Growing up Mexican I ate tacos, tamales, and gorditas—always at a restaurant. At home, my mom kept cut fruit in the fridge, the crisper full of greens, and protein consisted of boiled chicken or fish. Food at home was nutritious but bland to say the least.
Part of it had to do with my mom’s interest in clean eating. The other factor was that she didn’t have much time to spend in the kitchen. As a single mother, she kept the fridge stocked, but rarely were my sister and I am accustomed to eating something that took more than 15 minutes to make. Her schedule didn’t allow for it.
That is, until the weather began to turn and my mom’s gigantic 12-quart pot—the one with the two handles on the side that required both hands to lift—came out.
Winter marked the start of the holiday season and it was the only time she made traditional Mexican food. From Thanksgiving until New Year bacalao, ponche and pozole took up all the space in our refrigerator and it was the latter that caused me stomach pains because I often gorged myself on it.
How could I not? Plump balls of hominy and tender pieces of chicken (no pork in our home) lay hidden in a hot, thin pool of red. The savory mix of lime, salt, and Tajin—commonly used to season my mango, cucumber, and jicama in the summer—had found a new home and swam in the broth. It was the perfect meal during Chicago’s blistering winters.
“Nowadays we use [pozole] to celebrate the holidays,” says Sofia Sada, Latin Cuisines Program Chef at The Culinary Institute of America. “The dish’s origin goes back to the pre-Hispanic era of the Aztecs. Back then, pozole was only allowed to be consumed on special occasions by people of higher ranks like priests and the emperor.”
Today, pozole comes in a red, green and white liquid. Some serve it with pork, others prefer chicken. It is frequently topped with lime and lettuce, but don’t be surprised if someone serves it with oregano, radishes, and onions.
How the dish is served varies from household to household. However, one thing that’s unlikely to change is a Mexican mom who makes the soup because one of her children asks her to. At least, that’s the reason my mom continues to make it year after year. And at 32, I finally sat down to learn how to make one of my favorite foods of all time. —Ximena N. Beltran Quan Kiu
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