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Warning: Very involved recipe from Anson Mills. The first time I cooked this I did the hominy per recipe and it turned out great. This time I cooked up some Rancho Gordo prepared hominy instead and doubled the whole recipe, still great. But that is the only short cut I used.
I think it is well worth all the labor. I try to make things from scratch avoiding canned or packaged. (except with I’m feeling lazy)
Pork & Hominy Stew
Yield: 6 main dish portions
Ingredients:
- 1 large garlic head, separated into cloves, cloves peeled, & 4 cloves set aside
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 1-4 to 5 pound bone-in pork shoulder roast, fat cap trimmed
- 2 Turkish bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- Fine sea salt
- 1 recipe (2 qts) Smoked Ham and Chicken Stock (see recipe)
- 2 ounces (8 medium) New Mexico chiles
- ½ ounce (2 medium) pasilla chiles
- 3 cups water
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 3 cups cooked Fresh Whole Hominy (see recipe or cook ½ lb Rancho Gordo’s brand)
- 2 ounces tortilla chips, finely crushed (¾ cup)
- ⅓ cup juice from 1 juicy orange, ½ of the juiced orange reserved and stuck with 2 whole cloves
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 to 2 spoonfuls adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles en adobo
Garnishes
- 6 ounces green or napa cabbage, finely shredded (3 to 4 loosely packed cups)
- 8 ounces (about 1 cup) Mexican crema or sour cream (optional)
- Fine sprigs of fresh cilantro
- Freshly chopped scallions
- 2 ounces (½ cup) pumpkin seeds, toasted and lightly salted
Preparation:
- Day 1: Make the stock and prep hominy. (see recipes)
- Day 2: Cook the hominy. Combine all the garlic (except 4 reserved cloves), 3 onion quarters, the pork, bay leaves, peppercorns, and ¾ tsp salt in a large Dutch oven. Cover with the stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until the pork is fork tender, about 3 hours. Remove from heat and cool the pork in the broth for 1 hour, then transfer it to a large plate. Strain the broth through a chinois or fine-mesh strainer set over a large heatproof bowl (do not press on the solids in the strainer), and refrigerate it overnight. When the pork is cool enough to handle, shred it into bite-size pieces, discarding the fat, gristle, and bone. You should have just over 1¼ pounds of meat. Place it in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Day 3: Bring the water to a boil in a tea kettle. Meanwhile, heat a medium cast-iron skillet over med-low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Add a few of the chiles and toast them on both sides, using tongs to lightly press against the surface of the pan, until just fragrant and ever-so-slightly darkened, 1 to 2 minutes. Pull the tops off the chiles to remove the stems, shake out the seeds, and toss into a medium heatproof bowl. Toast and seed the remaining chiles in the same fashion. Pour the hot water over the chiles, keep them fully submerged, and let stand until softened and plump, about 30 minutes.
- Remove the chiles from the water; pour the water through a fine-mesh strainer and reserve. Coarsely chop the remaining 4 garlic cloves and add them to a blender along with the softened chiles, the remaining onion quarter, the cumin, and ¾ cup of the chile soaking water. Purée until smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed and adding up to ¼ cup more of the chile water to obtain a smooth texture. Pour the purée through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl to remove bits of skin and seeds; work the mixture back and forth with a rubber spatula to force it through. Scrape the bottom of the sieve occasionally to remove the purée that is clinging to it.
- Spoon off the fat from the surface of the chilled pork broth; add 2 or 3 tbsp of this fat to a large Dutch oven and discard the rest. Heat the fat over medium heat until shimmering. Pour the strained chile purée into the pot, and cook, stirring frequently, until the paste is slightly thickened and has darkened in color, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, shredded pork and the hominy and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to med-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 25 minutes. Add the crushed tortilla chips, orange juice, the clove-studded orange half, and adobo sauce, if using, and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, to blend the flavors, about 20 minutes longer. Taste for seasoning, then remove and discard the orange half. Ladle the stew into bowls and serve, passing the garnishes separately.
http://ansonmills.com/recipes/467
Fresh Whole Hominy
Yield: about 4 cups
Ingredients:
Preparation:
- Pour the water into a medium enamel- or porcelain-coated pot and bring to a simmer over high heat. Add the culinary lime and stir with a wooden spoon until the powder dissolves. Remove the pot from the heat and let stand. (It’s best to set the pot next to the slow cooker so you can decant the limewater into the slow cooker without agitating the solids that settle on the bottom.) Cover the pot as soon as the water cools a bit.
- After 4 to 5 hours there will be a thin, crisp lime skin on the surface of the water. The liquid beneath will be clear, and a layer of cloudy lime solids will be hover over the bottom of the pot. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a 4 to 7qt slow cooker. Lift the pot with limewater, tilt it gently, and pour the liquid through the strainer, leaving the cloudy solids in the pot. (the lime skin will remain in the strainer) Allow the solids to settle again, and then decant more limewater into the slow cooker. Repeat this process until only about 1 cup of cloudy solids and water remains at the bottom of the pot. Pour the lime skin and solids down the drain and rinse the sink well. Add the corn to the slow cooker. Let settle, then skim off and discard any floating kernels. Cover the slow cooker and soak the corn overnight at room temperature.
- Set the slow cooker on low and cook the corn for 5½ hours. (The liquid should climb to the gentlest simmer very slowly—so slowly you won't even notice it happening.) To check for doneness, using a wooden spoon, lift 2 or 3 kernels out of the water, rinse them under cold running water, and taste them. If done, they will be soft and ever so slightly chewy with a gel-like texture, but with no hard, starchy centers.
- Turn off the slow cooker and, using potholders, set the ceramic insert in the sink. Run hot tap water into the pot to flush out any bits of pericarp (the cellophane-like skin that encases the kernels when they’re raw), stirring with a wooden spoon, for about 5 minutes. Turn the hominy into a footed colander and rinse under hot running water, rubbing the kernels between your palms. Let the hominy cool to room temperature, turn it into an airtight container or large zipper-lock bag, and refrigerate until ready to use, up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
http://ansonmills.com/recipes/466
Smoked Ham & Chicken Stock
Yield: About 2 quarts
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds smoked pork neck bones or ham hocks
- 2 pounds chicken wings or necks and backs
- 4 medium yellow onions, peeled and chopped
- 4 small carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 medium ribs celery, chopped
- 12 fresh thyme sprigs or 4 teaspoons dried thyme
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- 2 Turkish bay leaf
- 12 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
- 5 quarts spring or filtered water
Preparation:
- Combine all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed 4 or 5qt saucepan or stockpot and bring to a simmer over med-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer gently until the stock is rich in flavor, about 3 hours, adjusting the burner as needed.
- Strain the stock through a chinois or fine mesh strainer into a large heatproof mixing bowl, should have about 2qts. (If less, add water to equal 1qt; if more, return the stock to the pot and simmer until it is reduced to 2qts) Pick the meat from the ham bones and reserve it, if desired. Discard the bones and vegetables. Let the stock cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until the fat congeals on the surface, at least 3 hours, or up to 2 days. Before using, remove and discard the congealed fat from the surface of the stock with a spoon.
http://ansonmills.com/recipes/521
