Salamanca Green Pozole

Guanajuato, the Bajio, the industrial corridor around Salamanca. That is where this green pozole lives. Do not confuse it with Guerrero's pozole verde, which leans on pepita, herbs, and chicken. Salamanca's pot is newer, louder, and argued over: cacahuazintle in a tomatillo and chile poblano broth with pork, tocino, jamon, and salchicha from the comedor kitchens that fed working families in the 1960s.

I first tasted a version near the Mercado Tomasa Esteves, where a woman selling tortillas corrected me before I had finished asking the question. "No es pozole fino," she said. It is not fine pozole. Correct. It is a practical Bajio soup built from pork broth, green market vegetables, cured meats, and corn that had already done the hard work of becoming nixtamal. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo.

The green comes from tomatillo and roasted poblano, not from pretending every green sauce in Mexico is the same. The acidity can come from xoconostle when the market has it, especially around Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi. The table salsa uses chile guajillo and a little chilcuague, that Guanajuato root that numbs and wakes the mouth at the same time. If your chile vendor does not know chilcuague, pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.

This dish makes purists nervous because of the salchicha and jamon. Let them be nervous. The Bajio has hacienda kitchens, mining-town kitchens, convent kitchens, Otomi comales, and worker comedores along the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. Esto no es comida de un solo Mexico.