How do you plan to stay cool when the weather gets a little hotter this summer? Working in an office environment I’m constantly amused by the variety of comfort or discomfort that’s determined by a simple “tweak” of the thermostat. Sweaters go off and on for some people, while others open the window and let in the 98° air because they are too chilled by the 74° indoor climate.
For me, I’d much rather be warm than cold any day. I like it when the weather so hot you can smell the heat rising from the sidewalk. I’d much prefer a beach vacation to a mountain retreat, although I can appreciate both quite easily. So, I’ve learned over the years to appreciate both warm and spicy food on a hot summer day as the perfect way to stay in my comfort zone.
I made this pork posole a few weeks ago, a dish I had been craving ever since we returned from New Mexico in March. Posole is one of those dishes that is made a number of different ways, so if you had it one way and didn’t like it don’t write it off. I love the rich flavors that come from chipotle chiles and I’ve now discovered 
a new favorite – guajillo chiles. I could only find them dried here in Wisconsin, and serendipitously the recipe I found uses dried guajillos that you roast in the oven for four minutes, which brings out the amazing flavor of this mild chile. Staying true to much of what I learned last year, I used my own homemade stock (I had beef instead of chicken), but I did rely on canned hominy. But what made this dish truly awesome, besides the guajillos, was the Berkshire pork shoulder my co-op is now selling. Berkshire pork is well worth using if you can find it – is the new red meat and what I imagine pork used to taste like before the flavor, and yes, fat, was bred out of it.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Toasted Guajillo And Pork Posole (adapted from Cooking Light)
3 dried guajillo chiles
1 ½ pounds pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 cups homemade stock (chicken or beef)
3 cups water
2 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
3-5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium onion, cut into 4 wedges
2 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (1 tablespoon of sauce, 1 tablespoon of chopped chiles)
1 can (29 oz) hominy, rinsed and drained
Cilantro, chopped cabbage, and limes to garnish and add flavor at the end.
Preheat the oven to 400° and place the guajillo chiles on a baking sheet. Bake for about 4-5 minutes until they begin to darken and the fragrance of the chile really opens up. Let them cool and remove both the stems and seeds.
Take the pork you’ve trimmed and cut into smaller pieces, and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Heat up the canola oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the pork and cook for 5 minutes or until the pieces are browned. Remove the pork from the pan and wipe the drippings from the pan. (Note: I didn’t do this, I just drained the pan and I regret not following the directions, as the posole was a little fatty.)
Return the pork to the pan and add the stock, water, cumin, cloves, garlic, and onion, scraping up any browned bits along the way. Add the guajillo chiles, adobo sauce and chopped chipotle chiles and bring this all to a boil. When it boils, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer and let it simmer for about 2 hours. The pork will be tender enough to pull apart when this has cooked long enough.
Remove the guajillo chiles, pieces of onion and garlic. Take about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the liquid from the pot and place in a blender. This liquid is hot, so remove the center piece from the cover of the blender lid to allow steam to escape. Place a towl over the opening in case your blender enthusiastically spurts out this hot mixture. Blend until smooth and return this liquid to the pan, stirring it in along with the hominy. Cook for another 10 minutes and it’s ready to serve.
We garnished our posole with cilantro, chopped cabbage, and a squeeze of limejuice at the end. It was fabulous!
A Year Of Inconvenience 