Recently on Twitter, the very talented Pati Jinich wrote that she was irked by the word posole. “It is Pozole with a Z!!!! Posole is nothing, nada!! Posole equals not Pozole. Sorry and good night.”, she wrote. Now I admire Patti a lot but I think she got this one wrong, along with many of her enthusiastic followers who were quick to throw posole under the bus.
My response was: “Posole is an old tradition from the US Southwest. It refers to the grain and the final dish. It’s hundreds of years old and to deny this is to deny how indigenous cultures refused to stagnate. ”
I understand that good Mexican food is under siege and its advocates have to stand their ground. How many chefs are discovering tacos and are eager to share their new love (and “interesting” new spins) on food that many of us discovered long ago? The talented Ina Garten created a dish that might be delicious and it might have corn in it, but it’s not pozole by anyone’s standards other than hers. Taco Bell created a snack called a chalupa and it has nothing to do with the well-established Poblano treat that has been called a chalupa for generations. As writer Javier Cabral writes, “Adding black beans and lime juice to things do not automatically make it Mexican.”
I was once in the lovely town of San Miguel de Allende with a group of fellow gringo tourists. San Miguel is a very unusual town with an exceptionally large ex-pat US population. Or should I say, US immigrant population? Whatever it is, whether you like SMA or not, it’s not very typical. One woman insisted that a bowl of guacamole and chips was a proper way to start a meal in Mexico. I suggested that she may want to start her meal this way, but it’s not all the common, and in fact, I’d never observed Mexicans doing this. She asked the waiter if she could order this and he, of course, brought out a big bowl of chips and guacamole and she turned to me and said, “See! They do this here.” I had to bite my tongue.
I have to watch my own behavior, as well. Clearly, I am obsessed with Mexican food and culture and even though I travel there often, I am aware of my own tourist status and try to avoid speaking in absolutes. I would love to be considered someone who is helping the situation more than hurting it. I don’t want to be another attack on traditional Mexican culture that will need to be defended by someone who knows more.
With all of this, I understand being irked by posole. But this isn’t like a chalupa. This tradition from the American southwest has been around for generations and has morphed into its own thing, including taking freshly cooked nixtamal and drying it for use later, a very clever technique not used by the Mexicans who came up with the very clever technique of making nixtamal. And I would argue even further that this product is superior to the canned hominy most everyone uses instead of making fresh nixtamal. If you want to start a cause, it should be against canned hominy, which has almost no flavor and provides a texture not unlike chicken cartilage.
In New Mexico, posole refers to both the grain and the final dish. It’s a much more casual ingredient than in Mexico. A bowl of posole in a chile sauce is a common side dish. Huntley Dent says in his seminal book, The Feast of Santa Fe, that the difference between everyday posole and feast-day posole is the amount of pork. Everyday posole is a thing. It’s not Mexican but it’s from the same roots and I think it should be embraced as an example of indigenous cultures adapting, creating, and celebrating nixtamal.
When I announced that I was writing a book on pozole, one commenter scolded me for adding pork and told me I should stick to pozole’s pre-colonial roots. Well, if I were to follow her advice, I’d have had to use the flesh of my captured soldiers for protein and I’m just not up for that. Corn and nixtamal have made their way far further north and south than their Mesoamerican origins. It’s bound to change and watching the journey is part of the fun.
Did I mention my new book? Never one to pass up an opportunity when it’s knocking, my next book, The Rancho Gordo Pozole Book, comes out this November.
Oh Steve, you had me roaring my laughter while reading this. Such good info here, delivered humbly and with great humor. Love you!
You had me at flesh of my captured soldiers! I love the way you write, honest wry and always so Steve…xoxo so happy for you my friend.
Thank you! My Mom is from Colorado and they have always made posole. It’s pronounced differently. Both posole and pozole are delicious!
I’m looking forward to your book. You touched on a pet peeve of mine—making a dish vaguely similar to an established one and calling it by the original’s name. Case in point: apparently the restaurant Outlands in SF makes a tres leches cake. But it only has one milk and that’s coconut! Why call it tress leches. Maybe they don’t know that tres means three.
Hola Esteban! Como siempre, me encanta su blog, especialmente su perspectiva única. (SMA está llenado de inmigrantes de EE! Ja! Perfecto.) No puedo esperar para tu libro nuevo, pero… voy! Saludos, Ricardo
Thank you for taking the time to educate us on the rich history of nixtamal. Thank you more for teaching us how to cook and enjoy it! Speaking as someone who has attempted to prepare a meal using obsidian points as well as nixtamalized their own corn, I can say that modernization happens for good reason. Dried nixtamalized corn makes perfect sense and is such a superior product to canned. We can make something so much closer to authentic with the dried. Your new book is bound to increase interest in this wonderful product. Posole is what brought me to Rancho Gordo: I have always detested canned hominy, yet there are rows and rows of it in Mexican markets. I couldn’t accept that wonderful pozole came from those cans. I’ve learned a lot about the dish in recent years, and I can’t wait to expand my knowledge with your new book.
What a great read. I had to laugh out loud quite a few times ( See, they do it here … ). Looking forward to your new book <3
Pati Jinich is right; Pozole not “posole” The English “Z” sound does not exist in Español. The letter “Z” in Español is silibant and identical in sound as the letter “S” and the “soft C”, hence your manufactored confusion. In Español you need to know how to spell. It is not a matter of culinary style but of correct grammar.
Pozole has multiple variations. Pork, chile and maíz are the main ingredients with a grated cabbage and radish garnish. If beef rumen is used it is becomes menudo. Different Doñas prepare pozole depending where they live, the availability of ingredients and their personal flair.
Try pozole de cabeza — orejitas, trompita y cachetes or the universal –pozole de pata. Avoid the self promoters, who do not know how to roll up a tortilla. Go to a Pozolería in Tepic for a convivial neighborhood family dinner. Pozolerías are held in private homes at dinner time. They only serve pozole with tortillas de maíz and coffee or sodas for the kids. You decide if you want more.
Pozole is home dish, not a fancy restaurant offering. Pozole will never be served at a Rick Bayless’ restaurant in Chicago. Above all stay away from restaurant pozole and their chips!
I do not cook, I eat and know what to expect.
Did you actually read the post?
What should we tell generations of southwesterners, indigenous and latecomers, about this?
Pati is wrong. The origin of the dish is from indigenous peoples and I’m pretty sure they weren’t speaking Spanish before the Spanish occupation!
Petra, EXELLENT point!!
No, you’re wrong. The word Pozole is an indigenous word. Just like the word chocolate.
Sorry, but here we call it posole! Been that way for years!
I’m from New Mexico, and we make posole. It’s a dish of pork, corn and chile. No cabbage, no radish.
You tell the indignous people and the late comers the truth. The indigenous people will validate your honesty. The late comers will appreciate not being misled by a sales pitch.
Lets try again. Chinese food prepared outside of China by non-Chinese may not be faithful in preparation, appearance and taste as that prepared in the Chinese homeland. It is not appropriate for American to sell “Chinese food” and to claim their product to be authentic Chinese and/or to change the pronunciation or spelling of the product to satisfy the ideosyncracies of American consumers.
Put another way Mac and Cheese prepared in Mexico could very well be prepared using tallarines, queso Cotija, garnished with salsa roja and billed as “Mac y chis” to the chagrin of die hard macaroni and cheese consumers.
The indigenous speakers of Nauatl did not use the Roman alphabet and did not speak Español when they prepared pozole. However, after 500 years Español is a language they speak and English is another. Additionally, pozole is prepared with pork, an Old World domesticated animal. Fry bread is not consumed by the indigenous and mestizo people in Mexico; that was created by the USDA wheat flour in the commodity foods programs. We have tortillas and churros.
After 500 years things have changed and people have adapted. Despite this some people insist there is a disconnect between people and food in the American Soutwest and Mexico. Remember Mexicans are a mestizo people and under Spain and Mexico the Southwest was either New Spain and Mexico for 400 years. You can draw lines in the desert but don’t disrespect the people or their customs those lines in the sand pretend to divide.
Again go to a pozoleria or get invited to your neighbor’s tías for pozole. You do not have to follow the opinions on U-TUBE.
True , the Southwest was not inhabited by full blooded Spaniards. The traditions and most the cusine came from people
from Mexico, who have been imigrating north, bringing their customs with them.
I join you in the cause against canned hominy. Although I live in the Sierra Foothills, my daughter has made her home in Napa. It is a joy to go in your shop on Yajome where your dedicated staff is always welcoming. A sample of delicious beans warm from the cooking pot adds to the pleasure. Last trip my two year old grandson sunk his hands into the textures of the bucket of beans and encouraged me to do so also. Anyway, back to hominy. On my first trip into your store a few years ago, I delighted in choosing a variety of beans. I had never seen packaged hominy before and added a bag to my bean selections. That impulse rewarded with a flavorful hominy to such goodness I had never imagined. There’s no going back to canned once one knows Rancho Gordo’s exists. I’ve zealously given many bags to folks for gifts so they could experience it also. Although I also look forward to trying out your pozole recipes, simply rehydrating your hominy and eating it with a bit of butter is a moment of heaven on earth.
True , the Southwest was not inhabited by full blooded Spaniards. The traditions and most the cusine came from people
from Mexico, who have been imigrating north, bringing their customs with them.
Such a bad take overall including the extremely played out lie about pozole being originally eaten with human flesh. This “posole” is obviously a bastardization of the word pozole regardless of how old it is, it’s no different than “chili” vs chile. I highly doubt it was the indigenous that were making the pozole in the southwest rather recent Mexican immigrants with native/spanish roots. Dried nixtamal is also common in Mexico so I’m not sure where you got that information.