Of all the ways to cook dried hominy, simmering in a trusty soup pot on the stove is the most reliable. Basically, you just soak and simmer.
The first thing you must do is to check that, in fact, you have hominy. After trying a recipe from my blog, one writer — who, I want to stress, was using a non-Rancho Gordo product — was very upset. “Heirloom pazole [sic] needs to cook at least 4 or 5 hours, even after it has been soaked for 5 hours. It is totally raw after just two hours of hard cooking.” The writer was using dried, untreated corn. Because it wasn’t nixtamalized, it would never be pleasant, no matter how long they had cooked it.
You can — and should — use the cooked hominy right away; hominy is best when freshly prepared. If you end up having more than you immediately need, you can refrigerate cooked hominy for a few days, or freeze it in some of its cooking liquid for up to two months.
Make sure you allow enough time to soak the prepared hominy for 5 to 8 hours. It won’t swell up in the same way dried beans do, but it will be doing its work.
Yield: A half-pound of dried hominy — about 1 cup — yields approximately 4 cups of cooked hominy.
Ingredients
- ½ pound Rancho Gordo Prepared Hominy/White Corn Posole
- ½ of an onion, chopped
Instructions
In a large bowl, soak prepared hominy in enough water to cover by 2 inches; let sit 5 to 8 hours.
In a large stockpot over high heat, combine the prepared hominy and its soaking water. Add additional water, if needed, to cover the hominy by about 2 inches. Add the onion; bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low. Continue cooking at a gentle simmer until the prepared hominy is tender, about 90 minutes. Partially cover the pot as needed to regulate heat, but don’t cover completely or hominy may turn gummy.
Check occasionally, adding hot water from a kettle, as needed, to keep the corn covered by about an inch. The hominy is done when it’s no longer chalky but retains some texture. The kernel will also pop at one end, causing the hominy to blossom. (Because life is unfair, once in awhile you will get a batch that won’t flower.)
Strain the hominy, reserving at least 2 cups of the cooking liquid for use in your pozole. Refrigerate or freeze any additional liquid for another use.
