Pozole Rojo de Puerco

Ingredients

• 1.5kg pork shoulder, cut into 5cm chunks
• 500g pork neck bones or a split trotter
• 1 white onion, halved
• 1 whole head of garlic, halved across the middle
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
• 4 litres water
• 1.2kg cooked white hominy, drained (or 400g dried maiz pozolero, soaked overnight)
• 8 guajillo chiles
• 4 ancho chiles
• 2 chiles de árbol
• 1/2 white onion, extra
• 4 garlic cloves, extra
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp lard
• 1/2 white cabbage, shredded very fine
• 8 radishes, sliced into thin rounds
• 1 white onion, finely diced, to serve
• 3 limes, cut into wedges
• 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano, to serve
• 1 tsp ground piquín chile or chile powder, to serve
• 16 tostadas, to serve

Before you cook

• Cut the pork shoulder into 5cm chunks.
• Halve the onion and cut the head of garlic straight across the equator.
• Stem the guajillo, ancho and árbol chiles, tear them open and shake out the seeds.
• Drain the hominy and rinse it under cold water.
• Shred the cabbage as finely as you can, slice the radishes thin, dice the extra onion and cut the limes into wedges. Arrange them all on a platter for the table.

Steps

1. Put the pork shoulder, neck bones, onion halves, halved garlic head, bay leaves and the tablespoon of salt in a large stockpot and cover with four litres of cold water.
2. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then turn it down to a bare simmer.
3. Skim off the grey scum for the first ten minutes until the broth runs clear.
4. Simmer the pork gently, half covered, for one hour and thirty minutes.
5. Add the hominy and simmer for another forty-five minutes, until the kernels split open and flower.
6. Toast the guajillo, ancho and árbol chiles in a dry pan over medium heat for about twenty seconds a side, pressing them down, until they smell sweet and smoky.
7. Put the toasted chiles in a bowl, cover them with hot water from the pot and soak them for twenty minutes.
8. Blend the drained chiles with the extra half onion, four garlic cloves, the oregano, cumin and 300ml of the pozole broth until perfectly smooth.
9. Push the chile purée through a fine sieve, working it hard with the back of a ladle, and throw away the skins left behind.
10. Heat the lard in a frying pan over medium-high heat and pour in the sieved purée.
11. Fry the purée for eight minutes, stirring, until it darkens and thickens.
12. Scrape all of it into the pot of pork and hominy and stir it through.
13. Simmer the pozole for a final forty minutes so the red seasons the corn right through.
14. Fish out the bay leaves, onion and garlic head, and pull the neck bones out once you have picked off any meat.
15. Taste the broth and salt it firmly. Pozole broth needs more salt than you expect.
16. Ladle the pozole into deep bowls, making sure each one gets both meat and plenty of hominy.
17. Take the platter of cabbage, radish, onion, lime, oregano and chile powder to the table and let everyone dress their own bowl, with tostadas alongside.