New Mexican Pozole Recipe

How to make it

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• In a large pot add garlic halves, reserving the two cloves, water, pork studded onion and oregano. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook until tender, one and a half to two hours.
• In the meantime, in a dry skillet, lightly toast chile over a hot flame, turning often, until plump. Place in a small bowl and add enough water to cover. Weigh down with a plate or jar and soak for 30 minutes, longer is fine.
• Remove chiles from water, reserving the soaking liquid. Remove stems and seeds. Place the chile in a blender with the reserved liquid. Peal the two cloves of garlic and add to blender. Do not process yet.
• When meat is tender, remove the meat, onion and garlic from the broth. When cool enough to handle, shred meat, discarding bones. Remove the cloves from the onion, add onion to blender. Discard the garlic halves or save to use in a salsa, dip or spread on toasted bread. Skim broth.
• Puree the chile mixture (with the onion and two cloves of garlic) and the reserved soaking liquid until smooth, adding a little broth if needed. If desired, this may be pushed through a sieve. Add the puree (you may taste as you go along and might not wish to add the full amount) to the pot along with the shredded meat.
• Rinse hominy well and add to the pot. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer, very gently, for thirty minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt if desired.
• Pozole will generally keep four to five days in the refrigerator and freezes very well.
• Garnish with thinly sliced radishes, thinly sliced onion that has been soaked in water for 30 minutes and thinly sliced cabbage. Add avocado, lime and cilantro to the garnishes, if desired.
• To make Pozole with Dried Hominy:
• Dried Hominy, after being cooked, will retain a lovely texture and have a chew not found in the canned hominy. Much less salty than canned, you will very likely need to add more salt to your Pozole.
• Soak a pound of Prepared Hominy overnight in water to cover by two inches. Rinse, add to a large pot, cover generously with fresh water and bring to a boil. Simmer briskly until tender. An onion may be added to the pot if desired. Timing will vary with the hominy. It may be tender in an hour or may take several hours.
• To Make Pozole from Slow Cooker Pulled Pork:
• While an absolutely true and steadfast Pozole lover may scoff a bit, some of my best Pozole is made from my Pulled Pork. The pulled pork in the slow cooker gives out an extremely rich, flavorful broth, about two to three cups of concentrated goodness that gels beautifully.
• Because the pulled pork is flavored with a number of ingredients on the rub that aren’t always in Pozole, some might turn up their noses. Personally, I think the small amount of spices and herbs from the rub give a gorgeous, well-rounded flavor to my Pozole.
• Pulled Pork reduces in volume by about half, so I use about a pound of it, reserving it before it is shredded or any sauce is added. The broth, I strain, refrigerate and skim of any fat.
• When it’s time to make Pozole, I add the broth to my pan and about six to eight cups of water. I then proceed with the recipe, pureeing the chile with the garlic as directed, but omitting the onion, adding the hominy and then the pork. Because the rub already has onion and garlic in it, I generally taste the broth, and if I feel it is lacking I might add a small bit of onion or garlic powder. I always add a tiny pinch of ground clove.