Monday, March 29, 2010

Posole


Every time I make posole I do it differently. My first posole post was way back to 9/30/08. I start with a list of what I have to contribute to it. This time it was some great big pork loin chops (on the bone) that were quite fatty. Trimming the fat and cutting the meat into ½” pieces was a start.

I had 1 pasilla pepper (a dried one) and a bag of the kind of dried red peppers you see ristras made from. Instead of rehydrating the peppers, I broke them up with my hands and extracted the seeds. Then I pulverized them in our spice grinder. All I needed to buy was an Anaheim pepper and some broth.

One problem cropped up: it was spicy, perhaps too spicy for Peter – perhaps too spicy for me, although my tolerance level is pretty high. The solution: after some thought I went out and bought a second can of hominy and added some more broth. Problem solved.

Posole
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ lbs cubed pork (from chops or shoulder)
½ medium onion, diced
1 Anaheim pepper, seeded and diced
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 dried pasilla pepper, seeded and pulverized in a spice grinder
2 dried red Mexican peppers, seeded and pulverized
1 & 1/2 15 oz. can hominy, white or yellow, drained and rinsed
20 oz. or more chicken stock
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano

Heat the olive oil in a good-sized pot. Add the pork and stir to prevent sticking. Cook the pork, stirring often, until most of the pink has disappeared.

Add the onion and Anaheim pepper. Add salt and pepper and saute 4 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and dried peppers and stir. Saute 2 minutes.

Add hominy, thyme and oregano. Add enough chicken stock to get the consistency you want. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a slow simmer, cover the pot and simmer slowly for 1 hour.

Check the pork for tenderness and let it go longer if you think it’s necessary. Taste for seasonings and adjust as necessary.

If you can make this a day ahead, that’s a good thing.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks great! I'm glad your experiment with taming the heat worked. I'm all for spicy, but if you can't enjoy the food, what good is it? :)

Andrea the Kitchen Witch said...

Mmm! I love posole! I too have added hominy to help cool off an aggressively spiced dish. You have some great recipes Steven, I'm glad to be following your blog :)

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