I've been a fan of posole for many years, which should be no surprise to those of you who've seen my enthusiasm lately for Hatch chiles. I've read tons of recipes and made many batches. In the last year or so, I've stopped consulting recipes and just concentrated on combining the ideas I've seen from a number of different approaches. Pork butt was on sale this week at Publix and with lots of chiles in my freezer, it was time to try another batch.
One approach I've really liked is thickening the broth a bit with roasted, pureed tomatillos. Today, I decided to go with a totally different approach for the pork. Instead of going with smoked pulled pork, I opted instead for a shallow braise. My thinking was that the flavors from the hominy and the chiles can be fairly mild, and I didn't want to hide them under the smoke. I'm very happy with the result. In fact, I'm so happy with how it came out that I think I've settled on my approach for the foreseeable future.
I started with a butt that was about 6 and 3/4 pounds. I cut off a couple of large chunks to freeze for future carnitas or some such. I kept the bone section with a total weight just under 3 pounds. I hit that with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and seared really hard on every side in a deep stock pot.
The butt portion:
After the sear, I deglazed with chicken stock to a depth of a couple of inches:
I then put the lid on the pot and kept it at a fairly hearty simmer to braise for 45 minutes.
While that bubbled away, I roasted tomatillos and onion at 350 for about 30 minutes, throwing in some garlic for the last 5 minutes.
Those goodies went into the blender with the contents of one of the two bags of previously roasted and frozen Charger Hatch green chiles.
The blended thick paste was then poured directly into the stockpot and mixed well, turning the pork several times to coat. The braise continued another 45 minutes.
The pork was then removed from the pot, allowed a brief cooling and cut away from the bone, chopping into bite-sized pieces:
The pork was returned to the pot and the soup was thinned with another couple of cups of chicken broth:
After another 30 minutes of simmering, I added the hominy. Here's the can, as this was easily the most flavorful hominy I've tasted:
After another half hour of simmering, I chopped the remaining bag of chiles:
And here we are, fully assembled, with a heaping half teaspoon of oregano added at this time:
There was another simmer, probably about a half hour, and then it was allowed to rest for 45 minutes or so. We served it up with my first try at homemade tortillas and lime. The tortillas were a little under, but I'm still happy for a first run.
I couldn't believe how tender the pork turned out and how flavorful the broth was. With the combo of the pureed veggies and the rendered fat--along with pork cooked right on the bone--this was easily my best posole. If you try this approach, enjoy!
One approach I've really liked is thickening the broth a bit with roasted, pureed tomatillos. Today, I decided to go with a totally different approach for the pork. Instead of going with smoked pulled pork, I opted instead for a shallow braise. My thinking was that the flavors from the hominy and the chiles can be fairly mild, and I didn't want to hide them under the smoke. I'm very happy with the result. In fact, I'm so happy with how it came out that I think I've settled on my approach for the foreseeable future.
I started with a butt that was about 6 and 3/4 pounds. I cut off a couple of large chunks to freeze for future carnitas or some such. I kept the bone section with a total weight just under 3 pounds. I hit that with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and seared really hard on every side in a deep stock pot.
The butt portion:
After the sear, I deglazed with chicken stock to a depth of a couple of inches:
I then put the lid on the pot and kept it at a fairly hearty simmer to braise for 45 minutes.
While that bubbled away, I roasted tomatillos and onion at 350 for about 30 minutes, throwing in some garlic for the last 5 minutes.
Those goodies went into the blender with the contents of one of the two bags of previously roasted and frozen Charger Hatch green chiles.
The blended thick paste was then poured directly into the stockpot and mixed well, turning the pork several times to coat. The braise continued another 45 minutes.
The pork was then removed from the pot, allowed a brief cooling and cut away from the bone, chopping into bite-sized pieces:
The pork was returned to the pot and the soup was thinned with another couple of cups of chicken broth:
After another 30 minutes of simmering, I added the hominy. Here's the can, as this was easily the most flavorful hominy I've tasted:
After another half hour of simmering, I chopped the remaining bag of chiles:
And here we are, fully assembled, with a heaping half teaspoon of oregano added at this time:
There was another simmer, probably about a half hour, and then it was allowed to rest for 45 minutes or so. We served it up with my first try at homemade tortillas and lime. The tortillas were a little under, but I'm still happy for a first run.
I couldn't believe how tender the pork turned out and how flavorful the broth was. With the combo of the pureed veggies and the rendered fat--along with pork cooked right on the bone--this was easily my best posole. If you try this approach, enjoy!
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