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spoonful of pork and polose with lime and cilantro garnish and sliced jalapeno

Posole Verde for the Super Bowl Win!


  • Author: Katy Keck
  • Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4 quarts, serves 12 1x

Description

Super Bowl is just a few days away so we can keep rocking the soup vibe without shame. This Posole Verde is so much more than a soup, perhaps a stew, and has all the personal choice condiments that are mandatory for serving a crowd. Put down a feast of  toppings, a crunchy salad, and some cornbread, and sit back and watch the half-time show!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound dried posole, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 1/2 pounds pork loin, trimmed of fat and cut into 1″ cubes (about 3 1/4 pounds pre-trim)
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 45 quarts chicken broth
  • 1 pound tomatillos, husked removed and rinsed (about 10 medium)
  • 2 jalapenos, stems removed and sliced in half
  • 1 bunch cilantro, stems and leaves (reserve a few sprigs for toppings)
  • Juice of 23 limes

Toppings:

  • Sour cream
  • Lime wedges
  • Grated Monterrey Jack
  • Sliced jalapeno
  • Avocado
  • Sliced radishes
  • Cilantro sprigs

Instructions

The night before, prep the posole:

Rinse the posole and transfer to a stockpot, covering with 1-inch of water. Bring to boil and turn off the heat. Let the posole soak overnight.  When ready to use, drain and rinse again.

To make posole:

Heat oil over high heat in an 8-quart stockpot.  Add pork, cumin, salt, and pepper. Sauté until pork is browned, about 10 minutes.

Add onion and garlic, and cook until softened and excess liquid has cooked off, about 6–8 minutes. Add soaked posole and stir to combine. Add 2 quarts of chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. Check the liquid and when getting low, add another quart of stock. I tend to add the third quart around 90 minutes and the 4th quart around 3 hours. Altogether, this will simmer a total of 3, 4 or maybe even 5 hours. It will depend in part on the age and dryness of the dried product. To be safe, give yourself enough time for a 5-hour simmer.

The pork will fall apart and shred, and you will know the posole is done when the posole kernels have popped.  The kernels will puff and pop, and look a bit like a flower (if you squint and have been hitting the cerveza during the last five hours). They burst open joyfully as if they want to become popcorn! Taste them periodically for doneness. Before they “blossom”, they will be quite starchy, fiber-full, and too chewy. Once sufficiently stewed, they will remain a bit chewy and toothy, but not woody. 

Thirty minutes before the end:

When the kernels are starting to pop and getting close to the desired texture, toss the tomatillos, jalapenos, cilantro and lime juice into a food processor and puree. Add to stockpot and simmer for the final 30 minutes until the posole is tender.  30 minutes is plenty of time to simmer for this last step, but see note below. 

Notes

Pressed for time? You can skip the soaking stage, or reduce it to the prep time for the rest of your chopping. That will likely lengthen the cooking time however. 

Never add an acidic ingredient when cooking beans, or in this case, posole until the end. The acid binds with the outer structure and toughen it ups. No amount of additional cooking time will allow it to break down. Additionally, you want the fresh vibrant flavor from the green ingredients, which will dissipate if added too early in the cooking process. 

If you are serving the posole later: Add the green mixture as you take the stew off the heat.  The hot stew will cook sufficient “heat” out of these spicy and tart ingredients.  To reheat, I also use some of that 5th quart to add to the pan. The posole will have continued to soak up broth as it sits in the refrigerator overnight, and you will need to loosen it a little with more stock. 

Serve with bowls of the toppings, a crunchy salad and some cornbread!

Freezing? This stew is a fantastic freezer staple, but make sure to cool completely before transferring to freezer containers. I called for a 5th quart of stock so that you can top off the stew with liquid.  Since there are a lot of chunky pieces, you want to make sure that they are all submerged in liquid before freezing.

  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 4 hours
  • Category: soup
  • Method: stovetop
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Keywords: posole, posole verde