New Mexican Pozole

I prefer to skip the pork belly and trim up the shoulder, then boil it for 15 min or so in the least amount of water to cover. Even high quality pork shoulder will throw off impurities. Skim off this grey foam, strain and rinse. It will also melt off some of the excess fat. Then return meat to pot. I use a combo of water and chicken stock. Delicious with green chili (anaheims) and tomatillo too. Just roast them both and proceed with recipe, minus the red chili and cumin.

We had this on Christmas Eve. The pork was browned first, and it was delicious. I generally brown meat first before adding to a stew or soup.

I've been making posole for a long time. I use my slow cooker. I use pork shoulder as well, but green chiles, as the posole I've had in NM has been the green chile variety. It's fantastic in the winter with black beans and rice.

Traditional posole would use pig's feet. It adds a nice, gelatinous feel to the broth. I also rinse and drain the posole once or twice during pre-cooking to eliminate some of the starchiness. Cook corn until at your desired tenderness before adding other ingredients. Once meat and broth are added the posole tends not to get any softer in my experience.

I'm a New Mexican and we serve posole with just a little red chile in it for a bit of color. No pork belly.
It's then served to guests with sides of diced onion, cilantro, red chile sauce, Mexican oregano crushed and sprinkled on top, chopped green chile, corn and flour tortillas, queso fresca, crema, just about anything you might like. Each person "dresses"the posole with what they like. Oh, side of pinto beans Traditionally served around Christmas when folks come visiting.

My sons grew up with Posole as their Christmas Eve tradition. The main reason we did New Mexican food was that I grew up eating Lutefisk for Christmas Eve and I think Lutefisk is child abuse. ;)

I brown my pork shoulder in lard before making red chile and green chile. I put the hominy with some of it's broth together with fresh cilantro, lime juice and salt.

Ladle the hominy mixture into bowls and ladle whichever chile you want in on top of it. Serve it with fresh, home-made tortillas.

I live in Taos NM. This would be extremely meaty by local standards.

One common misconception is that NNM (Northern New Mexican) cuisine is super hot or spicy. It is absolutely not. The most prized chiles here are from Chimayo and are said to come from seeds brought by the Spaniards hundreds of years ago. They are all about the deep sweet citrusy flavor, not the heat which is probably around 3-5,000 scovilles.

Greetings from New Mexico.
This is a wonderful recipe, and if you have never eaten posole, you don't know what you're missing. I'm wondering whether you can get frozen hominy in NYC, or wherever you might be. I think It makes the best posole,

I really respect David Tanis's knowledge of New Mexico cooking, but this recipe disappointed me. I used nixtamal, after soaking as indicated in the recipe, and made the recipe exactly as written. For my taste, it was much too fatty, even after cooling and removal of all the fat on the surface, and I would use only pork shoulder rather than pork belly and pork shoulder. And it wasn't nearly hot enough. I ended up dosing with added chipotle con adobe and then Srichacha.

I’m a NM native, grew up in Albuquerque, lived in Espanola for a while. In my nearly 50 years here, I’ve NEVER seen cabbage/radishes garnishing posole. Maybe they do so in in southern NM? The cuisine of the Rio Abajo (lower Rio Grande) is sometimes more Mexico-influenced than in the Rio Arriba (upper Rio Grande). In my experience, posole is served piping hot with tortillas, beans, and - if your comadre *really* loves you - with fresh tamales and biscochitos for dessert. Mmm - Christmas Eve!

If you're using Anaheims it's no longer New Mexican. And, BTW, I'm not aware of anyone here who spells posole with a "z." And it's not that way in the ingredients list so why is ther a z in the title?

MMcKaibab...it is a-ok if it's not "New Mexican".... it is a traditional dish throughout many states in MEXICO. And there you will find innumerable variations using varied chiles/proteins. And as culture is a living thing, it continues to evolve. So, I have had some truly epic seafood poZole in Mexico. As for the spelling... both are widely used and while in mamy parts of US the "s" spelling is common, I have seen "z" spelling used all over..... ;-)

For authenticity be sure to have shredded cabbage and radishes in your garnish assortment.

I'd suggest putting the pureed chiles through a strainer to get out the chunkier bits. It's how we make pozole at home.

In my extended New Mexican family it was never cooked with red chili but always green. You serve it with red chili on the side for those who wish to add it, I always did. It's Christmas after all.