An Early Father’s Day Wish…

What does a father really need on father’s day? My dad likes peace and quiet, maybe a couple of packs of pro v golf balls,  or these days  to pitch in on his latest eBay find, some food, and a couple of cold beers which really isn’t much. My dad’s a simple man and the best one I know. More than anything my dad is a pillar of strength and stability in my family that I would never ever trade for anything in this world. I love my dad so much and he’s taught me so many lessons in my life that I can’t even begin to tell you how much he means to me but I hope that everyone out there is able to have an amazing dad, husband, father to your child, grandpa, step dad or whoever, that you love and get to say thank you and I love you to on this very special Sunday but really it’s my hope you tell them every day.

I love you Dad.

That’s my dad holding me 🙂 oh memories!

On Sunday I’ll be making brunch of a lavish proportion; my dad has already asked me to make Pozole. Pozole is the name for larger kernels of corn that are processed to make hominy but is also the name of the dish of Mexican soup made from pork and hominy amongst other things. My dad is Japanese but maybe my mom being Mexican and Native American and his love for Mexican food had something to do with him marring her. No but seriously my dad loves Mexican food. I surprised him last year for Christmas and made homemade Pozole and he loved it and said it was one of the best he’s had and we’ve eaten a lot of Pozole. I thought so too. So here’s my recipe adapted from an amazing friend of mine and a couple of cook books and making this soup over time for Pozole and I hope you find it well.

Pozole

4 pig’s feet cleaned and halved

4 lbs of pork soup bones

3 lbs of pork loin cut into large chunks

1 head of garlic outside skin removed then cut in ½

2 large white onions peeled and left whole

1/4 lb of New Mexico chiles seeded and steamed

 8 oz package of Pasilla chiles seeded and steamed

4 cups of very hot water

1 XL can of white hominy

2 tablespoons of dried Mexican oregano

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons of black pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of cumin

Boiling water as necessary

This is the real deal… pig’s feet and all.  It’s a long process and it will make your whole house smell like soup. It’s not as bad as boiling tripe for though Menudo but it’s pretty pungent. The key to any amazing soup is knowing how to season it well by letting all the flavors meld and tango with one another. This process is not simple and makes a lot of soup about 12 generous portions which are very generous so make it freeze it eat some now, tomorrow and next month. The cooking times for the different portions of meat are so done in layers which helps prevent over cooked portions of pork.

Here we go…

Rinse pig’s feet in warm water about 5-7 times just to remove any last minute grit.

Place in a very large pot and add water to cover feet

Bring the feet to a boil over high heat and then reduce to medium and simmer for about an hour and a half

Removed feet and set aside reserving liquid in pot

Once meat is cool enough to handle remove meat from the bones and discard bones and skin

Add meat to liquid reserved in the pot

Now add pork soup bones and cubed slices of pork tenderloin (if you find the tenderloin is expensive you can also use pork country ribs as well or in place of the tenderloin the will be a little fattier but are a good substitute or addition for a meater soup) to pot along with garlic intact with just the waxy paper removed and cut cross ways and onions simmer over medium- low heat covered for 2 hour.

Mean while Removed stems and seeds from chilies add them to large bowl and cover with very hot water allow to rehydrate for 25 minutes

Now check to see that all the meat is tender and remove large pieces from pot as well as the garlic and onions and set the vegetables aside from the meat.

Squeeze the garlic from its wrapper into a blender add the cooked onions to the blender as well add the presoaked chilies and about 1 cup of the water they were soaking in

Blend in blender till smooth then pour through a sieve so that any leftover seeds are not in the final puree

Return mixture to the pot.

When the meat is cool enough to handle shred apart with the grain into larger pieces discard any large amounts of fat or bone from the pork soup bone mixture.

Return meat to pot add black pepper, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and Mexican Oregano and cook for 30-45 minutes to allow spices to bloom in broth

(When you salt this soup it’s going to take a good amount of salt to penetrate the natural development of flavors in the chiles and meat, add salt in small quantities and mix making sure not to over salt because prepared hominy has salt in it already. Allow to cook for remainder of time and readjust seasoning at the end before serving)

Finally add the large can of hominy drain and rinse from contents of the can and cook for 20 minutes or longer uncovered. If necessary add extra water to cover meat.

The longer the Hominy sits in the soup the more flavor it will take on but the 20 minutes will make sure the hominy does not overcook and loose its texture.

Cool and let Soup sit over night in fridge for maximum flavor but who are we kidding you just spend about 5 hours on a soup!

eat some right away!!!!! it will still be amazing, just the next day it will develop even more flavor!

Pozole is known for amazing condiments

Thinly sliced green or red cabbage

Minced white onion

Sliced green onions

Cilantro

Lime wedges

Extra Mexican Oregano

Red Chili flakes

Sliced Avocado

 Sliced Radishes

All make amazing additions to this wonderful soup! I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does.

Cheers
Unrivaledkitch

Twitter and Foodbuzz and RSS FEED and Facebook

I’d like to thank foodgawker and tastespotting for featuring my grilled corn on their sites. Very awesome

My blog had record number of views for some entries lately so I want to thank everyone so so much for being here and supporting me and my food writing as well as my food.

Lastly I’m going to be in Chicago for a week… eating and ravaging the city. So I don’t think I’ll be blogging very much if any while I’m gone. I maybe able to get in a couple of blogs before I leave but please keep up to date with me on Twitter and Facebook and I’ll be back with many tales of food adventures!

Lots of love my friends and much gratitude!

Thanks again for being amazing people
-Kimberly