Pozole Rojo - Pork and Hominy Stew

Submitted by cookiedog

"This is a labor intensive recipe for those who like to cook and eat well. Pozole is often served at Christmas or the New Year. My mom declares this her favorite recipe. If the stew gets too thick you can add a can of chicken broth. I find it tastes best with a squeeze of lime. From the September 2007 issue of Gourmet magazine."

 

• Ready In: 4hrs
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• 1 bunch mint (1 ounce)
• 1 bunch cilantro (1 ounce)
• 4 lbs country-style pork ribs (not lean)
• 10 cups water
• 26 garlic cloves, peeled, divided (about 1 1/2 heads)
• 1 (1/2 lb) white onion, quartered, plus 1/2 cup, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
• 5 whole black peppercorns
• 2 ounces dried guajillo chilies (6 to 9) or 2 ounces new mexico peppers, wiped clean (6 to 9)
• 1 1⁄2 ounces dried ancho chiles, wiped clean (2 to 4)
• 1 whole clove
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 (15 ounce) cans hominy, rinsed and drained (also called pozole)

• Accompaniments

• crema or queso fresco
• dried oregano or dried hot red pepper flakes

directions

1. Tie together mint and cilantro with kitchen string.
2. Bring pork and water to a boil in a large pot, skimming froth, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add tied herbs, 20 garlic cloves, quartered onion, oregano, peppercorns, and 2 teaspoons salt and gently simmer, uncovered, until pork is very tender, about 2 hours.
3. Strain broth through a large sieve into a large heatproof bowl. Return broth to pot. Discard mint and cilantro.
4. Transfer cooked onion and garlic to a blender with 1 1/2 cups broth and purée until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids). Add purée to broth. Discard bones and coarsely shred pork into broth.
5. Meanwhile, slit chiles lengthwise, then stem and seed. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat until hot, then toast chiles in batches, opened flat, turning and pressing with tongs, until more pliable and slightly changed in color, about 30 seconds per batch. Transfer to a bowl and pour 2 1/2 cups boiling water over chiles. Soak, covered, until softened, about 30 minutes.
6. Purée chiles with 1 1/2 cups soaking liquid, chopped onion, remaining 6 garlic cloves, clove, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in cleaned blender until a smooth paste forms, about 2 minutes.
7. Heat oil in cast-iron skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then add chile paste (it will spatter) and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 5 minutes.
8. Add chile paste and hominy and simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt.
9. Cooks' note: Pozole can be made 3 days ahead. Chill, uncovered, to cool, then cover.

Reviews

[Chef Kitty]

I also found this recipe in Gourmet and have been using it ever since. We love, love, love it. After the first couple of times I started keeping the seeds in as it didn't seem to be all that hot (spicy hot). It freezes well, too. I can't recommend this one enough!

 

[Muffin Goddess]

Oh boy, was DH ever happy about this! I mentioned that I was thinking of making this for him a couple of days before I ended up actually making it. Normally when I do this, he smiles and then completely forgets about it. This time, two days after I said I was thinking about making it, I got "Hey, I thought you said you were going to make pozole for me?" lol Definitely a long process, but not very much of it was hands-on. Frying the chile paste was not pretty (it spit EVERYWHERE. Thankfully, my kitchen walls are almost the same color as the chile paste lol). Hey, I never said I was a neat cook! I did end up needing to add some chicken stock to it at the end, because I had let the pork cook for a bit longer than I was supposed to, and the stock reduced quite a bit. I served this with diced onions and radishes, chopped iceberg lettuce, chopped cilantro, extra Mexican oregano and lime wedgesfor garnishes. I also served refried bean, cheese and crema tostadas on the side. Oh, and for anyone who might be scared off by the 26 cloves of garlic: Don't be! You would never know there was that much garlic in this recipe if you didn't see the amount of garlic in the ingredients list! Thanks so much for posting, my moobaby! :) Made for PAC Spring 09

 

[CelticBadBoyChef7]

Very Tasty!!! I Used Baby Back Ribs, BC it Was All i Had @ The Moment...But i Cut Them Into Individual Ribs & Browned Then in Some Olive Oil, And Then Used a Bottle of Beer to Deglaze The Pan...The Beer Added Flavor to The Soup & Also Helped to Tenderize The Ribs.......