It was a cold, Wintry day in Texas back in the 90s when I first set out to create my own riff on posole, the time-honored unofficial state dish of New Mexico. My Hatch chile reserve (I freeze 30lbs every August) had run dry so I made a Fiesta Mart trip to lay in some chile Poblano, tomatillos and fresh hog bones and meat.

Char-Grilled Tomatillos And Poblano Chiles

I follow the creed of low and slow advocates when I make soups and stews like posole. Creating foods in this fashion is a full day in the kitchen if you do it right.

The payoff? One of the best cauldrons of food you will ever eat or serve to friends.

I’ve made posole with hog’s heads and that’s my favorite method but since most folks are intimidated by boiling the head of an animal in their kitchen I’ll submit this recipe with a favored substitute.

Recipe: Tex Mex Posole

Ingredients
4 quarts stock, pork (recipe)
2 lbs meat, hog, shoulder, cubed
1 lb tomatillos, puréed
6 each chiles, poblanos, roasted and chopped
1 bunch onions, green, chopped
14 oz hominy, dried, Goya is commonly available
2 t. cumin, ground
Salt to taste

Method
* Bring large kettle filled with stock, pork and hominy to boil
* Reduce heat to simmer
* Cook 90 minutes or till hominy is plump and full
* Add tomatillos and green onions
* Simmer 15 minutes
* Add cumin
* Simmer 15 minutes

Voila!
Your Tex Mex posole is at the ready.
I like to put a chiffonade of cabbage in the bottom of the serving bowls then pour the hot soup over the vegetable.
I squeeze a fresh key lime over the broth just before serving. This will “awaken” all the seasoning.
Too lazy to make stock? Use Maggi brand bouillon

Cooking Notes:
For the meat I use cubed pork shoulder but rough cut country-style pork ribs work fine too. If you can get your hands on a whole pig’s head then you’re posole game will take a noticeable tick upward

Tomatillos should be blistered over a fire or charred via the broiler in your cook-stove

If you can’t get your hands on tomatillos use a large (25+oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes)

If you can’t get your hands on poblanos use the dried version: anchos (rehydrate them with stock)

Jalapenos also make a fine posole, if you like it hot please leave seeds and veins in the chiles

I favor giant green onions

Buy the cumin seeds and grind them yourself if you want the best possible soup

Please don’t just dump all the ingredients into the pot and let it roll; by incrementally adding the separate elements you’re building complex flavors.

This dish should be served with totopos or soft, warm corn tortillas

If all this work just sounds like too much bother please visit Three Little Pigs food trailer or Los Altos taqueria. Both are in Austin Texas and each business makes fine posole