Smoked Chicken Pozole

Do you like soup? Do you like Mexican food? If the answer to either of those is anything other than an enthusiastic yes, then no soup for you!

Pozole is a traditional holiday meal in Mexico. Like many Mexican dishes you can get a rojo (red), or verde (green) version. Pozole rojo is often made with pork, while verde is often made with chicken, but you can do either. There are no rules, ever. Don’t listen to idiots who say otherwise. This version is rojo and I do it with smoked chicken quarters. It’s gorgeous, comforting, addictive, and easy to make. If you don’t have the means to smoke some chicken, fine, buy a roasted chicken from the grocery store. Hell, you can even boil some chicken breasts, shred them, and it will taste great in the soup. But smoked dark meat adds a depth of flavor that just takes it to the next level. So push the elevator button that says awesome, and let’s take a ride.

The stuff -

2-3 Chicken quarters

3 14.5 oz cans chicken broth

6 Dried guajillo chiles

2 Dried ancho chiles

1 30 oz Can of hominy, drained.

2 tsp Mexican oregano

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Salt

Diced white onion

Cilantro

Shredded cabbage

Start first on the chicken. Season it with salt and pepper and get it in the smoker. 2 hours at 225 should do it, but check it at 90 minutes just in case things are moving quickly. You can also roast the chicken in the oven at 375 for roughly 45 minutes if you’re not into smoke or you live in a small apartment in Manhattan for $4,375.00 per month. While the chicken cooks start working on the chiles. Remove the stems, the veins, and seeds. However, if you want it spicier you can leave seeds and the veins in. That’s where the heat comes from. Then put some water in a small pot and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a full boil turn off the heat, and add the chiles to the pot. Submerge them all the way and put on the lid if there is one. Leave them in the water for at least 20 minutes. When they’ve been in long enough take them out and place them in the blender along with the cumin, salt, and oregano. Add a little bit of the chile water to the blender to help everything blend.

After blending add to a pot along with the chicken broth. Put it through a strainer first unless you don’t mind little bits of chiles floating around. Take your smoked chicken and shred it, then add it to the pot. Bring up the heat to a simmer. Add the hominy. Let the flavors marry together (did you know that dogs can get married? I’ve filmed a doggy marriage. True story.), and taste. Cook until the desired consistency (it will thicken the longer you leave it on the heat). Taste again, see if it needs more of any of the seasonings.

Serve the soup with sides of shredded cabbage, cilantro, and lime. Avocado and cotija cheese work great too. Add whatever sides you want to the soup and dig in. I like to squeeze a lot of lime in, but that’s just me. You may hate lime as much as you hate Trump. Maybe you hate Hilary. Maybe both. It doesn’t matter, this soup doesn’t care. It loves you as much as you love it.