Ahh, it’s as if Chez Venza has woken from a long siesta, just in time for Cinco de Mayo! The most famous obscure Mexican holiday. Did you know that Cinco De Mayo is not Mexican Independence day and that we basically celebrate it because beer companies promote it as part of a labor-dispute settlement?
Anyhoo! To celebrate, we made Posole Rojo, a traditional Mexican holiday stew and purported hangover cure. We had sampled this dish at our local Chicken al Carbon restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had to try our hand at it.
The lovely red in this dish comes not from paltry tomatoes, but from chilies! Mas Chilis! The more the better! It’s fun to buy these at the store and basically have no idea what the different kinds are supposed to taste like or how hot they are. We were supposed to buy anchos, but I think we got some New Mexican chilies (our grocery store didn’t really bother to label them). The most ridiculous part of the recipe was when it told us to add 3/4 cup of chili de arbol. Um….what? How do you measure 3/4 cup of chilies exactly (see illustration above)?
After ditching the stems and seeds, the chilies get soaked in boiling water for about 30 minutes to soften them up. Those sure are some hot chilies! Get it? Temperature-wise.
Then the chilies go into the blender with salt, garlic, and some of the soaking liquid. Will it blend? It will.
Bright red chili goodness.
The chili goo gets pushed through a strainer to get rid of all the skin bits and leftover seeds. The result has got a good slow burn heat to it. Not crazy, but crazy good. We recommend at least doubling the amount of chili puree this recipe calls for (a la Sean Connery, “That’s the Chez Venza way”).
Now, the meat. You think a Mexican hangover cure isn’t going to be full of pork? Pshaw. This is a 2lb pork shoulder cut into chunks and seasoned with salt and cumin.
After browning some onions and garlic, the pork gets seared in the pan.
Then we drown it in add a bunch of homemade chicken stock, Mexican oregano, and about half of the chili mix. For good measure, we also threw in the pork bone.
Simmer, my pretties! Simmer!
After about three hours of simmering, you’re left with a lot less liquid and a fair amount of grease. I highly recommend making this at least a day in advance so you have time to chill it and extract the grease easily.
Then we add Hominy! This stuff is weird, but cool. They are a little larger than chickpeas, with a similar texture, but they taste slightly like buttered popcorn. Also, it’s what grits are made of!
After more simmering, and shredding the fall-apart pork, we add in the rest of the good chili sauce we made earlier. We also needed to add some water to loosen it up a bit. Again, err on the side of more chili sauce!
Then, much like our Chiliquiles recipe (and many other Mexican recipes), the condiments are essential. The spicy, hot stew is served with cabbage, cilantro, avocado, radish, and lime! Viva posole, Amigos!
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