40 SAVEUR.COM
RANGE Pozoleused for tortillas and tama-
les. Leave it whole and, well,
pozole (the dish) is so good
that it’s pretty much become
the only way Mexican cooks
use pozole (the ingredient)
in recipes.
Sando has made pozole
perfection his kitchen mis-
sion. It includes tinkering
with various recipes, as he’s
been doing since his first
bowl in Guadalajara in 1984,
and even improving the nix-
tamal at the center of the
dish. Sando is one of the few
evangelists for dried hom-
iny, a shelf-stable nixtamal
that can be soaked overnight
and simmered for pozole in a
fraction of the time it takes to
start from scratch with dried
corn. The ingredient is a rar-
ity in Mexico, where most
cooks either patiently sim-
mer their own nixtamal or,
increasingly, buy it prepared
in cans.
In his new cookbook, The
Rancho Gordo Pozole Book,
Sando shares a recipe for
a classic rojo with smoky
ancho and fruity guajillo
chiles. Even with dried nix-
tamal, the dish is a bit of a
production. The key, Sando
says, is to break down pozole
to its core elements.
TOP QUALITY CORN
In pozolerias and tradi-
tional Mexican kitchens,
nixtamalizing corn is a
time-consuming daily chore.
In the U.S. and more time-
pressed Mexican homes,
canned prepared hominy
is the norm. But what the
cook gains in convenience,
they lose in rich corny f lavor
and dense, creamy tex-
ture. Canned hominy also
doesn’t give the broth the
same heft as homemade. A
third option, and Sando’s
favorite, is dried hominy:
nixtamalized corn kernels
that have been hulled and
redehydrated.
Sando first learned about
prepared dried hominy
through Osage Nation mem-
ber Raymond Red Corn, who
made and sold it in Okla-
homa through his company,
Red Corn Native Foods.
“I immediately wondered
why everyone didn’t make
it this way,” Sando says.
“The dried nixtamal had
so much more f lavor than
the canned.” Sando started
selling Red Corn’s dried nix-
tamal in 2004, and in 2014,
Rancho Gordo started pro-
ducing its own. (Red Corn
Native Foods has since
stopped making and selling
the ingredient for unrelated
reasons.)
You can find dried hominy
in some well-stocked Mex-
ican markets, where it’s
often sold as mote blanco or
white-corn posole, or order
it online at ranchogordo.com
or loschileros.com.A MIX OF MEATS
Pork is by far the most com-
mon meat used for pozole,
and the way Sando sees it,
the more parts, the better.
Historically, pozole was acele bratory dish made for fat
times, often to coincide with
an animal’s slaughter. In
place of using a whole pig’s
head—which Sando says will
make the most gelatinous
stock you’ve ever eaten—a
trot ter, ea r, snout , or a com-
bination of a few parts gives
the broth impressive body
and f lavor. Ask your butcher
to split a trotter lengthwise
to better diffuse its colla-
gen into your stew. You can
add pork shoulder for heft
and spoonable meat chunks,
or use the pork shoulder and
ribs alone for a leaner broth.A DENSE BROTH
“Once you add all the con-
diments, it ’s so complex, it
doesn’t really need many
aromatics,” Sando says
about pozole’s base, which
he actually makes in two
installments. He cooks the
hominy in a separate pot
from the meat so he can con-
trol the doneness of both
elements more precisely.
The corn simmers with just
an onion for f lavoring, while
the pork broth works with
a mix of onion, garlic, bayleaves, and peppercorns.
The pozole rojo below
relies on ancho chiles for
depth and heat, and guajil-
los for color and brightness.
Despite pozole’s many
regional variations, most
red versions that Sando has
tasted use that same combi-
nation. Adding the chiles at
the end helps preserve their
f lavor.TOPPINGS GALORE
Classic pozole toppings
include radishes, diced
onion, limes, and Mexican
oregano, but as with every-
thing else about this dish,
variations abound. Sando is
partial to adding green
cabbage sliced razor-thin,
but his friends in Mexico
City find the idea ludicrous;
they use iceberg lettuce pre-
pared similarly. In parts of
Guerrero, you can get your
pozole blanco topped with
crispy pork rinds. What-
ever your choice of toppings,
endeavor to have a lot of
them, and a mix of textures
and f lavors. This is party
food, after all. It’s supposed
to take over the table. Pozole Rojo
SERVES 8; Photo p. 38
Active: 1 hr. 40 min. • Total: 11 hr.
In central Mexico, every pozole
features a different combina-
tion of pork and dried chiles, but
“ I would be confi dent ser ving
this [version] to a Mexican grand-
mother,” says Rancho Gordo
founder Steve Sando, “if I were
so bold.” Each spoonful contains
meat from pork shoulder a nd
country-style ribs, a cut that still
contains some shoulder bone.
For the meat and stock:
3 lb. boneless pork shoulder,
cut into large chunks
1 lb. country-style pork
spare ribs (shoulder
bone included)1 pig trotter, scrubbed as
needed (1½ lb.) (optional)
1½ cups thinly sliced
yellow onion
3 medium garlic cloves
3 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp. kosher salt,
plus more as needed
For the broth:
3 dried guajillo chiles,
stemmed and seeded
2 dried ancho chiles,
stemmed and seeded
½ medium yellow onion
(4 oz.)
6 medium garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. canola oil
7 cups Cooked Dried
Hominy (see opposite),
or drained canned hominyTo garnish (choose a mix):
Corn tortillas, tostadas, or chips
Cotija cheese
Diced firm-ripe avocado
Dried Mexican oregano
Finely chopped white onion
Fresh cilantro
Lime wedges or halves
Sour cream
Thinly sliced green cabbage
or iceberg lettuce
Thinly sliced red radishes
1 Prepare the meat and stock: In
a large stockpot, add the pork
shoulder, ribs, trotter (if using),
and enough cold water to cover
by about 1 inch. Add the onion,
garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves,
and salt, and bring to a boil over
medium-high heat. Once boil-
ing, lower the heat, and partiallyA variety of pig parts and
dried ancho and guajillo
chiles give pozole rojo its
deeply savory broth and
brilliant crimson hue.PROPSTYLIN
G^
BYBEATRI
CECHASTKA