Jimmy cracked ... hominy?

July 3, 2010 1:48 PM

On a whim I bought a bag of Goya (dry) Golden Hominy. Looking for recipes online I found many for canned hominy and many, many for grits, neither of which really help me.

I mean, I already know how to make grits and use canned hominy for pozole but what do I do with dry, cracked, golden hominy? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

posted by Allee Katze to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

If you have a crock pot, hominy holds up beautifully to slow cooking. Some chicken, black or red mole paste, potatoes and carrots. Cook on low for a few hours. It's awesome.
posted by effluvia at 1:57 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

How serendipitous! I actually just found a recipe to fit this particular bill last night. While it does call for canned hominy rather than dry, I don't see any reason why you couldn't just soak your dried to rehydrate and have it do just fine (unless your aversion is to the actual extra step of soaking, in which case I apologize). I haven't actually tried this recipe yet, so I can't vouch for it, but it looks so, so good.

(Allegedly) Delicious Hominy Casserole at The Pioneer Woman Cooks
posted by teamparka at 2:00 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

According to a couple of sidebars in Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen, the Mexican word for Hominy is "pozole," and the same word also refers to a stew containing same. That might help you with your Googling. Also seems to sometimes be spelled 'posole.'
posted by jon1270 at 2:06 PM on July 3, 2010

I don't think there's getting around rehydrating it.

The upscale hipster taco place by my office does a really good one with mushrooms, hominy, and cotija cheese.
posted by mkultra at 2:57 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

I love hominy in homemade bean chili. Use in in place of some of the beans.
posted by fifilaru at 3:06 PM on July 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Around here, it is sold as chicos. When I use dry chicos, I use a pressure cooker to rehydrate. You could also use the crock pot, and i sometimes just boil until they are tender enough. I have never really timed it, sorry. They do need to be cooked, not just soaked.

So you could use chicos as a search term also.
posted by annsunny at 4:54 PM on July 3, 2010

I have never made posole from scratch, but the advice I was given, and I'm guessing this applies to other uses, is to rinse it repeatedly until the water runs clear, or else there's a risk of it turning to mush.
posted by PMdixon at 4:56 PM on July 3, 2010

Response by poster: Thank you all, bacon and chili and mole and tacos, oh my! These ideas give me a great start.

I believe the reason for rinsing traditionally prepared hominy for pozole is to thoroughly remove the mixtamal, a lime water solution the hominy is soaked in to soften the hull.

When I was little I thought pozole was made from popcorn that had popped under water; I guess it's not so far from the truth.
posted by Allee Katze at 5:09 PM on July 3, 2010

I would actually soak and boil the pozole before using them in any recipe. Don't just try to slow cook with ingredients.
posted by JPD at 5:40 PM on July 3, 2010

Rancho Gordo, an excellent source of dried posole as well as heirloom beans, says to soak & simmer for a few hours with chopped onion.
posted by judith at 7:17 PM on July 3, 2010

Late to the party, but I like this posole recipe from Gourmet. The recipe calls for short ribs but I usually just get a big pork shoulder with the bone in and braise it for a long time. Definitely soak the dry posole overnight before starting your stew.
posted by clockwork at 3:07 PM on July 5, 2010