Name: Mexican white corn soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 570 min
Total time: 590 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 kg pork bones; 1 litre chicken stock (4 cups); 4 pig’s trotters; 200 gm dried hominy, soaked overnight (see note); Juice of 1 lime, plus wedges to serve; 750 gm boneless pork neck, cut into 5cm pieces; Finely chopped coriander and onion, thinly sliced cabbage, and red or green chilli sauce, to serve

Mexican white corn soup

This Mexican white corn soup has layers of pork flavour, popcorn-like hominy and a fresh cabbage garnish. Super-delicious.

Serves 6

Prep

20M

Cook

9H 30M

Total

9H 50M

This Mexican soup is made with dried large-kernelled white corn known as hominy, which is a bit tough and takes a long time to cook. Here we’ve removed the germ tips to help it bloom, but you don’t have to do this. You could also make a variation of this soup with dried chickpeas, reducing the cooking time. Pozole is traditionally made with pig’s head, but we’ve used trotters, which can be ordered ahead from a good butcher; chicken is sometimes used, too. This version is inspired by a recipe by doyenne of Mexican cooking Diana Kennedy for Jalisco-style pozole; it has layers of pork flavour, popcorn-like hominy and a fresh cabbage garnish. Super-delicious.

Ingredients

1 kg pork bones

1 litre chicken stock (4 cups)

4 pig’s trotters

200 gm dried hominy, soaked overnight (see note)

Juice of 1 lime, plus wedges to serve

750 gm boneless pork neck, cut into 5cm pieces

Finely chopped coriander and onion, thinly sliced cabbage, and red or green chilli sauce, to serve

Method

Main

1.Place pork bones, chicken stock and 1 litre water in a large saucepan, bring to the boil, skim any scum from the surface, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered, topping up water if necessary to keep bones covered, until stock is well flavoured (2-2½ hours). Discard bones, add pig’s trotters to stock, top up with water to cover and bring to the boil. Skim scum from surface, then reduce heat and simmer gently, topping up water as necessary, until meat and skin falls from the bone (2½-3 hours). Transfer trotters to a bowl, then, when cool enough to handle, remove meat, coarsely chop and return meat to stock.

2.Meanwhile, place hominy in a large saucepan with lime juice, cover with water, then bring to a simmer and cook for (15-20 minutes). Turn heat off and stand to soak for 20 minutes, then drain. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard hard germ tips from corn using a small paring knife, then combine corn in a new saucepan of clean water, bring to a simmer and cook until corn is tender (3-3½ hours). Drain.

3.Add hominy to pork stock and place pork neck pieces on top, gently submerging them just under the water. Bring to the boil, skim surface, then reduce heat to low, season liberally and simmer until pork is tender (1½-1¾ hours). Remove pork pieces and break up, then return to soup and season to taste.

4.Top pozole with coriander, cabbage and chilli sauce and serve with lime wedges.

Hominy is a dried white corn, available online from quillafoods.com. If it’s unavailable, use canned cooked hominy, available from Monterey Foods (montereyfoods.com.au), drained and added with the pork pieces at the end.
Drink Suggestion: Sparkling French farmhouse cider. Drink suggestion by Max Allen
Notes