Posole/Pozole--Cook-Off 29

[Chris Amirault]

Welcome to the eGullet Recipe Cook-Off! Click here for the Cook-Off index.

This cook-off: posole or pozole, the Mexican stew with hominy corn (the posole for which the dish is named).

At the base of most posole is, of course, the corn itself, broth, and meat, usually pork. From there, well, the possibilities expand greatly. The pickin's on eG Forums are pretty slight: one discussion on dried vs fresh posole can be found here, there's a short topic here in the Mexico forum, and another asking questions here in Cooking. There are, however, two posole recipes in Recipe Gullet: fifi's barbeque posole and, well, my mother-in-law's fantastic recipe, which I'm calling Castañeda posole. Finally, our own rancho_gordo sells the remarkable stuff in the image above at his Rancho Gordo website.

Posole is in my family's regular dinner rotation. Perhaps it is in yours -- or ought to be?

[Kerry Beal]

I've been to Santa Fe twice in my life, and this is one of the dishes that I loved. Now, where can I find hominy around here? Maybe I'd better search the cupboards first, I may have some.

[Restorer]

Oh, great! A cook-off that I can get involved in! I'll see if I can rustle up some ingredients and put together a posole sometime this week. It was the one thing that was done decently at my university's dining commons.

[MarkinHouston]

Lasst week I made the Pork Chile Verde with Posole from the 150 Best American Recipes cookbbok which had been referenced in the cookbook forum. I have made chile verde many times and this is indeed an inspired recipe. The book specifically mentions using canned homny versus dealing with preparing the dried posole. I didn't find dried in the Mexican markets in Houston so I used the canned variety. I think unless there is a preferred brand of canned, I would prefer to try the dried. It makes a difference with chick peas and pinto beans, so I would expect a better version with dried posole as well.

[snowangel]

Pozole, while not on the regular rotation at the Fahning household, is very popular, and my kids have quite cottoned to it, especially with tomatillos instead of tomatoes.

And, I've been using the canned hominy. What am I missing (as I reach for the credit card and the mouse to order some from Rancho Gordo...)?

Edited to add: Pozole is a most worthy use of leftover smoked meat, BTW!

[Dianne]

I've been to Santa Fe twice in my life, and this is one of the dishes that I loved.  Now, where can I find hominy around here? 

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Kerry, you can find both dry and canned in Kensigton Market at Perola among lots of places. canned is available at the St Lawrence market, and there is a little shop in Port Credit on The Lakeshore too.

[Kerry Beal]

I've been to Santa Fe twice in my life, and this is one of the dishes that I loved.  Now, where can I find hominy around here? 

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Kerry, you can find both dry and canned in Kensigton Market at Perola among lots of places. canned is available at the St Lawrence market, and there is a little shop in Port Credit on The Lakeshore too.

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Thank you Dianne. I'll try the Port Credit shop first, closer to home.

[Dianne]

Thank you Dianne. I'll try the Port Credit shop first, closer to home.

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It is called Mosto European Market, 550 Lakeshore Rd. E. It is on the south side in a little strip mall east of Hurontario and west of Cawthra.

[Chris Amirault]

Having typically used Goya canned posole/hominy and now having used the dried posole above from Rancho Gordo, the two are very different. Canned posole has a "squeaky" quality to it that's hard to explain but is very noticeable; it's sort of like eating cheese curds, for those from upper midwest US, without quite as much toothiness. The dried is not squeaky at all, just firm -- and it tastes much, much more like corn. The difference is very pronounced to us.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I know that genuine pozole is made with pork to be proper and authentic but what might I use which would be a kosher rendition of a dish I would love to try? and, yet another thing, if I use meat, I can't use anything dairy either in this dish ...

[Chris Amirault]

No dairy in the recipe above, Mel -- and I'd say that smoked dark meat turkey or chicken would work very well.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Aha! smoked dark meat turkey ...

Will find some this very day! Many thanks for the ideas for a proper substitute!

[Abra]

I happen to love canned hominy - I get the Mexican style stuff - but now I have some from Rancho Gordo so I'll be interested to compare. Personally, I think the squeaky stuff is fun to eat.

[rancho_gordo]

You can bet I'll be watching the results of this!

I've made the clarification before, but I think I should repeat it. I sell dried, prepared hominy/posole. The skin has been removed already (as it has with the canned). You just have to soak and simmer. it is an American Indian style product. You wouldn't find it in Mexico. i think it's better than the Mexican, but that's a matter of preference. If you really like to butch things up, Mexican style, you can buy buy the large kernels of dried corn, soak it in CaL (lime) and then rub the skins off and rinse.

I hear some Latin markets have this frozen, which I've never tried.

Posole= the actual corn and the stew/dish, from the American Southwest courtesy of our Native Americans

Pozole = A Mexican stew. The corn itself is never referred to as "pozole", only the final dish.

Abra, I can no longer eat the canned! Unless it's pureed (grits) with chiles and cheese and cream and then sauteed. but I could probably handle most anything with chiles and cheese.

[Chris Amirault]

Steve, at least one Mexican-American family I know from Bisbee AZ calls that Mexican stew "posole," contrary to your and Diana Kennedy's usage. Not sure what to make of that!

[rancho_gordo]

Steve, at least one Mexican-American family I know from Bisbee AZ calls that Mexican stew "posole," contrary to your and Diana Kennedy's usage. Not sure what to make of that!

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I think it makes sense if they're in Arizona. Posole in the US for the grain and the stew, Pozole in Mexico for the stew only.

I'm sure someone will now tell me about a village in Nayarit that call the corn pozole. And I will smile!

[tamiam]

It just so happens that we made two pozoles in the past week or so, one excellent red, and a green that was pretty good, but not inspired. Part of it is that the tomatillos were fresh, but not real juicy, as it is wintertime.

Does anyone have recipe suggestions or ideas for a truly awesome green?

Edited January 16, 2007 by tamiam (log)

[snowangel]

It just so happens that we made two pozoles in the past week or so, one excellent red, and a green that was pretty good, but not inspired.  Part of it is that the tomatillos were fresh, but not real juicy, as it is wintertime. 

Does anyone have recipe suggestions or ideas for a truly awesome green?

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This time of year, you are better off with canned tomatillos, sorry to say. I'll have to make a note next summer to freeze some tomatillos, but the canned are pretty good.

[SeaGal]

I'll add my 2 cents worth. When I stayed with a family in Morelia, the mother made pozole (spelled with the "z", but pronounced just like posole--when I pronounced it with the "z", I was laughed at by the children in the family and made to repeat it over and over.) It was a soupy concoction of dried red chiles, soaked and pureed and added to a porky broth (made with various fatty, meaty, boney cuts of pork that had been stewed for several hours) and prepared hominy (nixtamal) that had been purchased in a grocery store in a cryovac container. It was much fresher, firmer tasting than the hominy I buy in cans here. The soup was served with limes, dried oregano, chunks of iceberg lettuce and radish slices.

I went to the Mexican market in Pike Place Mkt and asked the ladies what chiles they recommend and they said to use a mix of guajillo and anchos. I tried that, and it was very good. I added a pigs foot to the pork broth and it gave a rich, porky flavor to the soup. I used canned hominy, because I didn't want to go to the work of pinching the pedicels off the hominy grains manually, per Diana Kennedy's method. I really need to try some of Rancho's dried hominy--it sounds wonderful.

I've also seen recipes for green (using tomatillos) and white pozole, and some that use both chicken and pork. I think the Southwest version is thicker and more stew-like than the Mexican version.

[ludja]

... The soup was served with limes, dried oregano, chunks of iceberg lettuce and radish slices.

...

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Other garnishes I've seen: sliced cabbage, salsa (if it's a clear broth posole), avocado, chopped tomato.

In New Mexico it is common to find frozen fresh posole as well. I've not seen it in California but I can't recall if Russ Parsons said it was available in some places.

I haven't experiemented with different styles of posole yet. I make a pork stock, add a red chile puree and sauteed onions and garlic to that and cook the posole in it. Extra spices can be black pepper, cloves, cayenne and ground cumin. I cut off bits of pork from the bones and hocks use to prepare the broth and add them back in. Sometimes I'll add in cubed pork shoulder as well if I want a heartier version of the dish.

I'd like to try out some of the green chile versions...

[artisan02]

  It was a soupy concoction of dried red chiles, soaked and pureed and added to a porky broth (made with various fatty, meaty, boney cuts of pork that had been stewed for several hours) and prepared hominy (nixtamal) that had been purchased in a grocery store in a cryovac container.  It was much fresher, firmer tasting than the hominy I buy in cans here.

That's the kind I can find here in New Mexico, where posole is very, very common. I can usually find it frozen and sometimes "fresh", and that is in a regular grocery store here. I haven't checked any of the mercados and carnecerias around town yet.

I haven't made this myself yet, so I may have to join you all in trying this. I am not sure what chiles are used here in NM, but I can almost bet that green chiles are a part of it. I could be wrong though.

Edited to say that I looked up Posole as made here in NM, and it uses dried red chiles.

Christine

Edited January 16, 2007 by artisan02 (log)

[MarkinHouston]

This afternoon I stopped at Mi Tienda down in Pasadena, Tx. It is owned by the Central Market folks and its marketing is aimed at the Latino population; indeed, all of their ads are in Spanish with teensy English translation below --thank God for LASIK! Anyway, they sell freshly-made nixtamal which needs only the presoak and simmering before adding to posole. I will whip up a batch for the football playoffs this weekend and report the results.

[Restorer]

This week I've been building up supplies to make some posole. Last night I put it all together.

As I've been pretty much broke for the last two weeks (such is the life of a student), I did this entirely on a Ralphs gift card that I had received. I was happy to find a bag of California chiles at the supermarket, and I was able to grab the last pork butt they had.

I cubed half of the pork butt, and browned the cubes, then added water, the rest of the roughly chopped butt, 2 pounds of neck bones, most of a head of garlic, and a palmful of oregano. That simmered for a couple hours. Then I rehydrated 8 of those chiles in hot water, and blended them with some chipotle powder, onion powder, and half of the soaking liquid.

Then I pulled the neck bones and the largest chunks of meat out of the pot, shredded the meat with a couple forks, and put it back in the pot, sans bones or fatty chunks. The chile sauce went into the pot, along with two cans of drained and rinsed "Mexican style" hominy. This hominy doesn't seem to have quite the squeaky quality that I've had from other canned hominy, but I'm sure the dried kind would have more character.

I served it with more oregano, shredded cabbage, lime wedges, and Cholula hot sauce. I also have chopped onions and tortilla chips on standby, should I want to those with the leftovers.

[dockhl]

Beautiful, restorer~

anybody around to help you eat that?

[Restorer]

Beautiful, restorer~

anybody around to help you eat that?

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With three hungry roommates, what I have won't last long.

After having another bowl today, I've decided that it could have used another can of hominy, and I probably could have doubled the number of chiles I used. It's quite mild, but all the better to juice it up with some hot sauce.

Edited January 22, 2007 by Restorer (log)