Pozole Rojo

Method

1. simmer90 min
   bare simmer, lid ajar, skimming
   pork + water + onion + garlic + bay leaf + 1 tsp salt — keep it below a boil so the collagen has time to melt into gelatin instead of the muscle fibers seizing; the scum skimmed off in the first ten minutes is what would otherwise cloud the finished bowl
2. toast3 min
   dry comal or skillet, medium
   guajillo + ancho chiles, pressing flat and flipping the moment they puff and smell sweet — a chile held past that point turns bitter and no amount of simmering takes it back out
3. infuse20 min
   just-boiled water, weighted down
   toasted chiles submerged until fully pliable, then lift them out and keep a cup of the soaking water
4. mix4 min
   high speed, then sieve
   soaked chiles + soaking water + cumin + oregano + 2 of the simmered garlic cloves, blended smooth and pushed through a sieve with a ladle — the skins never break down and are the whole reason unstrained pozole feels sandy
5. fry5 min
   medium-high, spattering
   lard + strained chile purée, stirred until it darkens a shade and pulls away from the pan — frying the purée cooks off the raw, tinny edge of rehydrated chile and sets the color
6. simmer40 min
   gentle, uncovered
   pork broth (onion and bay removed) + fried chile base + hominy — the kernels are already cooked but need this long to open up and take on the chile; season with the remaining salt only now, after the hominy has stopped drinking
7. cook5 min
   off heat
   pull the pork apart in coarse shreds with two forks and return it to the pot = pozole rojo; ladle out and let each bowl be finished at the table with cabbage, radish, raw onion, lime and a pinch of oregano crushed between the fingers — the raw garnish is structural, not decorative, and its crunch and acid are what keep a rich bowl from going flat halfway down