Pozole Rojo (Red Hominy Soup-Stew)

To me, there are few things that are more festive than a plate of pozole already dressed. The different flavors, colors, textures, even temperatures are truly a party--appropriate, since it's usually served at big events (parties, weddings, etc.). I've never met anyone who didn't at least really like pozole (most people love it), and I, who get bored with a particular dish pretty quickly, never get tired of eating pozole, even day after day. And even though pozole was concocted in the state of Jalisco, it is considered by many a representative plate of Mexican cuisine.

This recipe comes from Diana Kennedy's recipe for "Pozole de Jalisco" with the addition of chiles and garlic. Many recipes use only ancho chiles, but my mother likes her pozole red (instead of reddish-brown), so we add guajillo chiles. As pozole is a party dish, this recipe serves at least 12 people, and guests almost always have two servings. (Our record is 5 servings!)

5 lbs pork shoulder, cut into serving pieces

2 lbs pork neck, cut into pieces

4 pork feet, cut into pieces

1½ to 2 6lb cans of cooked hominy (large corn kernels, see note)

8-10 chicken bouillon cubes, Mexican, if possible

1 large leek, finely chopped

10 ancho chiles

10 guajillo chiles

10 pasilla chiles (optional, see note)

1½ head garlic

2 tbsp pork lard (or frying oil)

water to cover pork

Toppings (see note)

1 romaine lettuce, shredded

2 large onions, diced

2 bunch radishes, sliced or diced

oregano (Mexican, if possible), to taste

limes, quartered, at least one per bowl served

powdered piquín chile or cayenne pepper, to taste

tostadas

Mexican cream or crème fraîche, to spread on the tostadas (optional)

salt, to taste

In one pot, put the neck and the feet and just barely cover with water. In another pot, put the pork shoulder pieces and also barely cover with water and heat to boil. In another pot, heat 1 tbsp of the lard on medium heat, and when it's hot but before it smokes, add the leek and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the pork and just barely cover with cold water.

Boil the meats for 4 hours. Keep a pot or kettle of boiling water. As the water level lowers in any of the pots (below the watermark), add more boiling water. Also, as the meat boils, you can skim the broth.

After the boiling time, the meat should be really tender, and the neck meat should be falling off the bone. If you want, take the meat off the neck bones and add it to the shoulder. This will be the meat that is served with the broth. (You could also add the cooked pig's feet, if you want.)

In a large cauldron, add the broth of both pork pots and put the hominy there. Also add more water to both pork pots and continue boiling the neck bones and simmer the pork. Cook the hominy for another 3 hours, or until it opens up like flowers.

In the meantime, put on food gloves and slit the chiles lengthwise. Place the chiles in hot water, sink them so that water enters into the slits, and let them soak for about 15 minutes. At the end of this time the chiles should be soft. (Still with gloves), drain the chiles and de-vein and de-seed them. (If you want your pozole hot [spicy], keep the veins.) Blend the chiles and garlic with just enough pork broth to release the blender blades, and purée the mixture. Heat the remaining lard until very hot but not smoking and fry the chile purée until it dries up a bit and deepens in color, about 5 minutes. Add the cooked purée to the cauldron once the hominy is opened, and cook for another hour.

At this point, the pozole is cooked. However, it really benefits from leaving it in the fridge (or the cooler) overnight, and it improves in flavor with every day. Also, cooling the pozole makes removing the fat easier.

Serve the pozole piping hot with pieces of pork meat. Allow each guest to serve him/herself the toppings, to taste. In our house, there is a 2-bowl minimum, and most people go for thirds.

Notes

The corn for this recipe is cacahuazintle, which in Latin American stores (and some supermarkets) is called (Mexican style) hominy. To my mind, the best canned hominy is Juanita's. I used to be able to get it in different supermarkets, but it gets harder to find. Currently, I get it from Sabor Hispano or No Frills.

Pozole gets better with age, so it really improves if you make it the day before. As fridge space can be tight, we have cooked the pozole and put it in a cooler with ice overnight.

I get my pork from B-trust supermarket, which has everything conveniently cut. I find the quality of the meat (and produce) to be excellent there. I get my chiles, oregano and tostadas from La Tortilleria, which has good quality chiles, flexible and fleshy, fragrant oregano and tostadas that are made from actual tortillas. I've found pork lard a bit hard to find, as many butches will not render it. My two go-to sources for lard are Távora and Latin Emporium (Emporio Latino).

If you are squeamish of using pig's feet, you can skip them, but of course, the flavor and consistency of the broth will suffer. Do know that you can get the pig's feet already cut up, so it would just be a matter of tossing the feet into a pot and cover them with water. No need to actually touch them.

Diana Kennedy has you soak the pork overnight, changing the water several times. I tried without doing this, and I didn't notice a difference (except for the initial broth being redder), so I now skip this step. She also has you cook all the pork together. I separate the feet and neck from the blade so that I can continue making broth with them, but I don't continue cooking the blade because eventually it just disintegrates. I don't include the blade with the hominy just because my mother prefers to serve the meat separately. (Also, my sister who doesn't eat meat appreciates not having to fish the meat out.)

The leek is an addition of mine. I found that it gave the pozole more depth, and people really appreciated it (without knowing it had been added). You can, of course, omit it and save yourself a step.

True pozole should really be made with dry hominy, which should be nixtamalized, and the kernel heads need to be removed. The rest of the work is more or less about leaving it cooking than actually working, so I can do other things in the meantime. But removing the heads is very time-consuming, so I usually skip this step and use canned hominy, although the flavor really loses something. If you want to try it out, here is a recipe for nixtamalization, you just have to adjust your quantities to 2 lbs of corn.

We don't usually make pozole with pasilla chile, which is an earthier chile, but one of my mom's friends, who is an excellent cook, does, so I'm passing on her expertise.