This Pozole Rojo, or “red” pozole, is made with pork shoulder or shanks, red chiles, and lots of hominy corn. Although in our photos, the soup looks loaded with goodness, the soup itself is quite simple with pork and hominy and a light broth.
Serve with small bowls of garnishes for people to add to their bowls of soup, such as shredded lettuce or cabbage, dried Mexican oregano, red chile pepper flakes, chopped white onion, chopped cilantro, and thinly sliced radishes and lots of wedges of lime.
In the summer of 2015, Art and I visited Santa Fe, New Mexico for our “Kitchens of the Southwest” culinary tour (read more about our culinary adventure here), I was pleasantly surprised to find a bowl full of hominy and chunks of tender pork, drowning in a thick, but not sticky, red chile sauce. A much thicker sauce than I’ve ever tasted here in Los Angeles.
Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/posole_rojo/#ixzz4VTpunPB9
Pozole Rojo
A spicy and robust broth seasoned with red chile sauce.
For the Soup
- 5 quarts water
- 1 pound pork ribs with bone (Ask the butcher to cut them in half)
- 3 pounds pork roast
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 white onion (cut in quarters)
- 8 large garlic cloves
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 3 cans white hominy, drained and rinsed (*15 oz. cans )
Red Chile Sauce
- 9 dried California or New Mexico red chile pods (stemmed and seeded)
- 6 dried chiles de arbol (stemmed)
- 6 cups water
- 6 garlic cloves (peeled and left whole)
- 1 clove
- 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- salt to taste
- 1 onion (peeled and quartered)
- 1 tbsp Mexican oregano
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or salt to taste)
Prepare the Pork
- Place the pork, onion, and bay leaf and water in a 10 or 15-quart stockpot over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for about 3 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. While the meat is cooking, skim top layer of fat using a ladle or large spoon. If necessary, more water.
- Remove the pork from the broth. Shred the meat and remove any pork from the bones. Trim any excess fat. Set aside, covered.
- Discard bones, bay leaf, onion, and garlic from the pork broth. Continue to skim fat from the top of the pot.
Make Red Chile Sauce
- Place dried chiles in a large stockpot and add water to cover them. Bring water to a boil.
- Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, using tongs to turn the chiles so that they soften evenly.
- Drain cooked pods and allow time to cool down before blending.
- Using a blender blend peppers, garlic, onion, clove,oregano, red wine vinegar, adding some of the water from the pot they were soaking. Puree mixture.
- In a large frying pan, add cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add the chile pepper puree and salt to taste. Stir in the flour and constantly stir to break up any lumps of flour. Be careful as it may splatter if you have the heat too high. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Strain the red chile sauce through a sieve. *Note you can make the red chile sauce a day or two ahead to save time. Keep it refrigerated.
Putting it All Together
- Add the red chile sauce to the pork broth. Bring to a boil and add the meat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in white hominy and season with salt and pepper. Simmer the soup until the hominy is heated through.
- Serve the Pozole with small bowls of garnishes, including shredded cabbage or lettuce, finely chopped onions, radish slices, Mexican oregano, corn tortilla tostadas, and limes.
Just curious, why don’t you use the pork broth?
Hi – we do use about 3 cups of the pork broth.
So you cook the pork roast first then remove it then you add the ribs for 3 hours?
Hi Jeff – No, you’ll cook the pork with the rib bones for about three hours so that the meat easily falls off the bone. Hope this is helpful. Enjoy!
You do not address the garlic and chicken stock in the soup portion of the recipe.
Thank you for catching that. Our apologies. We will update and address it.
I like mild pozole. Does the chile de arbol make it medium hot? should I just use all California chile.
Chile de Arbol is a HOT pepper. Just use all California chile if you want it mild.
This feeds what? 150? Why we cooking for the whole town?
LOL! It’s how we do!!!