Red Pork Pozole soup recipe

by Normex Group Limited February 25, 2021

Red Pork Pozole soup is one of the favorite Mexican dishes to celebrate our national day. It’s simple, earthy, rich and satisfying. Pozole is pork or chicken – this recipe calls for pork – and hominy in a mildly spicy guajillo and ancho chile

Makes approx. 18 bowls (9 lt or 36 cups)

Prep time: 18 minutes – Start to finish: 2 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

4-5 pound pork shoulder with at least one large bone and some skin, washed, and cut into 4-inch squares. It’s ok to leave bones with some meat on them.
6 1/2 quarts of water + 3 cups
3 bay leaves
15 garlic cloves, peeled, divided
1 large onion, peeled, divided
8 dried guajillo peppers
6 dried ancho peppers
(optional) 6 dried chiles de árbol *
1 can of white hominy
2 tablespoons of Shólo dried wild Mexican oregano
4 tablespoons salt

For garnish

2-3 heads romaine or iceberg lettuce
2 bunches of radishes
2 white onions
8 limes or lemons
2 bags of tortilla chips

The cooking process

Gather Your Ingredients

The main ingredients to make pozole are pork, hominy (maíz pozolero), ancho chiles, guajillo chiles, onion, garlic, and Mexican oregano and optional chiles de arból.

Cooking the Pork & Broth

Place the pork, a head of garlic a few bay leaves and half an onion in a large pot and just cover with water (about 6 cups). Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 45 minutes. The pork is done when you can easily pull it apart with your fingers. If the pork doesn’t pull apart easily after 45 minutes, cook for another 15 minutes.

When the pork is cooked remove it from the cooking liquid and set aside. Strain the broth into a bowl and set aside.

When the pork is cool to the touch, shred it with your fingers into 1″ long pieces.

Preparing the Chile Base

Remove the stems, seeds, and veins from the chiles and discard.

Place the chiles, 3 cloves of garlic, and ½ white onion in a pot and just cover with water (about 3 cups).

Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Allow the chiles to rest for 15 minutes to reconstitute them. Notice how the chiles have expanded and become pliable from absorbing the water

Add the chiles, onion, garlic oregano, and soaking liquid to your blender. Blend for 1 minute until smooth. Do this in 2 batches.

Strain the blended chile base. Press the pulp firmly with the back of the spoon to extract as much flavor as possible. Discard the chile pulp that remains.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat and pour in the chile base. This is called “seasoning.” It is an important step that adds a lot of flavor to your pozole.

Simmer for 30 minutes until the base has thickened and darkened in color.

Cooking the Hominy

Drain the canned hominy and rinse. Put the rinsed hominy in a large pot and cover with 2″ of water. Simmer while you are preparing the pork and chile base.

Assembling the Pozole

Now it is time to bring all of the ingredients together. Add the chile base to the hominy.

Then add the pork broth and shredded pork. Add 3 teaspoons of sea salt. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Preparing the Garnishes

While your pozole is simmering you will need to get all of the garnishes ready. The traditional garnishes are: shredded cabbage or lettuce, diced onion, slices of radish, oregano, limes and finely chopped dried chiles or chile powder. It is common to enjoy pozole with tostadas or corn tortillas too.

Any way if you prefer watching rather than reading here is a video that will help you to cook this delicious dish.