Pozole Rojo

I made this Mexican soup a long time ago for a friend and she loved it!  Still talks about it to this day so I decided I would make it again for her and her "beau", and blog the recipe.  I hoped it would be as good as she remembered!  I used a different recipe this time.  I also made it two nights before so I could get all the fat off easily, if needed, by leaving it in the fridge so it would harden.  And it would probably taste better too after sitting.


I started with the peppers.  I used 5 Ancho Chiles, 5 dried Guajillo Chiles and 2 Chiles De Arbol.  I just ripped the stems off and then shook the seeds in the garbage.  That went well till I got to the Anchos.  I had to dig out the core and then the seeds were reluctant to leave while shaking...

I let this sit in boiling water.

I started chopping my onion (1 large sweet) and garlic (8 cloves).

I cubed the pork.  I left the fat, even though the recipe suggested removing it.

I used a pork shoulder and it was 3 lbs.  I patted it dry first.  It took me two and a half batches to brown it and I moved it to a plate.  Below is the first batch.

I stir fried the onions and garlic next until soft.

Next, everything went into the pot, except the hominy.  I made homemade chicken stock for this recipe a couple of nights previously and left it in the fridge.  I strained it in so I could remove the hardened fat from it which worked perfectly and was easy to do.  I added Mexican oregano, cumin, bay leaves and fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt.  I was going to add the hominy at end of the cooking, in the last half hour.

I blended the chilies and the color looked beautiful!

I added them in.  The pot was full.  I brought to a boil and then turned it down to a simmer until the pork was fork tender, shred-able which took a couple of hours.  The recipe said to shred it, so I took out about half and sliced it up into some shreds and returned the pork to the pot.  I rinsed the hominy.

I added it in, stirred, seasoned with S&P again and simmered for the remaining time.  It smelled so good in the house now.  I cooled it down.  I could see all the fat on the top but I had wanted to cook the pork with the fat, for the flavor.  If I had cut it all off, I think it would miss some of that fatty goodness.  It tasted delicious, the pork was tender as in pulled pork style.  The flavors were great and the hominy is so right in this.  The S&P seemed to be right on.  I  fished out the bay leaves .  There was nothing to more to do at this point.  This was at 5 hours now...

I covered and put it into the fridge.  When it came out of the fridge, there was no discernible fat to scrape.  It looked exactly the same as when it went in.  I put it on low on the stove burner, covered, and reheated it.  This took about an hour, nice and slow...

The rest of the preparation was doing the "garnish" plates.  This soup is all about the garnishes.  I bought some tostadas.  (I was shocked that they were $6.50!)

I also used chopped fresh cilantro, diced avocado, lime wedges, shredded red cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, Cotija cheese and chicharróns.  I gave everyone their own plate of garnishes to use as they pleased.

This was even better than I remember.  It was so comforting and tasty.  The garnishes were fantastic.  I think everyone enjoyed their meals and it was worth all the time and effort.  Simply amazing...