Pozole

This soup is prepared with hominy corn and is rich, spicy, and immensely popular. It's typically cooked overnight with a variety of herbs and spices, as well as chicken, pig, or vegetables. It's served with onions, radishes, limes, lettuce, and chiles when it's ready.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces dried guajillo or ancho chiles, or a combination of both, Salt, 1 large (108 ounce, 6 lb 12 oz, 3 kg) can white hominy, drained and rinsed, 3 pounds pork shoulder (preferably with bone), cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes (can also use pork shanks), make sure to use a cut well marbled with fat, 8 cloves garlic, 4 cloves roughly chopped, and 4 whole cloves, 3 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 tablespoons dry oregano (Mexican oregano if available), Garnishes (can prep while pozole is cooking):, 1/2 small cabbage, thinly sliced, 1 bunch cilantro, chopped, 1/2 white onion, chopped, 2 avocados, chopped, 4 limes, quartered, 1 bunch red radishes, sliced thin, 12 to 24 tostada shells (see Recipe Note)

Instructions

• 5 quarts of water in a big 10-12 qt stockpot While you're working on the next steps, turn on the heat to bring the water to a boil.
• Remove the stems, seeds, and large veins from the chili pods and discard them. Heat the chili pods in a cast iron pan over medium high heat for a few minutes, until they soften. Don't let them become too hot.
• Bring a medium pot with 3 cups of water to a simmer and remove from heat while the chilies are heating. Once the chiles have softened, place them in the hot water in the pot and cover.
• Allow 15 to 20 minutes for the chiles to soak in the boiling water.
  
• In a large sauté pan over medium high heat, heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan). Using paper towels, pat the pork pieces dry. Season them with a good amount of salt.
• Brown the meat on all sides in batches, taking care not to crowd the pan or stir the meat too much.
• Add 4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped, to the pan with the meat right before it finishes browning, and cook for approximately a minute.
• Transfer the meat to the large stockpot of boiling water once it has browned. Scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, as well as any garlic, into the pot. Add the rinsed hominy to the pot.
• Combine bay leaves, cumin, and oregano in a bowl. Smoosh the oregano together with your hands as you put it in so that it breaks up more as it goes in. Add a spoonful of salt to the mixture. Bring to a low boil, then reduce to a low heat and continue to cook for 15 minutes.
• by blending the chilies, around 2 1/2 cups of their soaking liquid, a teaspoon of salt, and four garlic cloves in a blender (To avoid creating too much pressure in the blender, it's probably best to start with the chiles and garlic and only a cup of the liquid, then add the remainder of the liquid.)
• Using a sieve, strain the red sauce, eliminating the tough components of the sauce.
• Add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the mix. Return to a low simmer, partially covered, and reduce the heat to just high enough to maintain a low simmer.
• Remove any extra fat using a skimming motion. Season to taste with extra salt if necessary (you will likely need more than you expect, perhaps a tablespoon or more.)
• Because you'll be adding a lot of garnishes, the resultant soup should be somewhat brothy. If required, add extra water.
• You can prepare the garnishes while preparing the pozole (slice the cabbage, chop the cilantro, etc.)
• To serve, place the garnishes on the table in bowls and ladle the pozole soup into them. Allow your guests to pick and choose their garnishes for their pozole.
• Serve with tostada shells (or tortilla chips if tostada shells are unavailable).