Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Hominy?

My wife grew up in the Springs. She has lots of family in NM and they turned me onto pozole. Love the stuff.

It’s about pozole weather in fact. Might cook up a batch this week.

My great grandmother used wood ashes in the process.
But I don't remember the details. I was 9 when she passed, 40 years ago.
Wish I had paid attention to what those folks knew. Much of it is mostly lost now.

Dillonbuck- You remember Grammy’s (Aunt Emma’s) vittles?

Some diced beef, onion, potato, and Copes dried corn.....That’s what I recall anyway. Been many many years. Always loved it as a kid.

I bet it’s been near 30 years......

I was when my Mother and Grandmother made it, but they used shelled field corn, and put it in a large cast iron pot in the yard. We called it a wash pot, because they heated wash water in it most of the time. Anyway, wood ashes was used, but that is about all that I remember. That and getting yelled at for getting too close. miles

Miles, did the hulls just fall off?

I want to think so, but can't be sure. Possibly fell off when they stirred with a big wood paddle they had. Maybe sunk to the bottom. It was a long time ago, and I was young. miles

Made with lye in the ashes then rinse the hulls off

I don't remember eating at Aunt Emma's.
She usually rode down with Rose, sometimes to stay with us for a week.
She and Mother would run the wheels off. Mom would complain that she was
tired, and that old woman just kept going.

I do remember, when we visited, she alway had Hydrox cookies.
I might need to buy a box, just to sit and ponder.

Always liked visiting that generation. Sitting there in the space age, they could recall seeing their first car, and airplane.
Too bad the stories aren't recorded.

can't recall exact details, i was too young and it was too long ago.

but, as faint memory recalls, burnt oak & hickory wood in fireplace. harvest the ashes to build a stockpile.

then in backyard with the black cast iron pot standing by, a contraption of sort was build up off the ground. the ashes were placed in the top part of the "still?" and allowed pure well water to drip through the ashes. the water would soak them. and then the drippings would be allowed to drain into a bucket sitting underneath the contraption.

that water was lye, i suppose. or a lye dilution. into the pot with the shelled, whole kernal hickory king corn (only this variety was allowed). it was very large kernels of white corn. it'd sit in the lye pot for a while, no idea how long, etc. but was stirred with a stick on occasion. dip the kernels out into a tub, and voluminous volumes of water to wash it off good, and into cans. salt was added during the canning. liquid was the base for the canned hominey. very good in the wintertime.

Haven't seen Cope's Dried Corn in a few years. Bet I could find it online. Used it for makin' chicken corn soup. Learned about that stuff when I lived in Harrisburg in '79. Seems every volunteer FD had a chicken corn soup feed to raise money in the fall. Probably to support the "club" downstairs where one could drink all night long, as it was a "private club". Private.......right! $5 to join the auxiliary!

Dillonbuck. You'll look long and hard for Hydrox cookies. I believe they were discontinued a few years back.

Geno

PS, love hominy especially in Posole. That reminds me........Rubio's taco shop in town has posole on Fridays. I may have to go to town tomorrow!

Used to make soap too. miles

Hominy was probably started to prevent Pellagra, Here is a paragraph from the link below.

Nixtamalization typically refers to a process for the preparation of maize (corn), or other grain, in which the corn is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (but sometimes wood ash lye, washed, and then hulled. This process is known to remove up to 97–100% of aflatoxins from mycotoxin-contaminated corn.
Nixtamalization miles

I love it. I prefer Bushes yellow canned. Soften some onions diced garlic, and seeded jalapeños in butter, to taste. pore in drained hominy and stir fry till hot.

That sounds good!


I will check the store for some Hominy.

I'm with you, my Dad was from Iowa and he introduced it to Mom and us kids.
I still pick up a can or two of it when I am at the grocery store!

Ken

My mom used to cook it for us from cans. She would fry some breakfast sausage patties and break them up. When they were well browned she would add the yellow hominy to the pan and cook it in the sausage grease. I liked it ok then. Without something to flavor it it would be like eating wax pellets.

Jim, I also like to dissolve a few slices of American cheese in it just before serving, adds a little extra flavor. Remember my mom would do that to hers.