Hog and hominy

[Gene L]

Any recipes? I understand the "hog" but am a bit confused about the "hominy." In researching I found that hominy can be either the hominy we all love, which is treated field corn, or in the early days, crushed field corn, coarser than corn meal and boiled ("Original Corn Grits.") I believe "hominy grits" are made from treated hominy and used in instant grits.

I like both grits and hominy. But would appreciate any recipes. Especially for Hog and Hominy.

 

[Black Hand]

The hog & hominy describes the diet of travelers - salt-pork (or bacon) and hominy. Hominy is the whole-kernel item (lye-treated flint corn), hominy grits are ground hominy.

A recipe I read by but haven't tried yet is dried hominy soaked overnight in water, drained then fried in the grease left over from cooking salt pork.

 

[crockett]

HBC/NW Co. Surveyor David Thompson spoke of eating it along canoe traveling along Lake Superior. They would soak it in a pot (put in the canoe) and then boil it about 4 hours the next day and keep half for breakfast.

 

[omarick1948]

I started a topic on Hominy a while back if you go back a couple pages.

I love hominy, and one of my favorite ways is to fry some pork chops with plenty of salt and pepper and then add hominy to their grease and stir it around. GREAT STUFF!

 

[Nativearizonan]

In the SW, posole is a word that means both hominy and a soup/stew made with hominy and pork mixed together. It's generally served pretty spicy, but a very common dish.

you can do a search for posole recipes and come up with dozens to hundreds of recipes, then spice them to whatever level suites your tastebuds.

Posole is considered a traditional dish for the Pueblo Indians in NM, who must have adopted pork fairly quickly after the arrival of the Spanish. They may have had javelina even before that. It undoubtedly would have been served to the Taos based Mountain Men, and other pioneers to the area.

 

[Gene L]

Softkee is another hominy food with meat in it. I think, but don't know, the "hominy" in is grits. It's what the two bad guys were preparing in the dugout in "True Grit." The reason I think this is because hauling around hominy with all that water weight wouldn't seem to be a traveling ration.

 

[Black Hand]

The reason I think this is because hauling around hominy with all that water weight wouldn't seem to be a traveling ration.

Once hominy is made it can be dried and keeps very well. I make posole using the large cans of hominy and dry about half of each can for later use. Discovered it prefers to be stored in a cloth bag rather than a tin like my other dry goods...

 

[Nativearizonan]

hominy can be dried whole. It doesn't have to be ground to be dried.

 

[Nativearizonan]

The reason I think this is because hauling around hominy with all that water weight wouldn't seem to be a traveling ration.

Once hominy is made it can be dried and keeps very well. I make posole using the large cans of hominy and dry about half of each can for later use. Discovered it prefers to be stored in a cloth bag rather than a tin like my other dry goods...

I'm curious, how long does it take to reconstitute it?

 

[satx78247]

My personal favorite "side dish" for breakfast (in town or in camp), with eggs & pork chops, is "left-over" hominy grits formed into patties & fried in the same grease.
(I save all my bacon grease for cooking, too.)

Add hot biscuits & strong coffee & I'm "good to go" for a long day of hunting, even in the coldest weather.

yours, satx

 

[Black Hand]

The reason I think this is because hauling around hominy with all that water weight wouldn't seem to be a traveling ration.

Once hominy is made it can be dried and keeps very well. I make posole using the large cans of hominy and dry about half of each can for later use. Discovered it prefers to be stored in a cloth bag rather than a tin like my other dry goods...

I'm curious, how long does it take to reconstitute it?

About an hour (starting from dry) when simmered in Camp Stew or Posole.

 

[sidelock]

Boy oh boy----- the health food "nuts" must be going out of their minds. BUT ,BUT ,BUT they don't understand GOOD EATIN. Sounds good.

 

[satx78247]

The plain TRUTH is that I suspect that you have correctly identified "the health food crowd".

Inasmuch as I can still, at nearly 70YY, comfortably wear the Army dress uniform that I was commissioned into the MPC in 1969, I figure that my usual diet could be far worse.

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

About an hour (starting from dry) when simmered in Camp Stew or Posole

That's what I've found simply boiling it for breakfast food in a camp trade kettle.

Grinding it coarse for grits I'm told was a way to make it cook faster.

For folks reading this thread and unfamiliar...,

Folks in some places confuse pinole which is also called rockahominy (confusion probably from the second name), and is made from ground, parched corn, with grits and/or ground dried whole corn meal. Ground, dried, whole corn meal is where one gets mush, hasty pudding, and polenta. Dried hominy ground very fine is where one gets masa flour that yields corn tortillas, and also pupusas. Sometimes masa is used as a thickener in chili con carne.

Pinole and posole are two very different things too. Pinole is survival rations, posole is an excellent meal.

:wink:

LD

 

[Gene L]

Got a friend in FL who grinds field corn for grits (not hominy grits), meal, and possibly real fine for polenta.

He travels up to N GA to buy specific corn breeds and does a lot of bespoke business with high-end clients.

 

[Nativearizonan]

I am going to try drying some of that canned hominy this year. They sell it in the big food service size cans in a local store that caters to hispanics and it is usually dirt cheap around the Christmas and New Years holidays. I never considered drying the leftovers, so I don't ordinarily buy that large of a can. Live and learn. Good tip, Black Hand.

 

[satx78247]

Just you wait until I tell you about the "Alamo City Breakfast Platter" at CARMELITA'S CAFE.

3 eggs any style (including Ranchero or Saltillo), a large (I'd guess about 8 ounces) pork chop, home fries, refried beans & your choice of tortillas with coffee.
(I typically, like lots of other "locals", add "a side" of the cafe's wonderful Carne Guisada.)

Breakfast or Brunch at Carmelita's "loads you for bear" an/or a long day of fishing or hunting the South Texas brush.

yours, satx

 

[Gene L]

Here's a recipe for cooking dried hominy. Sounds like cooking dry beans. I don't think my local store carries it, though a Hispanic store probably would.
http://andreasrecipes.com/cook-dry-hominy-pantry/

 

[satx78247]

THANKS.

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I get mine from the Amish Market.

I'm blessed that I have a lot of "ethinic" food stores around my community, so I can find corn for parching, raw sugar, plain pumpkin seeds, and other stuff once common, at local Hispanic food stores, and teas and spices popular in the 18th century but gone from Anglo supermarkets, by going to East Indian food markets.

LD