VENISON POZOLE ROJO
This venison pozole rojo is a slow cooker stew made with venison shanks or stew meat, dried red chiles, hominy, oregano, cumin, and stock, then finished with fresh toppings like lime, cabbage, radishes, cilantro, and hot sauce.
Ingredients
- 5 dried ancho chilis or 8 dried guajillo chilis stemmed and seeded
- 1 head of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 venison shanks, or around 2 pounds of boneless stew meat
- 1 large white onion, small dice
- 4 carrots, large dice
- 6 celery stalks, large dice
- 2 tablespoons dried Mexican Oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 5 cups canned hominy, drained or 4 cups dried hominy (pre-cooked)
- 3 quarts venison or chicken stock
- salt to taste
TOPPINGS FOR SERVING
- lime
- chopped cabbage or lettuce
- tostadas or tortilla chips
- cilantro
- radishes
- avocado
- rice
- hot sauce
Instructions
- Rehydrate the chilis. Bring enough water to cover the chilis to a simmer on the stove or in the microwave. Place the chilis in a bowl and pour the water over the chilis. Place another small plate on top of the chilis to keep them submerged. Cover the entire bowl with another larger plate or plastic wrap. Let them hydrate for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the slow cooker. While the chilis are hydrating, pre-heat. your slow cooker for 20 minutes.
- Add the rehydrated chilis to a blender or food processor. Pour in enough of the warm water to make a thin paste and puree the chilis. Set them in the refrigerator for later.
- Place the venison in the slow cooker, followed by the remaining ingredients, minus the hominy and chili puree.
- Cover the cooker and cook on the low setting until the meat is fork-tender. This can take around 10 hours with venison depending on which cut of meat you are using.
- Around 1 to 2 hours before serving, pour the chili puree and hominy in with the rest of the ingredients and let cook for 1 more hour. If you're in a time crunch and need to cook everything at once, you can add these in with the other ingredients in step 4.
- Serving: Serve this up with any of the listed ingredients above. This recipe is great for serving directly from the slow cooker while it's being kept warm.
NOTES
- Rehydrate and blend the chiles first. Soak them for about 20 minutes, then puree them with enough warm water to make a thin paste before adding them to the slow cooker.
- Use the right venison cuts. Necks, shoulders, shanks, rib meat, or boneless stew meat work best because they stay tender through the long cook.
- Start without the hominy. Put the venison, onion, carrots, celery, oregano, cumin, and stock in the slow cooker first, then cook until the meat is fork-tender, then add the chile puree and hominy near the end.
- Cook until the meat gives easily. On low, this recipe takes about 10 hours with neck or rib meat, and on high it can take around 8 hours, but go by tenderness, not the clock.
- Add the hominy near the end. Stir in the chile puree and hominy about 1 to 2 hours before serving so the hominy does not sit in the broth all day and soak up too much liquid.
- Keep extra stock nearby. Pozole tends to tighten up as the hominy cooks and again in the fridge, so add a little more venison or chicken stock if it gets too thick.
- Use dried hominy carefully. If you are using dried pozole corn instead of canned hominy, cook it ahead of time because the post notes it can take up to 5 hours of simmering first.
- Serve it with fresh toppings. Lime, cabbage or lettuce, cilantro, radishes, avocado, hot sauce, tostadas, tortilla chips, or rice all fit this recipe well.
Nutrition
Calories: 630kcal | Carbohydrates: 96g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 1832mg | Potassium: 1984mg | Fiber: 21g | Sugar: 37g | Vitamin A: 21892IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 147mg | Iron: 9mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutrition is per serving.
Make this recipe?Mention @Larry__White or tag #WildGameGourmet!