Pah zo leigh - Pozole people, do you know it?  Have you had it?  Did you/Do you like it?  Tell me…  ‘Coz I for one love it. 

It’s all dark and mysterious, it’s spicy, it’s meaty, it’s brothy, it’s good.  Jason, he’s not a fan.  I think it’s too, um… fussy for him?  No, stewy.  He’s no stew boy (what?).  But it could also be the fussy that keeps stew boys (and girls) away.  You know with all the garnishes and toppings, you really have to be friends with your food to get your eat on.  I personally find it suits my picky-eater style, yes that’s right, I am a world class picky-eater.  But I’m in a program now so it’s all good. 

For me pozole and all it’s lovely toppings is akin to chili,  if you got it and topped it yourself.  Except I don’t like chili, well chile verde yes and white chicken chili.  But chili, like American red chili with beef and kidney beans… no thank you.  I mean aside from the fact that I don’t eat beef and I don’t care for tomato sauces there is the issue of kidney beans.  I mean really?  That is the nastiest freakin bean in the world, it should go away and die some lonely painful death. Now I don’t generally get all hostile and aggressive towards food but there are a few.  Veal.  Well, not veal itself.  But what’s up with the sick bastards that eat baby-cow-raised-in-a-box-so-it’s-fork-freakin-tender?  I’m just sayin. 

And I think I’ll look into if my picky-eater program has an affiliate food-aggression program.

In the mean time, here’s my recipe for tender, delicious pork pozole.  It becomes tender with that fall apart quality because you simmer a cheap cut of pork for three hours.  So please don’t use baby-cow-raised-in-a-box-so-it’s-fork-freakin-tender …  Enjoy.

Blondie’s Pork Pozole

• 2 1/2 pounds of pork, in 1″ cubes (pork shoulder or country pork ribs or rib tips) and the bones
• 1 large brown onion, diced
• 10 cloves of garlic, minced
• Large can of hominy
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Cumin
• 4 whole dried Ancho Chiles
• 6 cups homemade chicken stock
• Water

For garnish you will need

• Cabbage, shredded
• Radish, sliced
• Cilantro
• Onion, diced
• Limes

Heat a little oil in a large heavy pot and add the cubed pork.  Seasoned with salt & pepper and brown on all sides, you may have to do this in batches.  When browned on all sides, remove pork from the pan with a slotted spoon, set aside in a bowl or platter (juices will accumulate). 

Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook in the pork fat that should have rendered out, sautee until translucent.  Remove and add to the deep dish with the browned pork.  Make sure there is sufficient oil in the pan, adding if necessary and put the dried ancho chiles in the hot fat.  Cook them for about 4-5 minutes on each side to blister and develop the flavors.  Remove into a separate bowl and cover with hot water, submerging with another bowl if necessary, until soft and tender about 15 minutes. 

In the mean time, add the pork, onions and garlic back into the pan, along with any drippings, add the hominy and the chicken stock and as much water as needed to cover.  Bring to a simmer.

When the chiles are soft, remove the stems and seeds,  dice or puree the chile.  Add both the chiles and the broth to the pozole.   

Simmer over medium heat for about 3 hours, adding more water if necessary to maintain the level of liquids, until the pork is fall apart tender.  Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and cumin.

Serve with a platter of garnishes and a ice cold corona or a real margarita.

Note: To all the chili aficionados - I realize that red chili as should be made the Texas way, does not have a tomato sauce - it’s the chiles that make it red.  And that the presence of beans is debatable and is never a nasty freakin kidney bean.  But good proper chili is not so easy to find.  It’s an art and if you make it, your an artist.  And if you’ve ate it, you are indeed lucky.  But I think most chili served in the States closely resembles the gruel that you would find at Wendy’s (not that I have ever had it).

Another Note: I realize that the sweet little innocent calves are not actually raised in boxes. Blonde and stupid are not the same things.

And now, in case you wanted to know: Pozole is a traditional Pre-Columbian soup that perhaps came from Jalisco, Mexico (lots of references to Jalisco on the web). It is a soup or stew with a combination of hominy (corn) and pork and chiles in a broth, served with various accompaniments, to be dressed by the lucky individual who is eating this spicy, delicious soup.