Posole

Ingredients

• 500 g dried white hominy, soaked overnight in cold water
• 800 g pork shoulder or country ribs, cut into large pieces
• 250 ml red or green chile sauce, red (AM3-10) for rojo; roasted green (AM3-09) for verde
• 2 litres water, or enough to cover pork and hominy generously
• 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste
• For the garnish table
• 200 g white cabbage, finely shredded
• 6 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 white onion, finely diced
• 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp dried red chile flakes

Method

1. 1
   Drain the soaked hominy and place it in a large, heavy pot. Cover generously with fresh cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook uncovered for 2 to 3 hours, replenishing water as needed to keep the kernels submerged. The step is done when the kernels have bloomed — each splits at one end, revealing the pale, starchy interior.
2. 2
   Add the pork pieces to the pot. Maintain a steady, unhurried simmer. Cook for a further 1 to 1½ hours. This is where the dish lives or dies: the collagen from the pork must dissolve fully into the broth, building body, while the meat itself surrenders completely — it should pull apart under no more than gentle pressure from a spoon. A rapid boil will tighten the meat; patience produces falling-apart tenderness.
3. 3
   Remove the pork. Pull or shred the meat, discarding any bones, and return the shredded pork to the pot. Stir in the chile sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes to marry the chile into the broth. Taste and adjust salt. The broth should be light — it flows freely in the bowl — and chile-forward in flavour, not thick or gravy-like.
4. 4
   Arrange all garnishes — shredded cabbage, sliced radish, diced onion, Mexican oregano, lime wedges, dried red chile flakes — in separate small bowls on the table. Ladle the posole into deep bowls. Each person builds their own: the cabbage for crunch, the radish for sharpness, the onion for bite, the oregano for the herbal note, the lime for the acid that balances the rich pork broth. The bowl is done when it smells of pork, chile, and oregano rising together.