Pozole blanco (white hominy soup)

Ingredients

• For the pozole
• 1.5 kg pork neck bones (or pork head pieces), gelatin-rich cuts; pork trotters may supplement
• 800 g prepared hominy (nixtamal), dried hominy cooked 3–4 hours until expanded to three times original size; or quality canned hominy, drained and rinsed
• 4 garlic cloves, whole, unpeeled
• 2 litres water, cold, to cover
• 1 tbsp fine salt, adjust to taste
• For the garnish table
• ½ head white cabbage, finely shredded
• 8 radishes, thinly sliced
• 2 limes, cut into wedges
• 1 white onion, finely diced
• 4 dried chiles árbol or mulato, whole, for crumbling into the bowl at service
• 2 tbsp dried Mexican oregano, to be toasted and crushed between the palms before serving
• 8 tostadas, for the table

Method

1. 1
   If using dried hominy, place it in a large pot, cover generously with cold water, and cook at a steady simmer for 3 to 4 hours until each kernel has bloomed — expanded to approximately three times its original size, the crown splitting open. Drain. If using canned hominy, drain and rinse thoroughly. The hominy is ready when the grains are fully open, tender throughout, and no raw starchy resistance remains at the centre.
2. 2
   Place the pork neck bones in a large heavy pot. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the bones and the pot. Return the blanched bones to the clean pot, add the garlic cloves and enough cold water to cover generously — approximately 2 litres. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a moderate simmer. Cook, uncovered, until the meat is completely tender and beginning to leave the bone, and the broth carries a clean, faintly gelatinous body — this takes approximately 2 to 2½ hours. Season with salt.
3. 3
   Lift the pork from the broth. Strip the meat from the bones, discarding cartilage and excess fat. Return the meat in pieces to the strained broth. Add the prepared hominy to the broth and pork. Return the pot to a full boil and maintain it for at least 15 minutes, allowing the hominy to absorb the broth and the soup to consolidate. This is where the dish lives or dies: the broth must be boiling when it reaches the bowl — pozole cools rapidly and a lukewarm service destroys the dish entirely. Taste and correct the salt.
4. 4
   While the pozole finishes, prepare the garnish table. Place the shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, diced onion, lime wedges, tostadas, and whole dried chiles in separate vessels. Toast the dried oregano briefly in a dry pan until fragrant, then set it out whole — each diner crushes it between their palms directly over their bowl to release the volatile aromatics. The garnish table is not optional; it is the mechanism by which each diner seasons their own bowl.
5. 5
   Ladle the pozole at a full rolling boil directly into warmed deep bowls — broth, hominy, and pork in each portion. Bring immediately to the table alongside the full garnish array. The bowl is correct when a thin column of steam rises steadily from the surface.