of new mexico
[Go to the updated posole post.]
I’m not sure where I got my recipe for posole, but I know who introduced me to it. Jeremy is a native son of New Mexico (which is one of the 50 states and not a separate country as some US citizens might think). Despite being a white boy, he is particular about New Mexican food and scoffs at what Coloradoans try to pass off as Mexican food. I love Colorado, but damn it if these people don’t know how to cook…
Okay, so with the cooling temperatures and changing aspens comes my appetite for hot soups and stews – things I generally avoid during our warm months. Posole is incredibly simple and yet it produces such a satisfying and hearty meal. It is named for the star ingredient: hominy or posole. I use whole dried red New Mexican chile pods for this stew. I’ve substituted with other dried chiles before and I didn’t like them so much. So if you can get your hands on some New Mexican reds or bribe a friend in the state to send you some, it’s worth the trouble. I also like to add roasted Hatch green chiles (of New Mexico – see a pattern here?) at the end of the cooking.
crock pot or stove top, your choice
The whole recipe is fairly straightforward: dump most of the ingredients in a pot and cook for a long time. I add a few more annoying steps just because I prefer to defat the stew and skin my chiles. My extra steps mean that the stew takes at least a day to make. If you plan ahead, it’s really quite simple.
defat the broth after chilling
shredded pork
posole
add the defatted broth
After cooking the posole, I remove the red chiles and split them open with a sharp knife. I scrape all of the chile meat from the skins and chop it up very fine. Next, I remove the pork from the broth and pull off all of the meat, throwing away the bone and any fat or connective tissue. I shred the pork and set it in a tupperware in the fridge. Finally, I strain the broth and store it in a glass bowl for refrigeration. I store the remaining posole, garlic, and chiles in the same tupperware as the pork. When the broth is cooled (this I usually do overnight) there should be a soft layer of fat on top that you can easily remove and discard. After reuniting all of the stew ingredients in a large pot, you can heat it up and serve. I like to garnish with diced tomatoes and avocado. Jeremy likes to have a bowl of posole with a warm flour tortilla or two.
a satisfying bowl of posole
Posole
2 cans hominy, drained
1 1/2 lb. lean pork shoulder
1 lime, juiced
4 dry red New Mexican chile pods, tops removed and seeded
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp oregano
3 tsps salt
4-6 roasted Hatch chiles, seeded, skinned, and diced
tomatoes, diced (optional)
avocado, diced (optional)
First method: Put pork, hominy, lime juice, and red chiles in a pot. Fill with enough water until all ingredients are covered. Bring to boil then cover. Simmer for 3 hours (add water as needed). Stir occasionally. Add garlic, oregano, salt, and green chiles. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Second method: Dump everything except the salt and green chiles in a crock pot. Set on high for 7 hours. Add salt and green chiles and let cook for another hour.
Both methods: Remove pork and shred it. Set aside. Remove red chile pods and slice open, scraping the meat from the skins. Discard skins. Chop the red chile meat into a paste and add to the pork. Strain the broth and add the solids to the pork and store in refrigerator. Store broth in glass bowl and refrigerate until fat solidifies. Remove fat, discard. Return the broth to the solid ingredients and reheat. Serve with diced tomatoes, avocado, and warm flour tortillas.
October 30th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
this looks really lovely jen. i wonder if i can get hominy in london… now that i know what it is!
November 1st, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Abby – If you cannot find it, you may be able to mail order it online in dried form (I want to try that next because it’s much cheaper than canned).
November 24th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Dried posole is much better than hominy — it’s got a wonderful chewy texture, good corn flavor, stores easily and forever, and is less expensive. The hard part is finding it! I’ve been buying from Adobe Milling Co. for years and their’s is the best price I’ve found — http://www.adobemilling.com. Only $1.89 per 12 oz. bag — other sites sell one pound for up to $8! Quick delivery, fair shipping price. Just prepare seperately from the pork, soak it overnight and cook for about 1-2 hours. You’ll never be able to use hominy again…
November 26th, 2007 at 2:39 am
Teresa – that’s good to know! I actually purchased a few bags of dried posole in a local market in New Mexico recently. Haven’t tried it yet, but I definitely will now! Thanks for the tip :)
December 10th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Sounds good-will have to try! I’m looking for anasazi beans- they also came from Adobe Milling! Can you tell me how to order from them? Tnks
December 11th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Don – Teresa would probably know better than I since I haven’t used Adobe Milling before. Try contacting them via their website.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:10 am
This looks amazing! As a native New Mexican living in Texas, I can sympathize w/your friend Jeremy! Tex-mex does not do it for me! This recipe–AND your tamale recipe–made me think of home! It is easy for me to forget that most people haven’t had authentic New Mexican food; perhaps I’ll do my part to share it with my friends more frequently…
January 30th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Emily – alright, another native New Mexican! Even though I live in Colorado, you cannot get the real stuff here – you MUST cross the border to New Mexico for the authentic (and delicious) fare :) Definitely start converting folks to the “good stuff” :)
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Doesnt look any different from the posole I get here in CO, where in CO are you that you cannot get good Mexican food?
December 24th, 2008 at 2:03 am
My coworkers are majority hispanic and when there are pot lucks they would usually bring a big pot of pizole. Theirs is more traditional where they stew pork hocks and add such things as tripe and fatty skin. it is often served with thinly sliced radishes, cabbage and finely diced yellow onion. Good!
April 28th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Delicious meal! My family would so enjoy this, thanks for sharing it!
April 24th, 2012 at 8:36 pm
I am a New Mexican Army Brat, raised and lived over a good part of our wonderful planet. I live in Utah now. I found fresh pisole [hominy] in one of the local Mexican Markets that makes their own corn tortillas…Grinding it up is what they use to make corn tortillas. Of course, they treat the corn in the first place too. I am also fortunate enough to have a daughter in law with a sister who also raises corn and makes hominy from it each year. They live on the Cudi Indian Reservation in New Mexico or near enough to it. I get so homesick for the colors and flavors and sounds of New Mexico! I have had to learn how to make all kinds of Mexican food as well as many other kinds. Love German food too!!! They don’t eat corn in Germany or didn’t in the early 50’s. My mom went to a farmer and insisted he sell her fresh corn…finally he gave her what she wanted muttering about it being only for cows…Wonderful corn! She did teach me how to make do food wise where ever we lived. dhe made her first pizza with fresh sliced tomatoes… What fun food has been! You can always come close to what you want if you try hard enough. The kind of pisole that has tripe is called menudo, usually served on Sat and Sun mornings to help you prevent or get rid of a hangover. The fat absorbes the liquor you ingested and lightens it’s effect. Enjoy! the rule in my house is you have to try everything with at least 3 bites…some things grow on ya…
September 23rd, 2014 at 3:26 pm
I love posole and plan to make it for our father’s family gathering, as he was born on Cinco de Mayo in 1915. Does anyone know what posole ingredients are sold at Winco? What would be their best chilies? Do they sell dried corn?
What pork cut would be best? I saw another recipe online that called for seasonings such as Mexican oregano and
cumin. If I try that one, as well, does Winco sell Mexican oregano? Thank you for any information you can share.
Happy cooking and sharing and eating!