Food Goes In Mouth

I include the caveat-indicating asterisk in the title of this post because I find the idea a bit absurd without it. What the hell is “traditional” Pozole?

When you tell somebody you’re making Pozole you’ve really said little more than, “Hey, I’m going to cook something stewish with hominy and chiles.” With three colorful varieties of rojo, verde, and blanco Pozole dating hundreds of years back, this would be enough to describe how varied this dish can be. However, with this boost in recent history of “post-modern” or “new-age” or “whatever-the-poo” style cuisine, we’re seeing even more interpretations.

At times these reinventions of classic Mexican comfort food seem disingenuous, there simply to be clever, allowing well-to-do clientele to pay $15+ for a bowl of something vulgar turned fine-dining showcase. These modern twistifications may even be superb, delicious creations, but I fear only when removing the diner from the equation. I for one cannot disassociate the word Pozole from my father’s rendition of my childhood.

At times, I’m sure, these modern offshoots stay true to somebody’s past and blow the diner away. Final scene of Ratatoille style.

Anyway, where I am going with this is: “Traditional” Pozole is relative for each individual, much in the same way everyone probably imagines something different when presented with the words, “beef stew”. With that in mind, I intend to begin playing with the Pozole I know and love. I hear the best place to start is at the beginning, so last week I made a version true to what I know.

What I Used

Some of the ingredients in the final product are homemade, so let’s break this down a little.

Chicken Stock

• One chicken, carcass or whole
• Celery
• Onions
• Carrots
• Parsley

Chili Powder

• Dried Arbol Chiles
• Cumin, whole & toasted
• Annatto Seed
• Salt

Final Pozole Additions

• Hominy (Mexican Style)
• Boneless Pork Ribs, cubed & untrimmed
• Garlic, whole & peeled
• Dried Oregano

What I Did

Chicken Stock

1. Place parsley, onion, carrot, celery in a stock pot and place the chicken on top.
2. Fill stock pot with cold water until everything is submerged.
3. Bring to a simmer slowly.
4. If you are using a whole chicken, after about 50 minutes on a low simmer remove the poached chicken meat and find something awesome to use it in. Put the carcass back in the pot.
5. Simmer and skim ever hour if you can. I did this for 12 hours but there’s really no point in doing it past 8. I’m just weird, and it may have even been detrimental.
6. Strain and use, or if you happen to be making it for later use, cool rapidly in an ice bath and either store in the refrigerator, or freeze in the freezer if you’re making things way ahead of time.

Chili Powder

1. For each arbol chile, remove the stem and break the pod in half. Try to remove a majority of the seeds. It will be hot enough on its own. I used ~20 chiles and it was on the strong side of a medium spicy. Mild New Mexico chiles could easily be substituted in part or whole to adjust this.
2. Place toasted cumin seeds, annatto, chiles, and sea salt into a coffee/spice grinder and pulse until it’s all a fine powder. You may need to start the chiles in a food processor until they’re small enough for the grinder.

Pozole

1. While you have the chili powder in the spice grinder, go ahead and add the oregano and pulse that into the mixture.
2. Brown the pork cubes, using just a touch of canola oil if needed. Do not trim fat off of the ribs.
3. Simmer the chicken stock and add the hominy, garlic, chile & oregano powder, and pork cubes.
4. Normally I would keep this at a low simmer for a few hours. This time I used a Crock Pot for the final Pozole creation (as it is the largest pot I own right now) and left it for six hours. I’m not a huge Crock Pot user, but I was surprised how well this worked.

I could go on about this for days, but this post is long enough as it is. The dish is to be served with an array of potential additions. Cilantro, lime, tortilla, radish, cabbage, the list goes on. I’ve strayed from my father’s version in so much as I’ve used homemade (and spicy) Chili Powder, homemade Chicken Stock (no added water), and I browned the pork.

I’d really like to talk about this in the comments, though! Do you have a Pozole recipe that brings you back to your childhood? Maybe a favorite restaurant version you would like to bring to my attention? Do you think my version here is insane and I have no right calling it Pozole? Discuss.