This is another recipe I picked up Quinta Brava when I was in Oaxaca. Their version is cooked on the stove, but I altered it to cook in a slow cooker so I could serve it on a weeknight, and this worked out amazingly well. It’s a classic Mexican soup with meat, hominy, and chilis. It’s delicious and warming, and while you can taste the chiles, it’s not very spicy. Enjoy it on its own or as an accompaniment to a larger Mexican meal.

The star ingredient is cacahuazintle corn, which might not be easy or inexpensive to obtain outside of Mexico, even without a despot ruining US foreign trade. White corn hominy can be used as a more affordable substitute. If you start with dried hominy, it’s going to need a much longer cooking time, which I think the original recipe was going for.

I was only able to find canned hominy, which doesn’t really need the longer cooking time, but then circumstances meant that I needed to set this up in a slow cooker instead of tending to it for a few hours. So, the slow cooker got the chunk of meat, the canned hominy (minus the can juice), the onion, garlic, and 2 1/2 tbsp. salt. I reduced the salt because the canned hominy was already salted. Then I rinsed out the cans and poured 3 cans of water into the pot.

The traditional meat is pork, though I used beef (chuck roast) in this version since my spouse can’t eat pork. Since this will cook for a long time, it’s a good way to use a tough, thick chunk of meat like chuck roast or rump roast.

600 grams parboiled cacahuazintle corn or hominy (1.3 lbs.) (or 4 15-oz. cans)
3 cloves garlic
1 onion– 1/4 chunk for corn, the rest finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons salt (only use 3 if you have dried hominy)
1 kilo pork or beef (solid) (2.2 lbs.)
3 tablespoons salt
5 guajillo chiles, deveined
5 ancho chiles, deveined
5 allspice berries
5 radishes, sliced
1/4 cup romaine lettuce, sliced finely
lime wedges (for serving)
1/2 cups sour cream (for serving)
tortilla chips or strips (for serving)

Start in the morning if you plan to eat in the evening.

Place the meat in a large slow cooker and add the corn. If you’re using canned hominy, drain the liquid from the cans and only use 2 tbsp. salt in the cooker. Use 3 tbsp. salt for dried corn/hominy. Add the garlic and onion, then fill the rest of the pot with water.

Set the cooker to low heat and add the lid. Leave it alone for 8 hours or so, or until you come home from work.

Make a chili paste. If you have a spice grinder, grind the dried chiles and allspice berries and then mix with enough hot water to make a paste. If not, soften the chiles and allspice in hot water for 5 minutes, then grind them in a blender with a little water.

Add the paste to the corn broth and the meat. (Or, you can toss the ground, dried spices in the cooker and stir, since you’re adding them to water anyway.)

Remove the meat and pull apart finely. Depending on the size of your pulled pieces, you might need to chop them up so they’re short enough to fit easily on a spoon without dribbling over the edge.

Check the doneness of the corn and season. Re-add the meat.

Serve with the radishes, lettuce, lime wedges, sour cream, and tortilla chips. You can put the sour cream directly onto the soup, or dip tortillas into it on the side.