repurpose any leftover short rib bits into a whole new weeknight meal! The red wine braise gives the meat just enough sweetness to pair with the melted cheese, just like how jam is often added to brie, sandwiches, or a cheese board.

Dish Components

• Bread slices of choice

• Cheese(s) of choice, grated

• Leftover short rib, shredded

• Butter or oil for toasting

To assemble: Add a thin layer of butter or oil to the outside of your bread slices. Assemble the sandwich with a healthy layer of both grated cheese and shredded short rib. Toast in a pan or griddle until the cheese is melted and both sides of the sandwich are a deep golden brown.

Serve with a side of pickles and chips on the side for a complete lunch!

Extra Helpings 🤤

🚀 Viral Eats

Cooking trends explained.

Q: What is a chopped cheese?

A: A chopped cheese is a type of sandwich originating from New York City and found in bodegas throughout Upper Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. The sandwich is usually made on a flattop with burger patties & onions where cheese gets “chopped in” with a spatula to break up the burger meat and melt everything together. It’s then served with lettuce, tomatoes, and condiments on a hero roll.

You can think of a chopped cheese like a burger meeting a cheesesteak. However, a cheesesteak is always made with thinly sliced beef, while a chopped cheese sticks to finely chopped burger patties or ground beef. It’s still a different experience from just eating a burger because of the bread, form factor, and how the cheese gets incorporated throughout the meat.

There’s also a bodega signature ingredient that’s usually sprinkled over the meat, making it taste really different from just a burger patty — Next week, we’ll show you how to make a chopped cheese at home and reveal the secret ingredient while we’re at it. Make sure to catch the email next Sunday for the recipe.

🧠 Reader Q&A

Q: What are some guidelines around freezing and defrosting meat? Thanks. - Jessie K

A: To maximize meat freshness, it all starts with a decision when you get back from the grocery store: should meat go in the fridge or the freezer? Follow these guidelines on where to store each item and you’ll be set:

In the Fridge 🧊:

Anything you’ll eat within the next day or two, and put all other raw meat in the freezer.

Be conservative with what you keep in the fridge since cooking & dinner plans might change. You don’t want to keep raw meat for longer than a few days in the fridge.

The exception here is cured meats, bacon, chorizo, deli meats, and precooked or smoked sausages/hot dogs — they’ll keep fresh in the fridge for much longer.

In the Freezer 🥶:

Everything else! Some discipline is required here, but using your freezer means you’re not going to let anything go to waste.

Pro-Tip: If you bought a large pack of steaks, for example, you can individually plastic-wrap each before freezing, that way you can use one at a time later.

Get in the habit of pulling out meat from the freezer a couple of days in advance into the fridge, or overnight/before work onto the counter.

Defrosting Tips 🥵:

If (and when) you forget to defrost ahead of time, you can submerge frozen meat (still sealed or in a ziplock bag) in warm water to thaw in under an hour, preferably in the sink with the tap running. It’ll be ready to go by the time you prep your other ingredients.

We try to avoid the microwave defrost function, but it’ll work in a pinch for ground meats or anything where overcooking or the texture isn’t a worry.

🏆 Dinner Winner! Reader Photo Submission of the Week

This week’s winner is Monika Gornishka from Sofia, Bulgaria who made a chicken, cabbage, and rice noodle stir fry with “a special lacto-fermented sauce.”

We love seeing what Sunday Cooking Club readers are cooking all around the world. Reply with a picture of the best meal you made this week for a chance to be featured in a future email.

🍽 More Yummy Content

A Read: Is cooking without a recipe overrated?​

In a Minute or Less: Pickled onion refresher (Ethan’s TikTok guide)​

What We’re Watching: What buying green coffee in Central America is like​

Food Science: Why are deli subs better than homemade ones?​

Upgrade Your Feeds: Connect with Ethan everywhere​

Ready to shop? 🛒

​✅ Shopping List 2/5