The Mexican Slow Cooker: Recipes for Mole, Enchiladas, Carnitas, Chile Verde Pork, and More Favorites (4 page)

To serve, divide the fried tortilla pieces among the serving bowls and ladle the hot soup over them, including some of the chicken in each bowl. Garnish with a few pieces of avocado and serve very hot with the lime wedges on the side.

Hearty
puchero de res
is a classic home-style soup that is served in every tiny
lonchería
(a snack bar usually run by a one woman who cooks and serves) and
fonda
(an inexpensive home-style restaurant) in Mexico. It always includes generous chunks of beef and corn, plus potato or yam and the cook’s choice of seasonal vegetables. It’s one of easiest soups to make: just toss everything in the cooker, turn it on low, and let the magic happen. Note that the jalapeño is not stemmed; that keeps the seeds from falling out and floating around the soup. The soup may become quite thick when cooked, so you may want to add more broth at the end. Presented in big bowls with the tortillas on the side, there isn’t much more you could want.

In a blender, combine the roasted tomato and garlic and puree until smooth. Transfer the puree to a 6-quart slow cooker and add all the remaining ingredients, placing the harder vegetables on the bottom and the meat on top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Turn the cooker to the warm setting and uncover. Let the soup settle for 15 minutes, then, using a large spoon, skim off as much fat as possible. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve in big bowls, with the tortillas on the side.

Menudo is considered a surefire cure for just about anything from a hangover to a broken heart. It’s true: the world
does
look sunnier over a huge bowl of steaming menudo with all the garnishes and a cold beer. Though I am not generally a fan of tripe, I adore menudo’s unique flavor and rich, gelatinous broth (not to mention its miraculous restorative powers). You may use either honeycomb tripe or the more delicate “book” tripe in this dish, but be sure it is already well cleaned when you buy it. Hunting down the unusual ingredients can be time-consuming, so this recipe makes enough for eight servings—plenty to enjoy now and freeze for later.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chiles and toast on both sides, turning occasionally and pressing down with a spatula, until they soften and blister. Remove from the pan. When the chiles are cool enough to handle, tear them into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Add the hot water and soak the chiles, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

Transfer the chiles with their soaking liquid to a blender and puree until very smooth. (For a smoother texture, you can press the puree through a fine-mesh sieve, if you like.) Transfer the puree to 6-quart slow cooker.

Rinse the tripe and cut into 1-inch pieces. Add to slow cooker along with the hominy, calf’s foot, garlic, onion, salt, peppercorns, bay leaf, coriander, and broth.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove the calf’s foot. When it’s cool enough to handle, pick off any bits of meat and return them to the pot, discarding all the bones and skin. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning. Serve very hot in large bowls, with warm tortillas on the side and small bowls of the garnishes on the table.

A good pozole is primarily about the
nixtamal
(hominy), which blossoms while it cooks with the pork and chiles and adds wonderful flavor to the broth. Like almost everything made with corn, pozole has ancient roots in Mexico and many regional variations. This version, made with mild dried red chiles, is a favorite at fiestas and family gatherings. Serve the pozole in very large bowls, with the traditional garnishes in small dishes on the table for all to share.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chiles and toast on both sides, turning occasionally and pressing down with a spatula, until they soften and blister. Remove from the pan. When the chiles are cool enough to handle, tear them into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Add the hot water and soak the chiles, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.

In a blender, puree the chiles with their soaking liquid until perfectly smooth. (For a smoother texture, you can press the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, if you like.) Transfer the puree to a 6-quart slow cooker.

Add the garlic, onion, cumin seeds, oregano, and salt, and then add the hominy, pork neck bones, pork shoulder, pig’s foot, broth, and water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until the meat is tender. Do not stir after the first 2 hours.

Turn the cooker to the warm setting and uncover. Let the soup settle for 15 minutes. With a kitchen spoon, skim off any excess fat that rises to the surface. Remove and discard the garlic and onion. Using a slotted spoon, carefully lift the meats onto a plate, keeping them as intact as possible. Discard the pig’s foot. Carefully remove any small bones from the soup. Break the pork shoulder into chunks and return to the cooker. Shred the meat from the neck bones and return to the cooker. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve with the garnishes at the table.