The official soup thread

[TripletDaddy]

"Pozole."

I don't feel any better, but I had to do it...professional obligation.

Uncommon to spell it with a Z in Southern California. Not to impune the posole in South Carolina, of course. I'm sure it is delicious there.

[wuapinmon]

Uncommon to spell it with a Z in Southern California. Not to impune the posole in South Carolina, of course. I'm sure it is delicious there.

No debemos disputar la opinión de la Sagrada y Santísima Real Academia Española:

http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltCons...=3&LEMA=posole

[wuapinmon]

Thank you professor. I would have preferred a recipe though.

Red, white, or green?

[TripletDaddy]

No debemos disputar la opinión de la Sagrada y Santísima Real Academia Española:

http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltCons...=3&LEMA=posole

I won't. Instead, I will skip it entirely and go with what the Mexicans call it (the opinions of a Spanish Council notwithstanding)

[wuapinmon]

I won't. Instead, I will skip it entirely and go with what the Mexicans call it (the opinions of a Spanish Council notwithstanding)

http://www.academia.org.mx/rae.php

[Surfah]

Red, white, or green?

White or green.

[TripletDaddy]

http://www.academia.org.mx/rae.php

That isn't a menu.

[Gidget]

Red, white, or green?

White or green!!! I think green sounds better but what do I know, I have never tried either.

[San Juan Sun]

White or green!!! I think green sounds better but what do I know, I have never tried either.

Green is good.

No posole tonight for us. Mrs SJS wasn't able to make it to the grocery store, and wuap's insistence on "pozole" sealed the deal against it.

[wuapinmon]

Gidget & Surfah,

Are yall comfortable working with pork head and trotters? I'll want to tailor the recipe to suit your abilities.

[wuapinmon]

Here you go. Enjoy.

wuap's Green Pozole

(DDD, please note the correct spelling)

Serves about 8 people with a sizeable portion

First, you’re going to need a gigantic stock pot. Nothing less than 16 quarts will cut it. I use my 20 qt.

Stock Ingredients:

½ of a pork head
4 lbs of fresh ham (pork leg) (trotters are an acceptably tastier substitution)
4-6 bay leaves
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (you can use dried, but the flavor is better from fresh)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 large onions cut into halves
2 heads (not cloves) of garlic, peeled—of course

Preparing the Stock

In a large pot boil the head and the ham (cut into large pieces) or trotters along with the two large onion halves, 2 garlic heads, plenty of water, and the rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves.

If you don’t want to use or can’t get a pork head, you can buy ham hocks (pork knuckles), but it will taste much better with a pork head. Also, you can make it with chicken (2 whole chickens cut into quarters), but it will not taste the same at all.

When the meat is falling off the bones of the head, take the bones and meat out of the stock and put them in a large, preferably metal, bowl to cool (metal cools faster). Once cool enough to handle safely, cut the chunks into bite-sized (small bites) pieces. Strain the stock through a fine filter. Discard the herbs, garlic, and onions. Rinse out the inside of the stock pot. Return the filtered stock to the pot along with the meat chunks. Bring to a slow boil and cover.

Nixtamal ingredients:

10 cups of nixtamal (less if it’s dried and not fresh or frozen)
1 chopped onion
3 sliced and de-seeded lemons
Piquín chile powder (to taste)
2 sprigs of fresh oregano
2 tbsp (or more if you like) kosher salt (regular is fine, but kosher is less salty)

Preparing the nixtamal:

While the pork head is boiling, in a separate pot place the prepared (and thoroughly rinsed) nixtamal (if you don’t know what prepared nixtamal is, ask me for that recipe, but it’s a lot easier to buy it at first). Add the salt, herbs, lemon juice (throw the squeezed lemons in the pot too), Piquín chile powder (go easy until you get a feel for how hot it is), and a chopped yellow onion. Bring to a rolling boil and cook until the nixtamal is soft and tender. Drain and rinse thoroughly to remove any remaining lime (cal) from the nixtamal. Add the nixtamal to the slowly boiling meat and stock, cover.


Ingredients for the sauce:

2 cups of pumpkin seeds (you will toast them)
2 serrano chiles (these can be fresh or dried, but I cannot warn you enough that these are scorching hot. If you can’t handle spiciness, go with a couple of dried guajillo chiles.)
1 pound of tomatillos with the outer covering peeled off
3 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of cilantro
1 tbsp of wormseed [epazote in Mexico] (you can find this at a good Mexican grocery store. If you can’t, a tbsp of completely pulverized coriander seed is a decent substitution)
3 small radishes, sliced into wafers
1 / 4 of a yellow onion
The pork stock that you made
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil (for frying)
1 tbsp of kosher salt

Preparing the sauce:

Toast the pumpkin seeds in a skillet ; do not let them burn. Put them in a blender or a food processor with the low-mounted blade attachment (we’re making sauce here).

Cook the tomatillos with the chiles in water (enough to cover them). You don’t need to cut them up, and the water doesn’t need salt.

Once they are soft (tomatillos are usually crispier, as it were, than regular tomatoes), put them in the blender/food processor with the pumpkin seeds, cilantro, wormseed, radishes, garlic cloves, and the onion with say 1/3 cup of the pork stock (enough to make it blend well). Liquefy it to create a smooth and pleasing texture.

Heat the oil in a large wide-bottomed pot. Pour in the sauce and cook until the color brightens/changes and the oil gathers on the top of the mixture. Add salt then reduce the heat to a high simmer, stirring constantly, for about one minute.

Next, add the sauce to the large pot with the meat and the corn. Check the flavor. If it needs more umph, you can add chicken stock base to bring up the salt without overwhelming the flavor. Base is easier and tastier than bullion, but bullion can work too.

It’s done.

You can serve it with tostadas, avocado chunks, radish slices, or my favorite, Fritos scoops.

[Gidget]

Thanks Wuap, this recipe looks crazy, and crazy good. Though our family is pretty comfortable preparing and eating any meat, especially pork, I think we plan to do a chicken pozole. I think, (being 5 months prego) if I had to pick up a raw pork head right now I would puke.

Looks like we'll be doing ours on Saturday now, Surfah has to go the temple tomorrow with the youth, I mean gets to. . .

[TripletDaddy]

whatshappeningman is providing recipes for Mexican food?

[MarkGrace]

I've never even heard of green posole. That recipe appears delicious, and if it didn't look like it would take me an entire day to make, I'd probably go for it.

[wuapinmon]

whatshappeningman is providing recipes for Mexican food?

Have you not seen photos of me? I'm a food veteran. And, not only am I an adoptive Hispanic, I'm adoptive Pan-Hispanic; I've attempted foods from Mexicali to Neuquén. Next time I make this, I'll post some photos.

Admittedly though, I've never had the guts to attempt chiles en nogada, the crown jewel of Mexican gastronomy.

I've never even heard of green posole.

That recipe appears delicious, and if it didn't look like it would take me an entire day to make, I'd probably go for it

.

Some of the best foods and flavors take time. This is a good lazy Saturday, or skipping-stake-conference recipe.