Reverse Engineering by Bon Appétit - Dailymotion

Bon Appétit

We challenged super taster Chris Morocco to blindly taste an iconic dish and then reverse engineer it.

Transcript

00:00Hey, it's Dan, and I'm here for a super secret conversation

00:03about Chris Morocco.

00:05Once again, we're gonna put Chris's super tasting abilities

00:08to the test.

00:09This is Frida Kahlo's Oaxacan black mole.

00:13We're challenging Chris to replicate this exact dish

00:16with every ingredient in just one day.

00:19He'll be able to taste, touch, and smell it,

00:21but at no point will he be allowed to see this dish.

00:25At the end of the day, we'll come back

00:27and taste this final creation, and I'll be the judge.

00:30All right, here we go.

00:46Like barbecue sauce, but with star anise.

00:49Wow, OK.

00:50There's just so much sauce here.

00:53I'm getting a really strong chili component,

00:55but then there's like a fruitiness,

00:57a sweetness, and a tomatoeyness.

00:59I think there's a strong dried herb element in there.

01:03It's like a dried oregano.

01:04There could be some black pepper in there too.

01:07Underneath there, there's like a very firm something.

01:10Oh, OK.

01:12We have a chicken leg,

01:14and I just wanna separate out some of these elements

01:17to see if I missed anything on this plate.

01:19I mean, the sauce itself is just wildly complex.

01:23Oh, it's really good.

01:25It's giving me like a little bit of like cocoa, nuts, seed,

01:29and it's like my worst nightmare

01:30of there being so many different subtle flavors

01:34all piled up.

01:36Let's set that nightmare aside

01:37and let's move over to the chicken.

01:40It's a little bit firmer than I'm expecting.

01:42It's pretty like neutral and chickeny.

01:44It's not really giving me much at all.

01:46The knee bone doesn't really wanna flex that much.

01:49It feels like the chicken was kind of

01:51just sort of straight up roasted

01:52with the sauce ladled over it.

01:55To me, this feels like extremely classic Mexican cooking.

01:59Mole is just an archetypal dish.

02:01They're known for having a lot of ingredients.

02:04This is pretty much a worst case scenario.

02:08Dear diary.

02:09So I'm thinking for nut, it's peanut, almond.

02:12Seed-wise, pepitas, sesame seeds.

02:16I think there is a dried chili element.

02:20I think ancho, pasilla, chipotle.

02:23I need all of those chilies to kind of work together.

02:26I could put cocoa powder

02:28and then for protein, chicken leg quarters.

02:31I've got 25 things on this list.

02:33Given my track record of being a solid B2C student,

02:37we could be looking at a 40-ingredient dish here, no problem.

02:43So somebody's gonna shop for these ingredients

02:45and bring them back and I'll have my first shot.

02:49Okay, so ingredients are here.

02:55There's so many things.

02:56It's a little bit head-spinning

02:58to see it all laid out like this.

03:00Why don't we toast off some chilies

03:02and get them rehydrating?

03:04Toast off nuts, seeds, spices, sweat it out aromatics.

03:08Tomato will be one of the last things that goes in.

03:10Rehydrated chilies need to be pureed,

03:12added to the sauce at some point,

03:14and bring it all together.

03:15Then not least of all is our friend, Mr. Chicken.

03:18We may just throw this one in the oven.

03:21Where we're gonna start is pick a nice mix of dried chilies.

03:24Pasilla, morita, ancho, guajillo.

03:28The seeds get a little bit bitter.

03:30You gotta get all that plus the stem out of there.

03:33Pasilla is gonna give me some of the leathery notes.

03:36Morita is gonna give me smokiness and heat.

03:40Ancho is gonna give me fruitiness

03:42and kind of like medium complexity.

03:44And guajillo is gonna kind of give me bulk

03:46without a ton of heat.

03:49I'm toasting the chilies, deepens their flavor a little bit.

03:53You see them kind of like changing shape a little bit

03:56as they heat up.

03:57But I'm just thinking like a number of things

03:58feel like they need to be toasted off here

04:00and why not the chilies as well?

04:02If you were to blend them up right now,

04:04they would stay in distinct pieces,

04:06kind of like chili flakes added to a dressing,

04:09but instead we're hydrating them

04:11so that when we puree them,

04:12they turn into a relatively smooth sauce.

04:15Next step, let's think about toasting some nuts.

04:20You know, toasting in a skillet,

04:21you do it because it's faster.

04:23I'm trying to push this process along

04:25just because we have so many ingredients to get through.

04:28And then let's move on to sesame seeds.

04:30I felt the texture of seeds

04:33and I feel like the body of the sauce

04:35was blitzed out nuts and seeds.

04:39How's the accuracy going?

04:41Recipe is fine.

04:42Yeah?

04:43Yeah, recipe is fine.

04:44Your voice was really high when you said that.

04:44Yeah, no, I hit a falsetto.

04:47Dan's shoot got canceled in India,

04:49so now he's just like around,

04:51like kind of just like a bitter teenager

04:54whose like house party kind of fell through.

04:57All right, so pepitas,

04:58more commonly or less commonly known as pumpkin seeds.

05:03So coriander and cumin seeds.

05:05Coriander adds like a real citrusy note.

05:08Cumin is just like earthiness.

05:11If the chicken is cooked on the stovetop

05:14and cooked some amount of the way in the sauce,

05:17but a sauce with that level of viscosity to it

05:21is gonna wanna stick and burn.

05:23Whereas throwing it into the oven is a little bit random,

05:26but maybe appropriate.

05:28It's going in at 425.

05:31I think like when in doubt, go with like white onion,

05:33especially for Mexican cuisine.

05:35This is gonna be for the aromatic base of the sauce.

05:41All right, I'm just gonna let that go for a minute

05:42while I chop up some garlic.

05:45Onion and garlic make the world go around.

05:47I'm gonna grind up some of these spices.

05:50So I'm gonna use roughly half

05:53and I'm just gonna grind them up.

05:54So that's the cumin and coriander.

05:56This is dried Mexican oregano.

05:58Do I wanna add the cocoa powder now?

06:00Maybe, right?

06:02I feel like that is probably the most common form

06:04of like chocolate added to a mole.

06:07So this is traditional passata,

06:09just a concentrated tomato puree.

06:12The tomato is gonna help bring up some of the acidity.

06:15There's also like a sensation of kind of tomatoeyness,

06:18like a really soft form of acid.

06:21I want it to be really cooked out

06:23till the fat is practically separating.

06:27Tastes good.

06:28Even the cocoa, it's like very integrated in there.

06:31I think this aromatic base is kind of ready to go.

06:34So there are chilies.

06:36You can see the liquid that's coming off of them,

06:38just like how dark it is.

06:40If you're looking for hydration in your ultimate recipe,

06:44it's certainly better than water.

06:45It's like giving you some of that liquid essence

06:47of the chili peppers.

06:48Got some chicken broth.

06:50So I'm gonna do ready to go roasted peanut,

06:53which just had way superior flavor and texture

06:57versus the raw peanut that we tried to kind of rough

07:00and ready in the hot skillet.

07:02It's like, tastes like nothing.

07:03It tastes like, like earwax.

07:06So anyway, I've got a couple tablespoons

07:08of toasted pepitas, toasted sesame seeds as well.

07:12Blitz these things up a little bit

07:14before I introduce the chili,

07:16just so we can start the pureeing process.

07:20There's a little bit of texture,

07:22just that little amount of chili rehydrating liquid

07:25is giving us some heat.

07:27And then the peanut just provides

07:28just like that grounding overall kind of savory depth.

07:32And what peaks out up above is the toasted sesame and pepita.

07:37So I wanna add all of these chilies.

07:40You only live once, right?

07:41Let's see where we get just pureeing this now.

07:46So obviously massive transformation, right?

07:48It's now in this kind of like brick red world.

07:56It's a little intense

07:58and there's not even like any salt in there,

08:00which is not great.

08:01But we also don't have any of our cooked out

08:04aromatic base here.

08:06A lot of our sources of sweetness,

08:08you know, our herbs, our spices

08:10is gonna round out that chili mixture.

08:12Gonna retaste the sauce

08:13now that it's got the aromatic base in it.

08:17It's like we're a long way off guys.

08:19It's too hot, it's too bright.

08:22We need more cocoa powder.

08:24I'm gonna throw some sugar in here.

08:25Just not getting like the sweetness.

08:28I think we're just missing a little bit more pepita

08:31and sesame and even peanut as well.

08:33The more I put cocoa with the sugar

08:36and the more salt in there,

08:38it just keeps pulling the flavor down and down,

08:41deeper, richer in a good way.

08:45I'm a little shaky on the relationship

08:48between the chicken and the sauce in the original dish.

08:50I can imagine like chicken braised in mole,

08:53which was not what I experienced.

08:55We have this like slightly bright sauce, right?

08:59Technique that I've seen,

09:00but I've never personally attempted before

09:03is called scalding a sauce.

09:04So like basically like you heat a new pot of oil

09:07and you put your puree into that pot

09:10as a way of deepening and melding the flavors.

09:14Whoa.

09:16Danger.

09:18F***.

09:21Anyway, I think that's like,

09:23that's enough like innovation for the day.

09:26I'm thinking it's chicken with the sauce.

09:29I'm thinking it's chicken with the sauce on top

09:31and then nothing else.

09:33This is my first attempt at chicken mole.

09:37I mean, it's like, look,

09:39there's an honesty to it, right?

09:42Ah, scores.

09:44Ingredients, 50.

09:47Technique, 50.

09:50Appearance, 65.

09:54And taste, I mean, I'll give this like a 60.

09:57It's bringing me more to like spicy peanut sauce.

09:59It's in the same universe,

10:01but I think I could have done better.

10:03All right, here are my actual scores.

10:05Fascinating.

10:06I mean, this is honestly like significantly better

10:09than I expected.

10:10As much as I want to sit here and expound,

10:12why don't we just taste the original dish again

10:14and then have a conversation about it?

10:18Heavy is the head that wears the mask, you know?

10:20All right, here we go.

10:23Gosh, it's like, it's a sweetness.

10:25This is just a sweeter, cleaner flavor,

10:28and I'm really getting pops of sesame seed in there.

10:32Compared to what peanut did in my version,

10:34it's staying very faint.

10:35The peanut could come out entirely.

10:37Wonder if we can take the pepita out as well.

10:40This question of like warm spices,

10:43I don't know, there could be cinnamon in the spice mixture,

10:46or you could be using like Mexican chocolate,

10:48which would have cinnamon in it.

10:50It's so aromatic,

10:51but I feel like I'm kind of like I'm missing it.

10:54So brightness,

10:55I am wondering about a blistered tomato in there.

10:58Maybe the onion as well.

11:01I mean, certainly a technique that I see elsewhere

11:03in Mexican cuisine.

11:05I don't know.

11:06There's still like this question of like the interplay

11:07between the chicken and the sauce.

11:10I think this chicken is really firm.

11:12A lot of like unrendered fat under the skin.

11:15It's not like brazy shreddy.

11:17You know, it's kind of driving me crazy.

11:21I have some meaningful thoughts.

11:22I don't know that it's like gonna quite get me there,

11:24but I think I'm good.

11:27Here are my ingredients for this round.

11:29The main addition here is instead of cocoa powder,

11:33Mexican hot chocolate, right?

11:35Which has got, cinnamon's not listed,

11:38but it says artificial flavor,

11:40and God, I hope there's cinnamon in there.

11:43Only Abuelita knows what's actually in there.

11:47I'm gonna try a different technique

11:48in terms of building the sauce.

11:50Blistering some tomatoes,

11:53quartered onion, whole cloves of garlic in their skin,

11:57a little coating of oil on these

11:58to try to get more depth on them

12:01and see if we can get some real nice char.

12:03Going to all pasilla and ancho.

12:06I just worry that the marita just get real hot.

12:09So I'm hoping we can pull the flavor down.

12:12I don't think I'm gonna toast them this time.

12:14I'm just getting them rehydrated.

12:16So we are toasting sesame seeds.

12:19It really develops so much more character.

12:22This is cumin, coriander, and black pepper.

12:25Veg are done.

12:26I'm gonna transfer them to the blender.

12:29I'm gonna throw the chicken on that sheet tray,

12:31and I'm just gonna broil it.

12:33So I can throw some of these cloves of garlic in there.

12:37Chilies are going in here.

12:38I need to get some of our spices in,

12:41as well as our oregano, sesame seeds.

12:46Still a little on the spicy side, to be honest.

12:49Wouldn't suck to have a little bit more liquid here.

12:54Flavors are a little jangly, a little hot.

12:56Some sugar will definitely be appreciated here.

12:59I just need to get this hot

13:01where I can whisk some chocolate into it.

13:03Hershey's cocoa powder, it's not super chocolatey.

13:08I don't hate this consistency.

13:09I like the way it's kind of piling up.

13:11So I'm adding the whole sesame seeds now.

13:13Let's see where we're at.

13:15Honestly, it's unbelievable, like what a difference

13:18that solid Mexican chocolate makes.

13:20I don't feel anything about this chicken.

13:23I do feel something about this sauce.

13:25I love it.

13:26This is my second attempt at the dish.

13:28I think we got a little bit closer,

13:30and that's what this is all about.

13:32Ingredients, God, I'd love to be at a 70.

13:34Technique, we changed a lot.

13:37I'm gonna go with 70 again.

13:38Appearance, we were at a 90 before.

13:42Wow, I'm gonna just like stick with 90.

13:45And taste, I guess we'll find out.

13:46I would love to believe that I got to an 80.

13:49Very different feel to this.

13:51Very different composition of the sauce.

13:53I think I'm ready to present this to the judge

13:55and find out what I actually got.

13:59Why is Dan moving over into the judge's position?

14:02Come on, Chris.

14:03It's been me the whole time.

14:04Stop, it has not.

14:06It has been me the whole time,

14:07and you just didn't realize it.

14:09This is a free train headed in one direction.

14:11Chris, may I present to you

14:12Frida Kahlo's Oaxacan Black Mole.

14:16Is that a f***ing turkey?

14:18This is not a giant turkey, but a turkey nonetheless,

14:21which is something that's common in Oaxacan cooking.

14:23I totally misjudged the size.

14:25That's so crazy.

14:26What are we looking at here?

14:27I mean.

14:28Well, yeah, okay.

14:29What'd you like?

14:30Find the smallest chicken you could get

14:31and put it in here.

14:33Apparently this was the dish

14:34that was served at Frida's wedding.

14:36We'll give Frida credit for this one,

14:38though she probably didn't make it herself.

14:39But how did you prepare your turkey?

14:41Sorry, chicken.

14:42I prepared my turkey using chicken.

14:45Yeah.

14:45Threw the chicken under the broiler.

14:47Okay.

14:48The whole turkey, which we broke down into parts,

14:50goes into a pot of water along with some aromatics

14:55and basically spends its entire time cooking in there.

14:58I mean, it's just waffling in the middle

15:00of like cooked but not fully tender,

15:03surprisingly kind of bland,

15:06whereas like the sauce is like the event.

15:08We had a blend of three chilies in this dish,

15:10the cascabel, mulatto, and pasilla chili.

15:13Okay, what did you do to these chilies?

15:15I stemmed and seeded the chilies

15:16and then rehydrated them in hot water.

15:18Okay.

15:19So the chilies are toasted.

15:21I toasted them dry when I toasted them.

15:24Did she toast in oil?

15:26Big ingredient drop here, lard.

15:28Lard is all over this recipe.

15:30Again, we have aromatic vegetables going into that lard

15:34and then the tomatillos are added raw.

15:36Okay.

15:37Obviously.

15:40I roasted my tomato, onion, and garlic

15:43just for what it's worth.

15:45Oh, great.

15:46That's good for a few points.

15:48So then I think you broke this recipe down

15:49a little more than it needed to.

15:51What happens?

15:52Put the knife down, Chris.

15:55One other thing about the texture of your sauce

15:57that's probably been driving you a little bit crazy,

16:00a big part of the thickening agent

16:02is the addition of sort of like a stale tortilla

16:06in addition to bread that is put into this.

16:10One of the other categories of spice, I'll say,

16:13if we're just looking up at our ingredients here

16:15and doing a quick like X, X, X, X, X,

16:17which we might be doing right now.

16:18No, there's not room because there's two of us in frame.

16:21I'll move over.

16:22There's two of us in frame so there isn't room.

16:23Can we get the Xs?

16:24There's not room.

16:25Can we get a sound effect for the Xs?

16:26Graphic person, there's just not room.

16:28Okay.

16:29Let's give these a taste.

16:32It's honestly incredible you got anything out of that.

16:34It tastes like a thousand things at once.

16:35Yeah.

16:36Let's try a bite of yours.

16:37Okay.

16:39Okay, first of all, I like yours better.

16:41That's not what we're here for.

16:43Big hit to the face here.

16:44Yeah, mine's like keyed up.

16:45It's like-

16:46Every spice is turned up.

16:48The heat is turned up.

16:49Everything that's in there kind of comes through.

16:51Report card.

16:54Ingredients.

16:55You gave yourself a 70.

16:58This one's going to hurt a little bit.

16:59I'm going to give you a 57.

17:02Don't panic.

17:03That one is in the low range.

17:05Going by what was missed here.

17:07It's well-learned, but still.

17:09I can't have the commenters

17:10looking at all the things

17:12and then being like he was too generous.

17:13Oh, God forbid that people think you're nice.

17:18Moving on to technique.

17:19You gave yourself a 70.

17:20We'll give you a 70 also.

17:22The cooking of the meat, the toasting, and the lard.

17:26We'll give you a 70 on that.

17:27Appearance, you gave yourself a 90.

17:28We're going to give you a 92.

17:30Really, the big difference is just being like size

17:33and the seeds on top.

17:34And lastly, taste.

17:35You gave yourself an 80.

17:36I'm going to give you a 75.

17:38Yeah, that's fair.

17:39They were pretty substantially different,

17:41but it's delicious.

17:42I would sit down and eat this for dinner anytime.

17:45Overall, that takes you to a 74.

17:47That's a solid C.

17:48Yes.

17:49I think you walk away saying,

17:49hey, I learned a lot.

17:51Mole is hard.

17:52You did really great.

17:53This was virtually impossible.

17:55I love you.

17:56I'm going to catch a train.

17:57Thank you so much for covering.

17:59Honestly, I feel fine.

18:01You know, there's a lot going on in there.

18:03A lot of new information,

18:05a lot of new techniques in there for me.

18:07The fact of it being Frida Kahlo's recipe

18:09just adds to the mystique

18:12and the seemingly, you know, kind of randomness of it.

18:14But that's okay.

18:15You know, it's like, it's her POV.

18:17And I certainly learned a lot

18:19from going through the exercise.

18:21I have to run from my train now.

18:24Oh, look what I did.

18:25Look what I did so I can see it whenever I want.

18:27There's Todd.

18:28There's you.

18:29Dan, I'll never wear that sweatshirt.

18:31A loyal follower of Guru.

18:32I will never wear that sweatshirt at work again.

18:35I hope you're happy.

18:37And you dictated my choice of all black today.

Recreating Frida Kahlo's Oaxacan Black Mole From Taste

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Reverse Engineering

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