Pozole Rojo

How to make it

1. Drain the soaking water from the hominy and rinse the kernels in plenty of cold water until it runs clear. Then pinch the small hard tip off each kernel with your fingernail. This tip is what holds the kernel closed, so if it's left on, the kernel won't pop open during cooking. ⏱ 15 min
2. Put the hominy in a large, heavy pot with the 4 liters of cold water. Add the halved onion and the halved head of garlic, and bring it slowly to a boil. Skim off the gray foam with a slotted spoon as you go, so the broth stays clear and clean-tasting. ⏱ 15 min
   Chef's tip Skim while the water is still just shivering. Once it comes to a rolling boil, the foam gets whipped apart and disperses into the broth, leaving it cloudy and muddy-tasting. The gray foam shows up in the first few minutes.
3. Turn the heat down to the lowest simmer, cover with a lid, and cook the hominy for 2½ hours. Top up with boiling water if the kernels are no longer covered. The hominy is ready when the kernels have popped open like small white flowers and are tender all the way to the center. ⏱ 2 h 30 min · passive
   Chef's tip Hold it at a bare simmer — bubbles breaking lazily every few seconds. A rolling boil knocks the softening kernels apart and clouds the broth, and it will boil down faster than you can top it up.
4. Add the pork shoulder and the chopped neck bones to the pot along with the coarse salt, and let it continue simmering, covered, for 1½ hours. The meat is done when it falls apart at a light press with a fork, and the broth smells sweetly of pork. ⏱ 1 h 30 min · passive
   Chef's tip Keep the same lazy bubble now that the meat is in. The neck-bone collagen melts into gelatin that makes the broth cling to the spoon, while a hard boil squeezes the shoulder dry and stringy.
5. While the meat simmers, toast the chilies. Lay the guajillo, ancho, and árbol chilies flat in a dry skillet over medium heat and turn them a couple of times. They should smell sweet and become soft and pliable, but must never darken — burnt chili will make the whole pot bitter.
   Chef's tip Count in seconds, not minutes — about 15-30 seconds per side over medium heat. Pull them off the moment they smell sweet like raisins and bend easily; wisps of smoke or dark spots will carry through as bitterness in the whole pot.
6. Put the toasted chilies in a bowl and pour boiling water over them so they're fully submerged. Let them steep for 20 minutes, until they're heavy and soft like wet leather. ⏱ 20 min · passive
   Chef's tip Weigh the chilies down with a small plate so none bob above the water — floaters stay leathery and won't blend smooth. Taste the soaking water before you use it; if it's harshly bitter, blend with fresh hot water instead.
7. Blend the soaked chilies with the raw garlic cloves, the roughly chopped onion, the oregano for the chili sauce, the salt, and 2 dl of the chilies' soaking water. Blend the sauce completely smooth, until it's deep red and flows thick and heavy off the spoon.
   Chef's tip Run the blender a full two to three minutes, well past the point it looks done. Under-blended sauce leaves you fighting a sieve full of pulp and losing much of the chili with it.
8. Strain the blended chili sauce into the pot through a fine-mesh sieve. Press the mixture through with the back of a spoon, so only the tough bits of skin are left in the sieve. The skin never breaks down, and if it ends up in the pot, it will make the broth gritty.
9. Let the pozole simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, so the chili loses its raw edge. The broth should turn deep red and glisten with melted pork fat. Season it with salt at the end, so it tastes round and full-bodied — the garnishes at the table are tangy and fresh and pull the other way. ⏱ 30 min · passive
10. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
11. Lay the corn tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. They're done when they're completely dry and snap cleanly if you break off a corner. ⏱ 10 min · passive
12. Finely shred the romaine lettuce, thinly slice the radishes, and finely chop the last onion. Arrange them in their own small bowls along with the oregano, the ground chile piquín, and the lime wedges, so each garnish sits in its own bowl. ⏱ 10 min
13. Ladle the pozole into deep bowls with both meat and hominy in each portion, and set the bowls of garnishes and the toasted corn tortillas — the tostadas — in the middle of the table. Each diner builds their own bowl: first lettuce and radishes, then onion, then oregano rubbed between the fingers, and finally chile piquín and a squeeze of lime. The tostadas are broken into pieces and used to scoop up the meat along the way.