How to Cook Posole

Posole is a seasonal holiday dish usually served during Christmas time in N.Mex. Properly made it can be one of the most enticing dishes or bowls prepared for your family that is certain to be a hit.
We buy organic hominy, better known as "posole" in N.Mex., one 24 ounce can. Add two fourteen ounce cans of chicken broth or 3-4 cups of water, your preference. One pound of organic green chile which you will destem and peel and cut into striations, some people prefer "ristra" red, made into puree used generously.After you brown the cubed pork in a skillet put all the ingredients into a crock pot or Dutch oven and simmer all day or for fifteen minutes.Note: the canned version will be ready to eat in 15 minutes. While it simmers add a little oregano or what is better known as, 'the menudo' mix. The tastes will blend better if you let it all simmer all day. If you choose dry(two cups)of posole, you definitely must cook it all day. It depends on when you plan to serve it. Pick a nice, cold or fall day. Garnish with slices of lime and chopped white onions to taste. Be prepared for large kudos and people wanting seconds. You might even want to serve the dish with white flour tortillas during this nurturing, nourishing warm dish that is assured to arouse warm feelings of people toward one another during the holiday season. We can't have enough of those.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A large can of organic posole or hominy
• A medium size plastic bag of green chile. This recipe calls for green chile, it can be made with "ristra" red,using commensurate portions of the puree you have made
• Two 14 ounce cans of chicken broth or 3-4 cans of water
• An iron skillet to brown the cubed pork and start cooking the green chile striations
• A crock pot or Dutch oven to transfer the ingredients into.
• Garnish with chopped white onions and oregano, or the "menudo mix" found in stores

How to Cook Posole

1. Set out all your ingredients to make N.Mex.posole: a large 24 ounce can of organic hominy or "posole", a one pound bag of organic chile verde whose stems, seeds and peelings you will remove and cut these into striations, a pound of pork,two 14 ounce cans of chicken broth or 3-4 cups of water. Use a crock pot or Dutch oven if you plan to simmer the ingredients all day, especially if you want to use uncooked posole.

2. Start by cubing the pork in an iron skillet and brown, add a sprinkle of white flour, add the striations of chile verde, add the chicken broth and simmer for a short while. Transfer all the ingredients into your crock pot and add the hominy and chicken broth. You only use the skillet to brown the cubed pork. Remember: if you use the uncooked vaiety of hominy it will take all day. The canned version, only 20 minutes simmer time.

3. We will repeat the sequence of going to the browned, cubed pork and cooking the striations of green chile here as a transition because it is best to transfer it all into the crock pot which will better house either the 3-4 cups of water or the chicken broth. Simmer only if you use uncooked hominy or posole.

4. The taste and the aroma of all the cooked, then simmered ingredients will be like no other, authentic N.Mex. flavor. Hominy cooked by itself really is kind of blah to us, like rice. But the minute you add pork and chile verde or "ristra" red, you have a dynamite dish, certain to be a hit, whether it is cold out or not.

Tips & Warnings

• Select organic canned hominy or posole if you simmer for 20 minutes. Also, select organic pork for sheer better flavor. If you use the uncooked variety of hominy, it should simmer all day. Either way the blending of all the ingredients are really something.
• Be careful if you use hot chile verde or hot "ristra" red. These have to be taken on gradually. It is definitely an acquired taste. Enjoy your cold winter or fall dish. It will make for a memorable dining event.