Red Pozole with Pork and Chicken

My dear friend, Jim Dickson came from Schenectady to see me today and I made him pozole rojo. The pozole was delicious and the company even better.  My son Rodrigo,  my daughter-in-law Victoria and my granddaughter Violeta joined us and we had  a great time.

I’ll never forget the day I met Jim in 1982.  He had invited Harley Baldwin, who would play a  big part in my life  (I  moved to New York to partner with him in a business that did not work out), for dinner and he took me along.  Much to my horror, the main dish was shad roe cooked in cream. Like some people await for the arrival of Dutch pickled herring (another non-favorite) devotees anxiously wait every year for the season of this great delicacy. I had never had it before and have never eaten it again. It was the texture I did not like. It reminded me of the mountain oysters that my mother served at the ranch. But I ate it all and Jim and I became great  friends.

Jim Introduced me to Diana Lissauer who would become my best friend and social arbiter.  I lost her some 10 years ago just like I lost another favorite, Alex Baker. The links I’ve put up here will take you to my remembrance of him where I wrote both about Harley and Diana.

I make my pozole fairly simple but it does require fresh nixtamal, not canned hominy though I guess you could use it in a pinch but it will definitely not be as good .I always start by cooking the pork and chicken in either pork or chicken stock to give it extra flavor. Once the pork is halfway done, I add the nixtamal and the  chicken thighs. Many people prefer breasts but they dry out and don’t have as much flavor. Also, they do not freeze well and pozole is one of the few things I do freeze because it reheats beautifully.
So here is a free-form recipe. 4- quarts chicken or pork stock or a combination of the two, 4 pounds pork butt, preferably with some bones. cut into large chunks.  2 pounds chicken thighs with skin. 1 large onion, skin on, 1 head garlic, unpeeled, 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 tablespoon salt.

Place the pork and stock in a large soup pot, with the onion, garlic, black peppercorns and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, remove any froth that rises to the top; lower the heat to maintain a low rolling boil and cook, partly covered,  for 45 minutes-1 hour, more or less. Add the nixtamal* and the chicken thighs and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the meats as they are done. Remove the fat from the pork and the skin from the chicken and shred. Set aside.

Make a salsa de chile colorado This can be done ahead of time., Once the nixtamal starts to “blossom” add at least 2 cups of sauce and the meats and cook for another 20 minutes or so. That’s it!

Prepare the garnishes: sliced radishes, avocado, chicharrones, shredded lettuce, lime slices, and Mexican oregano, and some onion.  My mother taught me a trick  to reduce t he bite of the onion:  Place the chopped onion in a medium-mesh sieve and pour boiling water over it. This is called to “desflemar.” Drain well; add the juice of one lime and some crumbled oregano.

See the section on how to make nixtamal that I will put up later.