The second International Soup I tried was Mexican Red Pork Soup with Hominy. I must admit that this recipe scared me a little. For one thing I had never cooked with dried ancho chiles. For starts I didn’t know if I would like it, so I decided to halve the recipe.
Fortunately for me a Hispanic grocery store recently opened up in our neighborhood were I was able to buy some of the ingredients: dried ancho chiles and hominy.
For the adobo, I followed the recipe and socked the four chili peppers in boiling water for 20 minutes.
My mistake was I didn’t de-seed them. So in the food processor I had to run it until it chopped the seeds into bits. I’m not sure if leaving them in effected the taste. It probably added more fiber to the soup. Also, instead of adding 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds I used 1/4 ground cumin. For dried Mexican oregano, I just used dried oregano I had growing in my garden.
For the soup, I didn’t use cheesecloth and twine. I just put the ingredients in the soup and fished it out later. Now the recipe calls for 4 cups of canned hominy (I halved the recipe). Instead I used a 29 oz can of hominy. I didn’t divide it and puree it. I just drained the can and poured it in the pot. The recipe called for 3 quarts of water (again I halved it). I added 2 1/2 quarts but to me that was to much. It tasted watery. I had to boil it for an hour to get it to reduce. So I would suggest using 2 quarts.
The recipe suggested adding chili powder to the soup when serving. I added 1 tablespoon to the soup to give it more flavor. The flavor of the soup basically tasted like paprika. We also added more chili powder to the bowl when severed.
It was a big hit with the family. I would like to taste the original to see if I came close.
30 International Soups 