Genealogy

 

The following charts are network analyses of recipes for different versions of mole from cookbooks of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. (A twentieth-century analysis will follow soon.) They were constructed using Google Fusion Tables. The blue nodes represent recipes and the yellow nodes are ingredients. The larger the nodes, the more occurences in the cookbooks. (Because of a quirk in the program, recipes with more ingredients will appear larger than those with fewer ingredients, although the bias should not be significant.)

 

One obvious difference is the greater number and variety of recipes from the nineteenth century. Yet the networks are quite similar. In particular, the centrality in both of Old World ingredients, particularly ajonjoli (sesame seeds) and the spices clavo (clove), pimienta (pepper), and canela (cinnamon). Another striking result is the absence of chocolate from these recipes. Modern readers may also be surprised by the variety of meats serve, including hen, pork, and chorizo sausage, often in the same recipe.