Every Mexican cook needs a mole pot. But soon after Que Bueno Suerte chef Ivan Ceballos shifted from the business world to a culinary career, he realized he needed a really BIG mole pot. And there it was, at a market in Baja California’s wine country. The vendor, however, refused to sell the pot to him. “What about this one?” she asked, pointing to other clay pots. “Or this one?” No, he said, it had to be that one. His mom, his dad, his chef buddies watched curiously as Ceballos wandered around the market and then returned to the pot, again and again. “I had to fight, to bargain with her,” he says. “But finally it was mine.” After all that, no wonder UPS got an earful from Ceballos when the pot arrived in Colorado with a chip on the lid. Now, it’s his refuge. He arrives at the kitchen early on Wednesday mornings, turns on some reggae, assembles 34 ingredients, and makes his grandmother’s mole. His instructions to the rest of the kitchen: “When that pot is cooking, all you can do is look at it.”
Now follow Chef Ivan’s mole recipe, with tips.
Que Bueno Suerte
1518 S Pearl St.
