Pozole Recipe

This one is for Emily:
So when i cook i don't really get enjoyment out of doing it for myself, but i really like cooking for large groups of people. And whether or not my cooking is good i enjoy doing it. Most people bond with their mothers over cooking for their family. But i always bonded with my dad by cooking for other people. It's what he does for a living and he does it in mass quantities. So when it comes to family parties we always go to my dad to do the cooking, and since he worked so much this tended to be the way that we bonded. This is my paternal grandma's recipe which was passed onto my dad and now onto me. We are the only people in our family who know how to make it. But as you will see it's super easy so everyone should just do it. I have tweeked it a bit but i think for the better.

first off a couple of notes
1. i HATE meat fat. It grosses me out so this recipe involves lots of extra steps that will prevent your soup from being greasy. If you want greasy, fatty meats than do not strain the broth like i do
2. I will give you a bit of an arduous recipe for the chili soup base but you can also use cans of Las Palmas "chile colorado" and honestly it's just as good if not better.

Ingredients:
- 1 large can of hominy - you can find this at any mexican super market. they have giant cans and small cans. Take note that the hominy is most people's favorite part so make sure to get alot. Although when i made it my chinese friends preferred the pork. That is the first time i have ever seen that happen in my whole life.
- 1 large bag of dried Chile California peppers. If you can't find these, like i couldn't, you can also use Chile Guajuillo, but it's not as tasty and in that case i'd just get the cans of Las Palmas. they are big and reddish brown since they are dry and you can always find the dried chile section at the mexican market
- 3 cloves garlic
- Pork Shoulder, cut to fist sized chunks. Go to a mexican Butcher (carneceria) and you can either ask them specifically to give you the meat to make pozole or you can ask for pork shoulder. They will know and sometimes they have meats labeled according to what you can make with it. They should cut the meat for you, and ask for the least fatty ones. My dad's rule is to get 1 lb per every 2 people. He tends to overestimate but i stick to it. so you'll probably get like 5 or 6 lbs and it will seem like a lot but it will boil down to much less
- maybe 1 lb or 2 of pork espinaso (pork spine). If you cant' find this than most places have some kind of pork bones set aside. These are what's gonna give it the flavor so you wont' actually eat them

THAT WAS LITERALLY IT! can you believe it has so few ingredients....ok wait i lied cuz you need the side fixings
- cabbage - to cool down the spice
- tapatio - clearly, this is a mexican dish
- diced onions - i never put these in but the world loves onions so blaze
- limes
- good tostadas (fried corn tortillas that are whole and round) - maybe bought a a bakery or tortilla factory. no, tortilla chips won't cut it
- if you want to be real traditional you should eat radishes with it too also to cool down the heat, but most people don't actually eat the radishes. only real mexicans will
- dried oregano flakes
- chili flakes (optional)

So basic chile anatomy. The heat of a chile is in the seeds and in most salsas to make them edible you will usually take out all of the seeds like you would a bell pepper. So remove the stems from the dried chiles and using a knife cut down the middle and just wash out the seeds under the sink. since they are dried the seeds will flake right off under a little water. Take the de-seeded chiles and place them into a pot with water to boil. Just let them boil and when the water is bubbling let it simmer with a cover. This can be left cooking while you do the meat stuff.

wash your pork and in a big ass stock pot bring the bones and meat to boil. fill it up with enough water to really cover all of the meat. Make sure the water is high enough as it will assist you during the next step. To the water add plenty of salt and the 3 peeled garlic gloves. No need to mash or anything as they will basically disintegrate into the stew. Adding salt to the water as the meat is boiling is key to giving the meat and soup flavor. After the water has been boiling for about 15 minutes the fat from the pork will start to rise. It will look gross and foamy. That is the fat. You can skim it off the top with a spoon. There will be ALOT and you won't be able to get it all. to makes sure you get as much as you can though, you should mix around the meat so that the stuff from the bottom will rise to the top. This skimming process will most likely go off and on for about 30 minutes. Once all the fat has been skimmed you turn the heat to simmer, cover the pot, and just let it sit. The cooking should take like 45 minutes to an hour. When the meat is tender and you can shred it fairly easily, that is when you know it's done

While all that is cooking take the boiling chiles w/ water and set them aside. Blend the boiled chilies with some of the water they were cooked in until it is smooth wiht no chunks. Then take the blended mixture and sieve it through a really small colander. You are gonna have to use some elbow grease to squeeze all the juice through the colander and you'll end up with some really thick skin paste. You don't want this in your soup so dump it

Here is an extra step that i added because, as i said, i hate fat.
Once the pork is tender you will remove it from the water and put it in a covered dish. Sieve the broth with the small strainer making sure that all the left over fat does not end up in your final soup. Here is where it gets crazy. I then take the pork and run it under some warm water and kind of rub the fat off with my fingers so all i'm left with is plump, juicy, chunks of fat free pork. Clearly you do not have to do this, but for seers, it will make it taste bomb. Once the meat has all been cleared of fat you can add it back to the broth and remove the bones if you like.

open up the cans of hominy and add them to the pot. make sure there is not too much water that it will overflow. To make real hominy that is not canned i think you boil the shit out of dried corn kernels that are special but really i am not sure so just used the can. You want to also add the water that the hominy has been canned in as this has lots of yummy corn flavor that adds to the taste. mix that shit up and then slowly add the chile blend. At this point it's all about tasting and seeing how much is enough to make it good. the soup shouldn't quite coat a spoon but it shouldn't be clear either. i say just taste and add salt and chile blend accordingly.

As a backup you can buy a few cans of las palmas, and if the flavor just isn't right then add a little bit of those.

Let that all simmer until your guests arrive and BAM, you have some real, authentic, guadalajara style mexican pozole.

serve with squeezed lime, cabbage, etc, and dip your tostadas into it. for reals, this is the best hang over cure ever, which is probably why mexican restaurants only make it on weekends.

enjoy and tell me how it works out!