Pozole Verde Poblano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot or olla
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting and charring
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Wide heavy pot or cazuela for frying the salsa
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the pork broth

   Place the pork shoulder and neck bones in a heavy 8-quart stockpot. Cover with cold water by two inches. Add the halved onion, the halved head of garlic, the bay leaves, and the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a slow simmer over medium heat. Skim the gray foam that rises in the first fifteen minutes and discard it. Cold water draws the flavor out slowly. A rolling boil clouds the broth and toughens the meat. You want a clean caldo, not a cloudy one.

   The neck bones are not optional. They carry the marrow and collagen that give the broth body. Without them, the pozole verde tastes thin and the cilantro and pepita have nothing to lean on.
2. 2

   Simmer until tender

   Lower the heat until you see lazy bubbles every few seconds. Cover partially and cook for two hours, until the pork pulls apart with a fork but still holds its shape. Strain the broth and reserve it. Pull the meat off the bones in rough shreds and set aside. Discard the spent onion, bay leaves, and bones. You should have about ten cups of clean pork broth. If you have less, top up with water until you do.

3. 3

   Toast the pepitas

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Add the cup of pumpkin seeds in a single layer. Toast them, stirring almost constantly, for about five minutes. They will start popping and turning the pale gold of toasted almond. Pull them off the heat the moment they smell nutty and look just shy of brown. Burned pepitas turn the salsa bitter and there is no fixing it. Set aside to cool. Reserve a small handful for garnish.

4. 4

   Char the green ingredients

   On the same comal over medium-high heat, char the tomatillos, the chile poblano, the chile serrano, the four garlic cloves, and the small chopped onion. Turn them as the skins blister and blacken in spots. The tomatillos take about eight minutes and will turn olive-drab and soft. The poblanos take six to eight minutes and the skins should char in patches. The serranos take three or four minutes. The char is the flavor. A pozole verde made from raw tomatillos tastes flat and grassy.

   Do not peel the poblanos for this. The little flecks of charred skin become part of the salsa once it goes through the blender. This is not a chile relleno. The skin stays.
5. 5

   Blend the salsa verde

   Transfer the charred tomatillos, poblanos, serranos, garlic, and onion to a blender. Add the toasted pepitas (save the handful you set aside for garnish), the cilantro, the hoja santa, half the epazote, the chopped romaine, and one cup of the reserved pork broth. Blend on high until completely smooth and bright green. It should be the color of a wet jade stone, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If it is too thick to move in the blender, add more broth a quarter cup at a time.

   Hoja santa is the leaf that makes this pozole poblano and not guerrerense. It tastes like anise and black pepper and root beer all at once. If you cannot find fresh, the dried works. If you cannot find it at all, the dish is still good, but it is no longer the version from Puebla. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
6. 6

   Fry the salsa

   Heat the lard in a wide heavy pot over medium-high until it shimmers. Pour the green salsa in all at once. It will sputter and seize. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon for eight to ten minutes. The color will darken from bright jade to a deeper, more serious green and the salsa will thicken. The fat will start to separate around the edges. This is the step that turns ingredients into pozole. La manteca es el sabor. No me vengas con atajos.

7. 7

   Combine and simmer

   Pour the remaining nine cups of reserved pork broth into the pot with the fried salsa. Whisk to combine. Add the drained hominy, the shredded pork, and the rest of the epazote. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes. The flavors marry and the broth thickens slightly as the pepitas continue to release. Taste for salt now. The hominy and the pepitas absorb seasoning, so the broth should taste assertive in the pot, not shy.

8. 8

   Set the table

   Ladle the pozole into deep clay bowls, making sure every bowl gets meat, hominy, and a generous amount of the green broth. Set the shredded lettuce, radishes, diced onion, oregano, lime, avocado, the reserved toasted pepitas, and the tostadas in small platitos around the table. Each person builds their own. That ritual is the dish as much as the broth is. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •If you can find cacahuazintle, dried, and you have the time, nixtamalize it yourself with cal (food-grade calcium hydroxide) and cook it overnight. Canned hominy is acceptable. Hominy treated with cal in your own kitchen is something else entirely.
• •Fresh hoja santa is sold at Mexican markets in the United States in spring and summer. If you cannot find it, dried hoja santa from a reliable Mexican spice supplier works. Do not substitute basil, fennel, or 'fresh herbs.' Hoja santa tastes like nothing else and there is no clean substitute.
• •The salsa verde must be fried in lard before it meets the broth. Skip this step and the pozole tastes raw and one-dimensional. La manteca es el sabor, even in the green version.
• •Pozole verde is brighter the first day and deeper the second. Make it in the morning, eat it for dinner, and the leftovers for lunch the next day are arguably better. The pepitas keep thickening as it sits.

Advance Preparation

• •The pork broth and shredded meat can be made one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Skim the solidified fat off the cold broth before reheating.
• •The salsa verde base can be charred, blended, and fried one day ahead. Refrigerate and combine with the broth and hominy on serving day.
• •Pozole verde keeps refrigerated for three days. It does not freeze well: the hominy turns mealy and the green brightness fades.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)