Saturday, April 09, 2011

three part hominy


Food is romance.


We fall in and out of love with its various forms over time.


My youthful infatuation with Twinkies and Hostess fruit pies led to irreconcilable differences, divorce, and a very bad taste in my mouth.


I had a brief fling with Brussels sprouts -- those odd little cabbages -- in England.  Just a year.  There is no need to speak of it again.


And then there was hominy.


My family is as Yankee as they come.  Mayflower.  Massachusetts.  Funny hats and even stranger shoes with buckles in all the wrong places.  We learned to eat our corn fresh.  Not after it had been lye-drated.


I had never even seen hominy until a visit to my cousins.  There it was in a bowl on the supper table.  White.  Fat.  Canned.  It looked like mushy corn nuts.  But tasted like aged library paste -- to my elementary school palate.


And that was that.  One date.  The relationship was over.


Those relativists who insist on telling us we cannot say we don't like something until we have tried it -- I tried it.  Didn't like it.


I have been offered hominy only twice since then.  Both times I demurred.


Mexico is the land of corn.  You can (and do) find it in almost every type of food -- including soup.


And prominent in the soup category is pozole.  A soup made primarily of hominy and some form of meat.


Pozole is as Mexican as a food can be.  Before the conquest, the Aztecs created pozole as a sacred dish.  For them, the connection was obvious.  The gods created humans out of corn dough.


But here is the twist.  During their ceremonies to appease the gods, the Aztecs would sacrifice their victims and add the human meat to their ritual corn stew.  The community would then consume the bodies of the victims offered to their gods.  A rather primitive form of communion.


When the Spanish arrived, they frowned on cannibalism.  After all, they had better work for captives than to sacrifice them to Aztec gods.  There were mines to dig and fields to plant.  With slave labor.


Instead of human flesh, pork became the usual meat in pozole.  Another example of the term "long pork" having creepy historical echoes.


I have been tempted to try pozole -- despite the hominy -- for two years.  This week, I finally gave in to curiosity.  After all, I enjoy culinary adventures.  I am always willing to put treats in my mouth -- and it is even better when things are as good or better than I expected.*


Melaque is fortunate to have one of the best pozole restaurants on the west coast.  At least, it once was.  All I know is that it was very good.


I ordered mine with chicken.  But, who knows?  I hear that is exactly how tourist tastes.


* -- The reference to culinary adventures reminded me that I have not told you my eating tales in Mexico City.  I will do that.  Soon.

32 comments:

SidAted said...

Mmmmm... Pozole Verde made with roasted poblano peppers and cilantro is the best I've ever tasted.

Felipe Zapata said...

My wife makes the best green pozole anywhere. You shoulda said something. Most pozole is crap.

lauriematherne said...

Pozole! I miss it. I used it eat it regularly with country folk near Guadalajara when I lived there. Good stuff, Steve.

Marc said...

Good pozole is fantastic, and in my experience they do good pozole in Jalisco. If that first dish didn't excite you, I suggest a second try another day, with pork...and go heavy on the garnishes.

Good, hot, spicy pozole is something I miss living in Yucatán. Here when you say pozole, you get a grain-based drink, not soup. My reaction to Yucatecan "pozole" is about the same as yours to hominy...it's something I feel better off without.

Angelinem1 said...

I love pozole, but will probably not eat it in Mexico again what with the protein part being a possible unwary tourist. The U.S. media keeps up the hype about Mexico not being safe....hope they don't glom on to this post!

jennifer rose said...

I'll second that! Felipe isn't just bragging about Lady Zapata's green pozole; he's telling the pure truth. She does raise pozole verde to a new level.

Look, canned pozole (whoops, there I go, speaking of hominy as pozole, like the Mexican that I am) is right up there with canned tamales and canned tortillas. Don't mention the canned version in front of polite company.

John said...

I have to say that, growing up in the deep South, we occasionally ate hominy (yes, straight from the can) as a side dish much like rice or potatoes. It does indeed have a unique flavor, but with salt and fresh ground black pepper is not so bad. On the other hand, if I were to be given a choice of the finest Russian caviar or properly prepared hominy grits ( with either chicken broth or cream butter, light salt and black pepper), I would go for the grits in a New York second. My Connecticut Yankee partner adores them as well.

Kim G said...

You actually can get pozole with chicken? Seriously?

If ever in DF, La Casa de Toño has fantastic pozole (and other simple foods), and it's quite cheap. It can be found in

Santa Maria la Rivera
Sabino No. 166 Col. Santa María la Ribera
Between Díaz Mirón y Carpio

Provecho!

Saludos,

Kim G
Boston, MA
Where its virtually if not totally impossible to get pozole.

Steve Cotton said...

Now, that sounds delicious. I should check with my favorite pozole place to see if poblanos are a possibility. There is nothing that goes in my mouth that cannot be improved with a chile.

Steve Cotton said...

The best pozole I have had is in Mexican homes. But the worst I have had was also in a Mexican home. The usual range of home cooking exists here as it does thhroughout the world. On my next visit I will take you up on that taste test. And I bet you are correct.

Steve Cotton said...

I bet you could find some pozole in your kitchen. But good luck in getting ingredients that wiould work in Boston.

Steve Cotton said...

My one brush with hominy grits was in the Air Force dining hall when I mistook it for cream of wheat. My friend from Georgia gave me some suggestions on how to eat it. But that was it. Bring on the caviar.

Steve Cotton said...

I have watched my Mexican neighbors in the food shops here. Nothing canned gets near their shopping bags. And why should they? Canning is for out-of-season foods, and nothing ever seems to be out-of-season here. Well, except for the foods you can never get.

I can see the kitchen in my local restaurant. The cook (Ala) uses fresh ingredients for everything. And her food tastes marvelous. I am not certain she has a can of anything in that kitchen.

And that really makes me look forward to the Zapata taste test.

Steve Cotton said...

Hey. I never thought of that. Can you imagine what MSNBC could do with it? (Every time I use that initialism, I think I am referring to a bank.) Some worried wife from Calgary saying that she is "certain her husband must be around somewhere. He was just there." And the waiter consoling her: "Don't worry. He'll show up soon." As she digs into her bowl of corn stew.

Come to think of it, that is more Tarantino than MSNBC.

Steve Cotton said...

Marc -- I should have been more specific. I liked my pozole. I was only relaying the fact that I had been told the quality of the pozole had declined since the former owner turned over the operation of the place to her assistant. Since I wriote the piece, I have tried pozole in two homes. One extremely good. The other not so mucvh.

As you point out, it is a staple in these parts.

Nita said...

Anxiously awaiting the writing on eating habits. In the mean time, have you tried and/or like GRITS? It's a way of life where I live.
Nita

Theresa in Mérida said...

I have a green pozole recipe green pozole recipe on my blog
one of our friends has a yearly pozole party with all three kinds and tons of add ons. Pozole is all about the add ons.

Steve Cotton said...

Once during my association with the Air Force. But it is not a fair test. Roast beef did not taste very good in those dining halls.

LeslieLimon said...

My mother-in-law makes the best pork pozole rojo! I've had pozole at a number of restaurants and homes here in town, and none compare to my mother-in-law's. Good stuff! :)

Steve Cotton said...

I need to find ways to maneuver my way into more local homes. Pozole seems to be one of those dishes best savored at the table of someone who has been cooking it for decades.

sparks said...

The in-home style anything with meat you'll usually find much larger 'chunks' that will probably include bones of that part of the animal. I deal with bones fine but do prefer pulled chicken or pork also with less fat.

When baby chickens are running around under the dinning table on a dirt floor .... you'll know you've gone local

Cheri Clark said...

Only a lawyer would "demur."

Steve Cotton said...

We know our neighbohoods well. Yours only seems more rural.

Steve Cotton said...

One of those words I fell in love with during law school.

1st Mate said...

I always make my pozole with chicken, and it comes out great. You don't have to use pork.

Steve Cotton said...

I like the chicken variety. The pork less so.

F. Hegel said...

In 1958, my dad would have added fresh beef brains to the pozole, as he did to scrambled eggs. Long before BSE.

ANM

sparks said...

Baby chicks under the kitchen table was is downtown Barra and Villa Obregon. Not just my country place. A plastic shack next to a mansion is part of Mexico

Steve Cotton said...

And I would have been mad enough to try it.

Steve Cotton said...

I was just listening to the chicks run around next door. It reminds me a lot of my southern Oregon days -- when I had a pet chicken.

Nita Bauer said...

Steve, Your blogs are fabulous.  I'm looking for a great Pozole recipe to post on our facebook page. I would love to feature the restaurant and/or person that can submit!  Visit us on facebook   www.facebook.com/teasdalequalityfoods

Nita Bauer said...

Jennifer.... I'm looking for a great Pozole recipe to post on our facebook page! I would love to feature the restaurant and/or the person that would like to submit. I would love a picture of the recipe too!! Visit us on facebook
www.facebook.com/teasdalequalityfoods   Premier packer of Hominy and Dry Soaked Beans, Atwater, California!!