What is the mexican restaurant brown sauce, recpies

[spidey07]

We've got a great mexican restaurant we go to once a week and nothing comes close to the awesome flavor of their brown sauce. They call it "ranchero" sauce. It's put on their enchiladas and a lot of dishes. It's amazing.

I asked what's in it and all they would tell me is "dried chili peppers". You could put it on shoe leather and it would taste amazing.

Anybody got any recipes or what I can search for? I assume it's a sauce you have to cook a long time with lots of ingredients similar to a mole. I know it's got MSG in it because of the savory unctuousness.

 

[Capt Caveman]

It's called Mole. Many different varieties.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

maybe this?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

might try this too

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Can you give me a little more info? Flavor? After taste? Smells like? Taste in the front of your mouth or back? There is no defined sauce called "ranchero ." Also, where are you at. What style of Mexican food do they do?

 

[GagHalfrunt]

It's called Mole. Many different varieties.

It's 99.9999999999% likely to not be mole. Making mole is a difficult and time-consuming process and few restaurants can do it right. If it was real mole they'd be advertising it as mole and using it on only a select few dishes. They most assuredly would not call it ranchero sauce and put it on everything.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I've made this

likely candidate

 

[Dr. Detroit]

It's not Mole -

What you are eating is Enchilada or Rachero sauce - same thing, just different name. Seriously doubt your restaurant is making this home-made, you can buy 1 gallon ford service can of this stuff for super cheap.

Buy a can of the stuff at any Grocery store, try Wal-Mart's ethnic food aisle.

 

[MrSquished]

What you are eating is Enchilada or Rachero sauce - same thing, just different name. Seriously doubt your restaurant is making this home-made

Seriously ridiculous statement to make without knowing a damn thing about the restaurant. I've worked at enough that made almost everything made from scratch. I owned a gourmet food truck for two years - virtually everything from scratch. and worked with numerous other gourmet food trucks that did the same thing.

Maybe you just eat at such crap places that source their stuff from stuff wal mart stocks, but that's your problem.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Best Mexican restaurant in the USA.

 

[zerocool84]

Best Mexican restaurant in the USA.

I don't see best Mexican restaurant in the USA, just best in Salt Lake which I'm sure isn't difficult to be.

 

[Demo24]

In my experiences this is usually red?

 

[spidey07]

Can you give me a little more info? Flavor? After taste? Smells like? Taste in the front of your mouth or back? There is no defined sauce called "ranchero ." Also, where are you at. What style of Mexican food do they do?

It's Kentucky, typical Americanized mexican food but they have the classics. Funny thing is this place is in a small strip mall of about 10 shops but is a gold mine for great food. Every single dish there is awesome, everything.

The color is a little darker than UPS brown. Its consistency is like gravy and has no trouble coating the back of a spoon and holding. If you look at it closely there are a TON of spices/fine particles in it.

The taste is savory, base of roasted tomato/pepper, somewhat spicey, smooth and hits the back of your mouth and lasts for many minutes. You want to lick and chew on your back cheek 5 minutes later it's that good.

They put it on probably 1/3 of their dishes so I'm sure they make a ton of it. If you have any enchilada dish this sauce smothers them.

Oh, and all the mexicans eat there

 

[spidey07]

It's not Mole -

What you are eating is Enchilada or Rachero sauce - same thing, just different name. Seriously doubt your restaurant is making this home-made, you can buy 1 gallon ford service can of this stuff for super cheap.

Buy a can of the stuff at any Grocery store, try Wal-Mart's ethnic food aisle.

This is nowhere near that. Not even on the same planet. No restaurant has the taste and flavor of this. If I could get this in a can I'd buy a pallet.

I asked the owner about it and he says his mother makes it. I also asked for what's in it and all he would say is "dried chili peppers".

 

[Fritzo]

Mole is a Mexican aromatic/spicy sauce. Since my wife's family is Mexican, it's one of the things I had to learn how to make. It's served with shredded chicken or pork. It's fairly involved, so it's one of those "family comes over for Sunday dinner" type of things. I use a Mexican chocolate base, and add peppers, clove, anise, cumin, cinnamon, and a few other things to what ever meat I'm preparing, and then slow roast it in a dutch oven. Some people put sesame seeds on top, but I don't personally.

Man, that sounds good now

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It's Kentucky, typical Americanized mexican food but they have the classics. Funny thing is this place is in a small strip mall of about 10 shops but is a gold mine for great food. Every single dish there is awesome, everything.

The color is a little darker than UPS brown. Its consistency is like gravy and has no trouble coating the back of a spoon and holding. If you look at it closely there are a TON of spices/fine particles in it.

The taste is savory, base of roasted tomato/pepper, somewhat spicey, smooth and hits the back of your mouth and lasts for many minutes. You want to lick and chew on your back cheek 5 minutes later it's that good.

They put it on probably 1/3 of their dishes so I'm sure they make a ton of it. If you have any enchilada dish this sauce smothers them.

Oh, and all the mexicans eat there

Maybe an adobo sauce. You can't go wrong with Rick Bayless, try this. http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=301

 

[Ophir]

Best Mexican restaurant in the USA.

The Red Iguana is very good, but but calling it best in the US is absurd.

 

[destrekor]

From what I can gather, the basic idea of ranchero sauce stems from the tomato/green-chile sauce used for huevos rancheros.

There definitely seems to be an "underground" appreciation. Everyone seems to know the standard Mexican sauces, but there appears to be a billion rancheros recipes out there and not that many actually know of the sauce by name.

The author of the below page definitely seems to agree it's awesome on a large number of Mexican dishes.

http://www.hispanickitchen.com/profiles/blogs/making-ranchero-sauce#.UtyCpRAo6VM

 

[destrekor]

btw:
mole means sauce

Of course, over here in the land of we who speak American, we don't respect no languages and use generic foreign terms to refer to specific things.
Apparently, mole in the American mindset typically refers to mole poblano ... fwiw.

 

[HendrixFan]

It's 99.9999999999% likely to not be mole. Making mole is a difficult and time-consuming process and few restaurants can do it right. If it was real mole they'd be advertising it as mole and using it on only a select few dishes. They most assuredly would not call it ranchero sauce and put it on everything.

You are most likely correct, but at the same time I have this nagging feeling that if anyplace would fail to mention mole it would be somewhere in Kentucky or the like.

The best mole I have had is at a restaurant in Austin and I believe only three of the dishes contain mole.

 

[TheSlamma]

Mole is chocolate based.. friggin gross

 

[spidey07]

Mole is a Mexican aromatic/spicy sauce. Since my wife's family is Mexican, it's one of the things I had to learn how to make. It's served with shredded chicken or pork. It's fairly involved, so it's one of those "family comes over for Sunday dinner" type of things. I use a Mexican chocolate base, and add peppers, clove, anise, cumin, cinnamon, and a few other things to what ever meat I'm preparing, and then slow roast it in a dutch oven. Some people put sesame seeds on top, but I don't personally.

Man, that sounds good now

That sounds close. Minus the chocolate. I'm guessing it's their version of mole

 

[spidey07]

You are most likely correct, but at the same time I have this nagging feeling that if anyplace would fail to mention mole it would be somewhere in Kentucky or the like.

The best mole I have had is at a restaurant in Austin and I believe only three of the dishes contain mole.

I just want to know what it is called so wifey can make it.

It is serious good eats.

 

[sdifox]

Salsa Ranchera

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ingrid-hoffmann/salsa-ranchera-recipe/index.html

 

[HendrixFan]

Salsa Ranchera

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ingrid-hoffmann/salsa-ranchera-recipe/index.html

Worcestershire????

I just want to know what it is called so wifey can make it.

It is serious good eats.

http://www.patismexicantable.com/2010/03/mole_poblano_de_los_angeles/

This recipe and the accompanying photos seem like a great place to start. Did the sauce look anything like this? Don't let the chocolate fool you, it certainly adds to the specific flavor of mole (pronounced "mole eh", not like the birthmark), but eyes closed and never having tried mole before I doubt anyone would assume it was a chocolate based sauce.