Siete Moles Tasting

This experience was one of the best ones I've had in travel. Hector and his sister were extremely personable, and a wealth of information. We tasted seven moles, each made in-house. It's not just tasting on a chipper spoon, it comes as a mezze or tapa. It was definitely filling! Hector starts the experience by explaining about oaxaca's geography and its place within mexico. It is one of the most culturally and biodiverse regions of North america! He then explained and had a smell different kinds of chiles, spices, and herbs. We would be tasting for those flavors in each of the moles to follow. Has one does with a wine tasting, we started with the simplest and lightest, red, progressed through yellow, and then all the way up to a black bow light, which actually was black. Hector explained it was due to a difficult to find chile, which rarely finds itself outside of oaxaca. I'm intentionally comparing the mole tasting to wine tastings, because the flavors were so vomplex and surprising! Although this was not a cooking class, he shared enough guidelines and ideas for me to experiment when I get back to my own kitchen. We also had a mezcal tasting. The old cliche, if it grows together, it goes together, it was absolutely true here. I learned that Mezcal is the sophisticated older brother of tequila. There are dozens of different cacti that can be used in the scale, versus the only two in tequila. I learned the difference between copper distillation and terracotta. I picked up a real appreciation for spirit I knew very little about, just thought it was smoky tequila. Finally, he recommended several restaurants. Michelin agrees with a couple of them! It's hard to imagine a better experience if you are an avid cook or enthusiastic eater.