Pozole Verde Guerrerense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •10-quart heavy stockpot or barro olla rated for stovetop use
• •Second heavy pot for the pork broth
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting pepitas
• •High-powered blender
• •Wide cazuela or heavy skillet for frying the mole verde
• •Wooden spoon
• •Fine-mesh strainer

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the maiz

   Drain the soaked maiz pozolero and place it in a large olla with 3 quarts of fresh water, half of one onion, and half of the garlic head. Bring to a simmer and cook until the kernels bloom open, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours depending on the corn. Do not salt the corn before it opens. The grain needs to soften first. When it looks like little white flowers, you are ready.

2. 2

   Build the broth

   While the maiz cooks, put the pork shoulder, neck bones, pork foot if using, remaining halved onion, remaining halved garlic head, bay leaves, salt, and 2 quarts cold water in a second heavy pot. Bring it up slowly over medium heat. Skim the gray foam during the first 15 minutes. Lower the heat and simmer gently until the pork pulls apart with a fork, about 2 1/2 hours.

   Do not use lean pork loin. Guerrero pozole needs bones, fat, and collagen. A thin broth is not a virtue.
3. 3

   Join the base

   Lift the pork from the broth and set it aside until cool enough to handle. Strain the broth into the pot with the bloomed maiz and discard the spent onion, garlic, bay, and bones. Cut or pull the pork into spoon-size pieces and return it to the pot. You now have pozole blanco, the base Guerrero cooks turn green with pepita and herbs.

4. 4

   Toast the pepitas

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-low heat. Add the pepitas and toast them, stirring constantly, until they puff slightly and turn patchy gold, 4 to 6 minutes. They should smell nutty, not scorched. Burned pepita makes a bitter mole verde. Throw it out and start again if you went too far.

5. 5

   Cook the verdes

   Put the tomatillos and chile serrano in a saucepan and cover with water. Simmer 6 to 8 minutes, just until the tomatillos turn olive green and soften. Do not boil them into gray collapse. Guerrero's green pozole should taste like pepita, epazote, chile verde, and tomatillo, not like a tired salsa jar.

6. 6

   Blend the mole

   Transfer the toasted pepitas, cooked tomatillos, chile serrano, quartered onion, peeled garlic cloves, cilantro, epazote, hoja santa, romaine leaves, and 2 cups of hot pork broth to a blender. Blend until as smooth as your machine can make it. Mix the masa with 1/4 cup cool broth until no lumps remain, add it to the blender, and blend again. The sauce should be thick, green, and pourable.

7. 7

   Fry the mole

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the green mole carefully. It will sputter. Stir constantly for 12 to 15 minutes, scraping the bottom, until the paste thickens, deepens in color, and little freckles of fat appear at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. This is the step the women in Guerrero pozolerias do not let apprentices rush.

8. 8

   Finish the pozole

   Whisk the fried green mole into the pot of maiz, pork, and broth a ladleful at a time. Simmer gently for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often so the pepita does not catch on the bottom. Do not let it crash into a hard boil. The broth should thicken slightly and turn a deep green. Taste for salt at the end because the maiz drinks seasoning like a thirsty field.

9. 9

   Serve Guerrero style

   Ladle the pozole into deep clay bowls. Put the onion, radishes, lettuce, avocado, chicharron, oregano, chile piquin, lime, tostadas, and sardines on the table. Each person finishes the bowl. Add chicharron last so it stays crisp. Sardines are not a joke in Guerrero. If you do not want them, leave them. But do not pretend the custom is strange just because you met it late. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy raw hulled pepitas, not salted snack seeds. Toast them yourself. If the pepita is stale, the pozole will taste dusty, and no amount of epazote will rescue it.
• •Hoja santa matters. In Guerrero, some cooks call related leaves hoja para mole. If you cannot find it, use a little extra epazote and cilantro, but know what you are losing: that deep herbal note that makes the pot taste Guerrerense.
• •Canned hominy is a compromise, not an upgrade. If you use it, drain and rinse 4 large cans and add it after the pork broth is done. Simmer it at least 30 minutes before adding the green mole so it tastes like the broth, not the can.
• •Do not add crema, yellow cheese, or flour tortillas to this table. Tostadas de maiz, chicharron, avocado, radish, oregano, chile piquin, lime. Asi se hace y punto.
• •The sardines are optional, but they are not invented. Some Guerrero tables put oil-packed sardines next to the chicharron and avocado. This is a 32-state cuisine. Let Guerrero be Guerrero.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the dried prepared maiz pozolero overnight in plenty of water. If your corn is untreated whole cacahuazintle, it must be nixtamalized with cal first. Ask the vendor. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •The white pozole base, cooked maiz, pork, and broth, can be made one day ahead. Refrigerate it, then skim only the excess solid fat. Leave enough richness for the pot to taste like pork.
• •Toast the pepitas up to two days ahead and store them airtight. Blend and fry the green mole the day you serve it, because epazote, cilantro, and hoja santa lose their clean green flavor overnight.
• •Leftover pozole keeps refrigerated for four days. Reheat gently and stir often because the pepita settles. Keep chicharron, avocado, radish, and lettuce separate until serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 800g)