I am wondering about the origins of pozole, a traditional hearty Mexican soup,
containing hominy, red chili sauce, and pork boiled until it falls off the
bone...

I am looking for the real deal here, truly authentic pozole, not some foo foo
recipe...

The hominy is made from white maize, which was a staple food of the various
pre-Columbian tribes in Mexico, but other ingredients in the stew seem to have
come later...

I have eaten Mexican food all my life, living in Southern California. It's
mostly
been greasy Sonora style snacks like tacos, tamales, enchiladas, refried beans,
rice, stuff that really promotes the production of intestinal gas...

My friend Luis, who was raised eating all that stuff told me that the reason it
tastes so good is because it's made with lard, and that he wouldn't recommend
all that grease in anybody's diet...

But, I am digressing. I first read about pozole in a travel book called
"Peoples' Guide to Mexico", saying that it was a traditional holiday dish
served around Christmas and New Year's Day. So I had to try some. A big
supermarket had mass produced canned pozole, but I still wanted to try some
homemade pozole...

I was surprised to find a local taqueria (Taco Bell and Del Taco have given
tacos a bad name, but I have occasionally found excellent regional specialties
in taquerias)
that had pozole on the menu, at a very reasonable price, so I ordered it and
got a big bowl of pozole with a little casserole on the side, containing
chopped onions,
two radishes, half a lime, and a whole bunch of shredded cabbage...

Cabbage? What would Montezuma, king of the Aztecs, have done with the shredded
cabbage?

And, like a typical male, having ordered pozole, I was too proud to ask the
waitress, "Hey, senorita, what do I *do* with this shredded cabbage?"

I mean, hey, if I was manly enough to *order* pozole, I should know what to do
with the ingredients supplied as garnish, right?

After having eaten Mexican food for half a century, and having never seen
cabbage
used in any Mexican dish, I decided to take the plunge and dump all the
shredded cabbage into my pozole and stir it up, figuring maybe the soup was hot
enough to
cook the cabbage a little and make it tender, but I was wrong, the cabbage just
cooled down the pozole and remained crunchy, like vegetable yin for the meaty
yang (or is it the other way for Chinese cuisine, I dunno)...

So, after I got home, I started investigating pozole recipes on the web, and
found that pozole possibly originated in the state of Guerrero, and spread
throughout Mexico, at some unknown date...

But I am still wondering about the use of *cabbage* as a garnish. The recipes
seem to indicate that the cabbage (or lettuce) is to be sprinkled on top of the
pozole, with the chopped onions, and I suppose the lime juice will blend itself
with the red chili sauce, and the radishes will bob around like fishing
floats...

Neither cabbage nor lettuce is of Mexican origin, they were imported from
Europe. Maybe radishes were, too, and probably limes came from Arabia via
Spain...

And, if Montezuma ate pozole, maybe it contained white maize and the meat of
local animals like peccaries or xoloquintles?

So, does anybody know the origins of the original pozole, and are recipes
calling for cabbage and radishes foo foo?

Enquiring minds want to know...

# * 0 * #
^

"krusty kritter" wrote in message
...

snip

So, does anybody know the origins of the original pozole, and are recipes
calling for cabbage and radishes foo foo?

Enquiring minds want to know...

I can't answer that question, but many of the mexican restaurants here in
the Seattle area serve coleslaw made with cabbage. It doesn't have the
creamy type dressing on it, but more of a vinegar dressing. The restaurant
around the corner from here sometimes puts cabbage in their pico de gallo.
I thought it was strange at first, but I've come to like it.

"krusty kritter" wrote in message
...

snip

So, does anybody know the origins of the original pozole, and are recipes
calling for cabbage and radishes foo foo?

Enquiring minds want to know...

I can't answer that question, but many of the mexican restaurants here in
the Seattle area serve coleslaw made with cabbage. It doesn't have the
creamy type dressing on it, but more of a vinegar dressing. The restaurant
around the corner from here sometimes puts cabbage in their pico de gallo.
I thought it was strange at first, but I've come to like it.

My friend Luis, who was raised eating all that stuff told me that the reason it
tastes so good is because it's made with lard, and that he wouldn't recommend
all that grease in anybody's diet...


Seems to me that when people ate LARD instead of vegetable oil, etc.,
as shortning, there were significantly fewer problems with
cholesteral, heart disease, obesity, heart attacks.

Food is not necessarily good or bad for you just because the Media
says so.

EM
who uses a LOT of lard in her cooking.
The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
and the second half by our children.
--- Clarence Darrow
(make that YOUR children).

"Auntie Em" wrote in message
...

Seems to me that when people ate LARD instead of vegetable oil, etc.,
as shortning, there were significantly fewer problems with
cholesteral, heart disease, obesity, heart attacks.

This is true, although they also didn't live as long. Personally, I won't
use shortening any more. I find that I can use olive oil in most things and
it works quite well. Even used it in chocolate cake! My other fat of
choice is butter. Have never used lard.

Food is not necessarily good or bad for you just because the Media
says so.

True.

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 01:00:18 -0500, Auntie Em wrote:

Seems to me that when people ate LARD instead of vegetable oil, etc.,
as shortning, there were significantly fewer problems with
cholesteral, heart disease, obesity, heart attacks.

Well, they had something to live for. Taste! But were those
fewer problems due to lard or those folks' more active lifestyles?
To paraphrase an elderly ad, "I'd walk a mile for a (lard) fried
chicken."

"krusty kritter" schreef in bericht
...
I am wondering about the origins of pozole, a traditional hearty Mexican
soup,
containing hominy, red chili sauce, and pork boiled until it falls off the
bone...


I'm from mexico city and never had seen pozole with cabbage, with lettuce is
normal but cabbage???
I remember eating pozole with

lime, onion, oregano, raddish, lettuce, chicharron, chile piquin(chilli
powder) and to acompany all this with tostadas with beans, salsa(red or
green) cheese, sour cream and lettuce, that is for me the real pozole.
after beign 32 years meat eater, (now 37) and 5 years of vegetarian,
instead of meat I use whole champignons and it taste great. for the soup I
use pozolero corn and vegetable bouillon.

try it!!
http://members.lycos.nl/mexicancomida/
here is my home page take a look

jose luis

From: "pulido"

http://members.lycos.nl/mexicancomida/
here is my home page take a look

I bookmarked your Mole Poblano page...

Since reading about it in a Mexican cookbook many years ago, I have looked for
Mole Poblano in Baja California,and in Southern California, but I have never
found any Mole that lived up to my expectations...

# * 0 * #
^

From: "pulido"

http://members.lycos.nl/mexicancomida/
here is my home page take a look

I bookmarked your Mole Poblano page...

Since reading about it in a Mexican cookbook many years ago, I have looked for
Mole Poblano in Baja California,and in Southern California, but I have never
found any Mole that lived up to my expectations...

# * 0 * #
^

From: "Julie Bove"

I can't answer that question, but many of the mexican restaurants here in the
Seattle area serve coleslaw made with cabbage. It doesn't have the creamy type
dressing on it, but more of a vinegar dressing.

Coleslaw is of Dutch origin. Etymology: Dutch koolsla, from kool cabbage + sla
salad
Date: 1794

Perhaps Dutch or German cooks were the ones to introduce cabbage to Mexican
cuisine...

The Spanish word for cabbage seems to be "col"...

Several years ago, I had a Mexican cookbook which told of the influence of
German, Irish, and even Russian immigrants on Mexican cooking, and that
cookbook was the first place that I ever saw the ubiquitous tamales,
enchiladas, tacos, etc., that Americans consider to be the essence of Mexican
cuisine described as "antojitos", snack food, like "hush puppies" to fill the
mouths of impatient children...



# * 0 * #
^

From: "Julie Bove"

I can't answer that question, but many of the mexican restaurants here in the
Seattle area serve coleslaw made with cabbage. It doesn't have the creamy type
dressing on it, but more of a vinegar dressing.

Coleslaw is of Dutch origin. Etymology: Dutch koolsla, from kool cabbage + sla
salad
Date: 1794

Perhaps Dutch or German cooks were the ones to introduce cabbage to Mexican
cuisine...

The Spanish word for cabbage seems to be "col"...

Several years ago, I had a Mexican cookbook which told of the influence of
German, Irish, and even Russian immigrants on Mexican cooking, and that
cookbook was the first place that I ever saw the ubiquitous tamales,
enchiladas, tacos, etc., that Americans consider to be the essence of Mexican
cuisine described as "antojitos", snack food, like "hush puppies" to fill the
mouths of impatient children...



# * 0 * #
^

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 19:48:52 GMT, BillB
wrote:

On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 01:00:18 -0500, Auntie Em wrote:

Seems to me that when people ate LARD instead of vegetable oil, etc.,
as shortning, there were significantly fewer problems with
cholesteral, heart disease, obesity, heart attacks.

Well, they had something to live for. Taste! But were those
fewer problems due to lard or those folks' more active lifestyles?
To paraphrase an elderly ad, "I'd walk a mile for a (lard) fried
chicken."

LOL you make a very good point. I think working hard had a great deal
to do with it.

As for them living longer? Nope! The life SPAN of humans has not
changed much in the past couple of hundred years. Now, the life
EXPECTANCY has gone up dramatically from probably (guessing here),
about 55 years old at the turn of the 1898 - 1900 century to that
which we enjoy today. However, that is primarily due to a much lower
infant mortality rate, improved sanitation, access to better medical
treatment, etc.

Em
whose life expectancy is pretty damn good - even with the lard.

The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents,
and the second half by our children.
--- Clarence Darrow
(make that YOUR children).

"krusty kritter" schreef in bericht
...
From: "pulido"

http://members.lycos.nl/mexicancomida/
here is my home page take a look

I bookmarked your Mole Poblano page...

Since reading about it in a Mexican cookbook many years ago, I have looked
for
Mole Poblano in Baja California,and in Southern California, but I have
never
found any Mole that lived up to my expectations...

# * 0 * #
^
try mole doña maria and add some sugar on it and you will taste the
difference.
is great

jl

KK,
Whenever I go to a pupuseria (a pupusa is basically a central
american "stuffed tamale") here in NYC, the cental american "cole
slaw" is a gratis type ot thing like tortilla chips in a US mexican
restaurant.
For $US3.00, In East Elmhurst or East Williamsburg, you can enjoy
two of these great pupusas and an endless supply of this central
american "slaw" just for walking into a latino establisihment!

"krusty kritter" wrote in message
I can't answer that question, but many of the mexican restaurants here in
the Seattle area serve coleslaw made with cabbage. It doesn't have the
creamy type dressing on it, but more of a vinegar dressing. The restaurant
around the corner from here sometimes puts cabbage in their pico de gallo.
I thought it was strange at first, but I've come to like it.

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 03:38:02 GMT, Gregor Samsa wrote:

Whenever I go to a pupuseria (a pupusa is basically a central
american "stuffed tamale") here in NYC, the cental american "cole
slaw" is a gratis type ot thing like tortilla chips in a US mexican
restaurant.
For $US3.00, In East Elmhurst or East Williamsburg, you can enjoy
two of these great pupusas and an endless supply of this central
american "slaw" just for walking into a latino establisihment!

Can you provide any addresses? If any are located in
Manhattan they would be more convenient, but across the river is OK
if near mass transit.