Pozole

Fiesta at Kenny's

One of the many great things about living in Mexico/Pescadero/Mountain Shadow RV Park is the food. Pescadero is both a farming and fishing community so fresh out of the field vegetables and fruits are always available along with fresh seafood!!!! When we are here we eat very healthy but that doesn't mean we skimp on flavor.  On the contrary food here is so much more delicious and varied than anywhere I have ever lived.

We live near the small town of Todos Santos which is an artist community.  When I say "arts" I mean all forms of art.  We have a huge population of visual artists, theatre and film artists, and gourmet food artists!! A combination of our local artisan talent along with the availability of fresh ingredients makes for some very unique and healthy fare.

Here in the park we have some amazingly convenient and inexpensive methods of acquiring our food.  On Sunday Rudolfo drives by in his little blue truck full of fresh veggies, local cheese, eggs, bread, water and of course our favorite cerveza!!  Each week we spend our pesos supporting this industrious man and his charming young family who run a local tienda.  I organize a loose request list with him every Sunday and he always delivers them promptly along with anything special he thinks I might like.

Usually about 30 minutes after Rudolfo departs our "fish lady" comes into the park with her daughter loaded down with lobster, crab, shrimp, tuna, and scallops.  Her goods vary each time depending on the season.  Twenty to thirty dollars fills our freezer with all the seafood that we can eat in a week.  God I love this place!!

Also on Sunday one of the long term tenants of the park, Mo, goes out to the "tamale lady" and brings back pipping hot tamales from a local mexican woman.  He found this woman through taste testing the tamales throughout Pescadero and decided that she produced the best. Oooooh he was right.  We buy a dozen tamales on Sunday and have to work hard to make them last three days.

Sunday has come to be one of our favorite days here in the park and last Sunday proved to be more special than most.  Kenny invited us to have dinner with him and his friend Pancho from San Jose.  They have been long time friends and Pancho loves to cook traditional mexican fare. When he invited us to have Pozole I had no idea what we would be served and was thrilled to learn that we would be dining on a traditional holiday dish.

Pancho

I love to cook and Pancho turned out to be a kindred spirit.  We spent most of the night talking about ingredients, where to find them, and traditional recipes. He explained the process of cooking pozole in great detail along with how and when it is served in Mexico. I had so much fun.  We saw Pancho again a few days later and he described how to make horchata so I could make it myself instead of going into Todos Santos for my fix. Tomorrow I am meeting up with Pancho at the Mega in San Jose.  We have some business matters to attend and then we are going shopping for ingredients for mole.

pozole

This is how life is here in Baja.  Simple things are savored and enjoyed together.  I have enjoyed getting to know Pancho through his association with Kenny and now I have a mentor in the kitchen.  Below I will briefly describe his process for making pozole which is a soup/stew type dish made with pork. It is made differently throughout the various regions of Mexico. Frequently it is made with the head of the pig but Pancho says it is way to greasy for his taste so he uses ribs, back, and other lean cuts of pork.

chowing down

The first step is to cook the pork slowly over low heat in water for a couple of hours until tender.  It is then cooled and taken off the bone reserving the liquid.  While the meat is cooking 10 dried ancho chilies and 6 guajillo chilies are soaked in liquid for approximately 20 minutes to soften.  The chiles are then placed in a blender along with enough of the reserved liquid to blend into a sauce.  Three bulbs of garlic, 1/4 of an onion, oregano, pepper, and salt are also added.  When this is completed it is added into the reserved liquid along with a can of tomato puree or paste.  The meat is then put back into the soup mixture and brought to a low boil.  Just before serving, a large can of hominy is poured into the mix. The soup is ladled up and topped with chopped red onion, cilantro, radish slices, and corn tortillas.  This makes a beautiful presentation.  Oops almost forgot one of the most important ingredients...ice cold beer.

There you have it.  How to make Pozole.