New Mexican · soup

Posole with Red Chile

Posole with Red Chile reads umami 6.9, richness 6.0 and allium 4.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a New Mexican soup, about 6 hr 19 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.9 · Richness 6.0 · Allium 4.8 · Citrus 4.8 · Sourness 4.3 · Salinity 4.0 · Herbaceous 3.3 · Sweetness 2.9 · Earthy 1.7 · Floral 1.2 · Heat 1.0 · Nutty 1.0 · Warm Spice 0.9 · Bitterness 0.8 · Fruity 0.5

What's in it (13)

Time & effort: about 6 hr 19 min (5 hr 49 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 55.7 kcal, 3 g protein, 3.9 g fat, 2.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. New Mexican posole is not Mexican pozole, and the difference is not pedantry. Mexican pozole is built on a broad seasoning base and finished with a long garnish table of shredded cabbage, lettuce, avocado and dried oregano; New Mexican posole is austere by comparison — corn, pork, garlic, oregano and New Mexico red chile, and often the chile is served on the side so each person reddens their own bowl. It appears at Christmas Eve and at every large family gathering in the north of the state.
  2. Use dried New Mexico posole corn, not tinned hominy. It is white field corn treated with slaked lime, dried, and sold in bags at any New Mexico grocery and by mail from Bueno Foods, Los Chileros and Anson Mills. Nixtamalisation is the process that makes the corn digestible and releases its niacin — an Indigenous American technology thousands of years old and the reason maize can be a staple at all. Tinned hominy is the same corn already cooked to death; it will not hold its shape or flower open the way dried posole does.
  3. Rinse the posole corn well and simmer it in the 3 litres of water, uncovered, for 3 hours. It is ready when the kernels have burst open like popped flowers and are chewy but tender through the middle. Add hot water as needed to keep it covered. Do not salt it yet — salt keeps the hulls tough.
  4. In a second large pot, cover the pork shoulder and the neck bones with water by 5 cm, bring to a boil, skim, then add the onion and garlic and simmer 2 hours until the meat is tender and the broth is rich and slightly sticky from the bones.
  5. Meanwhile toast the chile pods on a dry pan 30 seconds a side until fragrant, cover with the 480 ml hot water, and soak 30 minutes. Blend them smooth with their soaking water and pass through a sieve.
  6. Combine the corn with its cooking liquid, the pork and its broth, and half of the red chile sauce. Simmer together 45 minutes so the flavours join and the broth turns a warm rust colour.
  7. Season with the oregano and salt. Serve in deep bowls with the remaining chile sauce, the lime wedges, the radish and the coriander at the table so people can build their own heat.
  8. Substitutions: a split trotter can stand in for the pork neck bones.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.