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Pichola
I 1/2 POUNDS FRESH PORK I ONION I CAN HOMINY I CAN TOMATOES CHILI POWDER Fry pork brown, then add onion, tomatoes, and chili. Add a little water and steam 2 hours. Put in the hominy and cook 1/2 hour more.
A camp-style pork and hominy stew — essentially a simplified posole. The quantities are loose by design, but a few of the terms need translating before you start.
- "Fresh pork"This means uncured, unsmoked pork, as opposed to the salt pork or bacon that dominated outdoor cooking of the period. Shoulder (Boston butt) is the right cut for a two-hour simmer; loin or chops will be dry and stringy by the end.
- Canned hominyStill sold, usually in 15-oz cans, white or golden. Drain and rinse it before adding. Canned hominy is already fully cooked, so the final half hour is only to let it take up the chili and pork fat — do not extend it or the kernels collapse.
- Can sizesA "can" of tomatoes in this era usually meant a No. 2 can (about 20 oz, 2 1/2 cups), though the larger No. 3 (about 32 oz) was also common, and the recipe does not say which. A modern 14.5-oz can plus a splash more water is close enough; two cans gives a soupier result.
- Chili powder, unmeasuredThe original gives no quantity. Start with 1 to 2 tablespoons of a commercial chili blend, added to the hot fat with the onion so it toasts for a few seconds before the tomatoes go in. Adjust at the end rather than the start.
- "Steam 2 hours"This means covered simmering over low heat, not steaming above water. Keep it at a bare bubble and check for scorching once or twice; over a camp fire that meant pulling the pot to the edge of the coals.
- SaltNone is listed, which is typical of recipes written when salt was assumed. Fresh pork and canned hominy both need it — season after the two-hour simmer, once the liquid has reduced and concentrated.
- YieldServes four generously as a one-pot supper, and it thickens noticeably overnight.
Pork simmered with hominy, tomatoes and chili is the shape of posole, the hominy stew of New Mexico and northern Mexico, where nixtamalized corn and pork have long been cooked together. What distinguishes this version is the can opener: canned hominy and canned tomatoes made the dish quick and portable. Camp and trail cooking of the period leaned heavily on tinned goods, and regional dishes printed for a general audience were often reduced to whatever could be carried and opened at the fire.