This recipe came from: http://hispanickitchen.com/recipes/chile-verde-pork-pozole/
*Pic 1 - Picture from http://hispanickitchen.com/recipes/chile-verde-pork-pozole/
My Variations from Recipe as Written: We made quite a few alterations to the recipe as written this week, primarily in how we cooked things... As written, this recipe stated it would take almost four hours to prepare, but I wanted to shorten that considerably, to make it viable for most people that don't want to spend an entire half-day cooking.
As a start, we doubled the recipe (to feed two families). We also used two Instant Pots (https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-IP-DUO60-Multi-Functional-Pressure/dp/B00FLYWNYQ/ref=lp_3031632011_1_1?srs=3031632011&ie=UTF8&qid=1489443737&sr=8-1) to speed the cooking (particularly of the meat and hominy). We added the pork (3 pounds in each Instant Pot), onion, garlic, salt, water, and hominy and set them on "Manual" for 50 minutes. Once that time was up, we allowed the Instant Pots to come to normal pressure on their own, then added the Mexican Oregano and Cumin, brought each Pot back to a bowl (we used the Saute setting, uncovered), then unplugged the Pots and were ready to serve. We also used several different garnishes (see the last picture below) than those strictly suggested by the recipe.
Another big change, for the pork, we used the same marinade (combining ½ TBSP garlic salt, 1 TBSP cumin, 7 TBSP water, 1 TBSP liquid smoke, and 1 TBSP lime juice) that I created for my pork in my own family-favorite pozole recipe and marinated the pork for 24 hours before preparation.
General Thoughts: Despite the changes we make in the cooking process, the total time invested in the preparation of this soup was still significant. For example, I spent a couple of hours total between prepping and roasting the peppers and the tomatillos; we doubled the recipe, remember, so I ended up hand-roasting 12 poblanos, 4 serranos, and 12 tomatillos. More on this later...
First, let's talk taste...
*Pics 2, 3, & 4 - Pictures from when I made it
The soup was really good! It was filling and flavorful, and the pork (owing to both the marinade and the cooking method) was tender, succulent, and so tasty. The tomatillo flavor shined throw, giving the soup a tangy lightness that offset the heavier pork. It shined with authentic Mexican flavors, and the spice level was perfect. Right out of the pot, it was a little thinner than I was expecting, but (with the addition of some cotija cheese, crumbled tortilla chips, and angel hair cabbage to my bowl) the soup turned out to be quite hearty and filling.
However, despite the great taste, I am not sure I would make it again, on account of the large amount of time spent in prep work and cooking (even with our shortcuts). But, with that said... Lisa and I thought we could make a few more changes that could make the "juice worth the squeeze" (so to speak). For example, we could have used canned fire-roasted chiles and canned tomatillos to avoid the time and trouble spent roasting and de-skinning the fresh peppers, or de-husking and roasting the tomatillos. We could even try using a fire-roasted tomatillo jarred salsa, if we could find one that was not overly vinegary. We both also agreed on two other alterations for next time: adding the Mexican Oregano and Cumin at the beginning (i.e., placing everything in the Instant Pot up front) and cooking it all together; and, using only 8 cups of water (instead of the 10 we used in each pot when it said "8-10 cups of water").
Polling the Fam: I really liked the flavor, and would happily eat it again, but I feel like I had to work too hard this time for how good it tasted. But, with the alterations above, I'd definitely give it another go. Jayson, said he really liked it also, and said the pork was the star, but suggested it might have been just a little too salty for him (with the cotija cheese he added to his bowl, at least). Lisa enjoyed it, but she and I agreed on the needed changes to make it worth it. The boys, Andrew and Hunter, both really enjoyed it, with Hunter saying it was almost as good as the red pozole I made in the crockpot earlier in this project (see Sunday Soup #10 - *Note: That one was a whole lot easier to make!).
Verdict: Liked it. (4 stars)
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