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Dialing In My Posole Technique

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    Dialing In My Posole Technique

    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:

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    After the sear, I deglazed with chicken stock to a depth of a couple of inches:

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    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.

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    Those goodies went into the blender with the contents of one of the two bags of previously roasted and frozen Charger Hatch green chiles.

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    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.

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    The pork was then removed from the pot, allowed a brief cooling and cut away from the bone, chopping into bite-sized pieces:

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    The pork was returned to the pot and the soup was thinned with another couple of cups of chicken broth:

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    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:

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    After another half hour of simmering, I chopped the remaining bag of chiles:

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    And here we are, fully assembled, with a heaping half teaspoon of oregano added at this time:

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    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.

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    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!




    #2
    Jim White well played sir!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

    Comment


      #3
      Jim, you are the undisputed heavy-weight champion of comfort food in this forum. My hat is off to you, sir.

      Comment


        #4
        Now I'm hungry again.

        Comment


          #5
          Excellent write up! And a good play on posole verde! I’ve made it similar to this style and really liked it. I’ve from up eating red Chile posole and finally tried making green after finding a version at a restating El Paso, Texas that I love.

          seems like you enjoy tinkering with the recipe, and you may have tried this already. But roasted jalapeños as well as roasted cilantro give it a nice touch as well.

          and for the hominy, is that already popped? I have to cook the hominy for a while, before it pops. Just curious? Bueno Foods makes a great product, it’s frozen and has amazing flavor. I don’t know if it’s available to ship but just wanted to share.

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          again, thanks for sharing this! Makes me think of the holidays!

          Comment


          • barelfly
            barelfly commented
            Editing a comment
            Jim White does the hominy look like a big corn kernel or kind of "popped" kernel? Not popcorn but just popped. I may not be describing it all so great 😂 Maybe it’s already in a popped form.

          • Jim White
            Jim White commented
            Editing a comment
            Yes, @berelfly, I think this is popped and that the canned stuff I've used in the past also is. This has an amazing corn taste to it that is almost tortilla-like.

          • Bkhuna
            Bkhuna commented
            Editing a comment
            I used canned hominy sometimes and dried hominy sometimes. The dried hominy will open up after it's been simmered long enough and it usually takes a couple of hours.

          #6
          I love posole but have never made it. That looks so good!
          Last edited by Attjack; October 18, 2020, 11:08 PM.

          Comment


            #7
            It never ceases to amaze me the variety of food that appears here. Thank you for detailing this. I've heard many good things about how great posole is, but must admit I've never made it, in fact I've never had it, not even a bite. I'm gonna save your post to OneNote and give this a try this fall/winter - comfort food indeed. Thanks!

            Comment


              #8
              That looks great, Jim. Have you tried putting hog trotters into your previous efforts? When I do I have to cook it outside because my wife can't stand the smell. They sure are good, though, and they add a lot of gelatin to the mix..
              Last edited by gcdmd; October 19, 2020, 11:34 AM.

              Comment


              • Jim White
                Jim White commented
                Editing a comment
                Never tried that. In fact, I had to look up what it is...

              #9
              Great write up! Thanks for sharing this with us.

              Comment


                #10
                Love Posolé. My recipe is not far from yours. I like to add in some neck bones or a hock for the richness. I also use dried hominy from Rancho Gordo. It allows me to adjust the firmness (bite) of it where as canned I can't.
                Still warm here in California so I'll wait on making a batch.........maybe.

                Comment


                • barelfly
                  barelfly commented
                  Editing a comment
                  There you go, that is what I was trying to get at above on the hominy. The bite, as Jim also says, it what makes this just perfect as well!

                • SheilaAnn
                  SheilaAnn commented
                  Editing a comment
                  ofelles love Rancho Gordo!

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