Pink Posole de Puerco - 234

I've had this rose colored dried corn sitting in a glass jar in my kitchen for almost a year now. When Javier got back from Mexico last year, he brought this to me as a surprise, along with a very heavy but brand-new molcajete. I haven't used the molcajete (heavy stone mortar and pestle) yet, but last week I decided to do something with the pinkish-colored dried corn.

Javier swore up and down that it was to be used for posole, a Mexican hominy-based dish usually made with a pig's head if you're in Mexico, but pork - and sometimes chicken, sometimes both - if you can't get a pig's head or don't want a pig's head simmering on your stove top. Only once have I had posole made from a pig's head, and that was in 1974 when I was living in Guadalajara, Mexico. I opened the lid of something cooking on the gas range only to see a couple of ears and eyes looking back at me from the pot. I tried to make excuses that day for not being able to eat, but the posole had been prepared just for me as I was getting ready to leave Mexico. (And looking back, they were probably getting ready to celebrate my departure. But more about that later).

A good posole - whatever it's made with, and we make ours with lean pork - is only one part of a more elaborate meal. It starts with the soaking of the dried corn / posole days before you cook the actual dish. The soaking of the corn can take several days. There are those who use canned hominy, but I think it's too mushy. Once the dried corn has reventado (burst) in the soaking water, which should be changed several times over the course of 2-3 days, it is ready to be cooked in a combination of water and chicken stock for hours and hours. There are some who pick the now softened corn apart, separating the kernel and/or the husky outer skin from the corn, but Javier's Mom taught me to leave it all together in the posole. Roughage, I suppose.

The corn is cooked for hours in the water / broth combination with a whole peeled onion and several cloves of garlic, and once the corn comes to a semi-soft stage, we add the pork. We usually use a lean pork roast which - we know, we know - has less flavor than a pork butt or the country style ribs, but less cholesterol. We cook the pork (which has been cubed) and the corn/hominy/onion/garlic mixture on the stove top. Yesterday's posole took about 8 hours.

I'll post the recipe later this week, along with some of the others, but let's fast forward to the serving of the meal. On the table we've prepared little dishes of dried oregano, finely chopped white onion, thinly sliced radishes, thinly sliced cabbage, crushed red pepper (or homemade salsa) and we've quartered a few limes. First the posole goes into a bowl, and then one can garnish with any or all of the above condiments. I add them all, squeeze on the lime, and then eat. Traditionally posole is served with tostadas on the side rather than corn tortillas. Cold beer is a nice accompaniment, too!

Our recipe has taken several twists, turns and shortcuts from the original ones, but if you'd seen the bowls of posole we had for dinner and tasted them, too, you would never have known the difference between what we had and the original stuff with a pig's head cooked into it. The original varieties usually have some grease floating around, which is great for added flavor, but terrible for your heart!