Posole

Not experienced with hominy but I just cooked a batch of Rancho Gordo hominy.....what a revelation ......it is fantastic in every way. Taste. Texture. Overall quality.
Glad the recipe only called for 1/4 # because I'm cooking the rest for breakfast .

Now my question....how to serve Posole Verde ?

[Jenise]

How to serve? Not quite sure I get what you need to know, but if you mean dinnerware and garnishment, then I will offer that I always serve it the way it was first served to me in Santa Fe: in a large wide bowl topped with shredded cabbage, cilantro and cheese.

Christina, you have my attention here. I grew up eating canned hominy (in Virginia) and I think it was available in all the stores down south. Here it can be hard to find outside of Mexican stores. As I was reading about posole, I read that the dried version was hugely superior to the canned version but I wasn't sure what to buy or where to buy it. The dried hominy in my biggest local Mexican market was Peruvian and a little expensive. So I went directly to the Rancho Gordo website and now I'm trying to think how to make the shipping work -- the flat rates are rather high and the hominy itself is rather cheap. I am thinking I have several people I could give some to if I order a bunch of it, so I may do that. Thanks for the tip.

Posole is like pho, as Jenise says, people put stuff on top of the bowl, you generally have a variety of things available. One thing I do when I am worrying about presentation is to go to Google Images and look up what others have done with the dish.

http://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&safe=off&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1190&bih=721&q=posole&oq=posole&gs_l=img.3..0l2j0i10j0l2j0i10l5.1993.3492.0.3789.6.6.0.0.0.0.109.526.4j2.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.5luTZhcuIjo

the flat rates are rather high and the hominy itself is rather cheap

I guess to me $5.95 for what is, after all, a pound of corn isn't what I'd call "cheap". Canned hominy is readily available here in grocery stores but I've never been satisfied with the quality when it's used in posole, too beat up. And don't ask me about the time I tried freezing the stuff The giant cans were on sale, cheaper than a small ones, so I used some and tried freezing the rest. I figured I'd still be ahead even if it didn't work . And it didn't: total mush.

So I've been looking for dried, with no success until recently, when I found Los Chileros brand in a couple of Seattle-area stores. I thought it pricey at $4+ for 12 ounces but that's no worse than what you're looking at with Rancho Gordo. Haven't tried it yet, so can't vouch for the quality, but it looks good. This might be another option for you: Amazon shipping isn't that bad and free if you can scare up $25 worth of stuff you want. A half dozen bags of posole would put you most of the way there!

[Jenise]

Mark, I'm certain that I've seen posole at Whole Foods Market. In fact, I know I have, but I'm not sure if every store has it, or if they stock it year round.

Although I'll admit to liking canned for some uses, for a true posole there's nothing like dried.

Mark, thank you for the suggestion, I probably order from Amazon a couple of times a week, so that's a solid suggestion.

Jenise -- we have Whole Foods here but what food is sold seems to vary enormously by geographical area. Not meaning at Whole Foods, I don't know whether I would be able to find it there -- but in all stores. Just try to buy Tri-Tip here. Nobody knows what it is (except for top scale butchers in Manhattan).

Still, worth checking...

Of course we have a big Hispanic population here, now, but I don't think they shop at Whole Foods very much.

I can't remember if I mentioned it -- but for several days you couldn't buy ANY meat in the local stores in my part of NJ because it required constant refrigeration. When I wanted pork for a stew I couldn't find it anywhere. I had to settle for Chorizos which don't have to be kept cold... Off topic but talking about finding tri-tip brought it to mind. And of course there is also pork in Posole.

As I said, totally ignorant about hominy and Posole but I so love grains and beans of any kind I took the leap. Not aware of the raw garnishes on the posole verde. Seems quite unusual to me but I will definitely give it a go. I have been spooning it as a snack, I can't get enough of the poblano/tomatillo flavors. The texture and taste of this hominy is just terrific

As far as the shipping from Rancho Gordo goes it's a deal for me because I give beans and a recipe for Christmas gifts and I have a hard time not keeping one of everything in my pantry so I buy big at least twice a year.

Totally off the topic.....The other great mail order deals I don't pass up are Zingermans summer sale with flat rate shipping and D'Artagnan free shipping.

Thanks for the link Frank. It is helpful.

Does anyone have a good recipe for Posole? I'd love to make it this winter.

[Jenise]

I'll post Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe recipe tomorrow. It's my favorite.