Mesoamerica · Volume 05, Agave, Birria and the Manila Galleon Coast
Pozole rojo
Jalisco and the Bajío, Mexico
Illustration
- Researched
- Researched from 65 sources in the brief
As tradition built it
Pozole rojo
Serves eight
Ingredients
The method as the tradition gives it, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them, lead dishes first.
- 500g pre-cooked cacahuazintle corn (the wide-kernelled variety specific to this dish)
- 1kg pork, backbone or leg cuts
- 3 chiles guajillo
- 3 chiles ancho
- garlic
- onion
- to taste oregano
- to taste salt
To serve
- to taste radish
- to taste shredded lettuce
- to taste onion
- to taste oregano
- to taste lime
- to taste tostadas
Method
- Boil the corn until the kernels burst open, “flower.”
- Cook the pork separately, with the garlic and salt, until tender.
- Soak and deseed the guajillo and ancho chiles, then blend them straight into the broth for colour and body.
- Simmer everything together for a final 30 minutes to marry it all.
- Serve with radish, shredded lettuce, onion, oregano, lime and tostadas, a garnish set characteristically Jalisco rather than Guerrero's or a plain white pozole.
What a modern chef changes
Sous Vide Pork, Clarified Consommé
Method
- Cook the pork shoulder sous vide, separately from the broth, to a precise, still-moist doneness.
- Reduce the pork's own cooking liquid and the chile-broth base together through a chinois into a properly clarified consommé.
- Dehydrate a portion of the toasted guajillo and ancho into a fine dust in the spice grinder, dusted over the finished bowl at the table for a concentrated last note of the same chiles already in the broth.
- Toast and grind the cumin and oregano fresh rather than using pre-ground, a small change that noticeably sharpens the broth's own aromatic base.