Pozole rojo is the ultimate Mexican comfort food. It's full of deep, rich flavor from the dried chiles and makes for the best venison shoulder roast recipe. The rich broth turns tough shoulder meat into fall-apart tender pieces of deliciousness. Combined with chewy and flavorful hominy and topped with fresh toppings, it's packed with flavor. Give it a try today!
Why You'll Love This Recipe:
Unique Twist on a Classic Dish: Adding venison to pozole rojo brings a unique twist to this classic pozole rojo recipe. Additionally, the earthy notes of venison complement the hominy and chile-infused broth, providing a distinctive variation that stands out. It's one of my absolute favorite venison recipes!
Comforting and Hearty: Pozole rojo is a hearty and comforting dish, perfect for warming up on chilly days. Furthermore, the combination of flavorful broth with tender shredded deer meat and hearty hominy makes for the ultimate comfort food. It slow cooks all day for the perfect comforting meal at the end of the day.
Visual Appeal: The deep red broth, coupled with the rich colors of venison and arrangement of fresh toppings creates a vibrant bowl that is a feast for the senses!
Ingredient Notes:
- Venison Shoulder Blade Roast: A shoulder roast is the perfect cut of meat for slow cooking. Slow-cooking it at a low simmer beautifully breaks down this tough cut of meat with a lot of connective tissue. Additionally, the bones and connective tissue add richness to the broth. Other bone-in roasts like shanks or neck roasts work great as well. You can also use a whole shoulder from smaller deer.
- Hominy: Dried hominy has a more earthy flavor and satisfying chewiness when compared to canned hominy. But, canned hominy will work if that's all you have available.
- Toppings: A variety of fresh toppings add vibrancy to pozole, but you can add as little or as much as you'd like! My favorite toppings are cotija or queso fresco cheese, shredded green cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, sliced jalapenos, sour cream, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. You can serve corn tortillas or tortilla chips on the side for dipping or as an additional topping.
- Chiles: Any combination of red chiles can be used to adjust the flavor and spice level of pozole. This recipe uses a combination of pasilla, guajillo, ancho, and chiles de arbol to make a complex and slightly spicy broth. Pasilla chiles have a smoky and fruity flavor without much heat. Guajillo chiles have a sweet, fruity flavor with medium heat. Ancho chiles are mild with a rich, fruity flavor. Adding spiciness to this recipe, chiles de arbol contribute a smoky, spicy flavor. However, you can omit the chiles de arbol if you want a more mild pozole.
Equipment Notes:
- Dutch Oven: A Dutch oven is my slow-cooking vessel of choice for this recipe. However, you can use another slow cooker or crock pot. You can also reduce the time by using a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot, but the broth develops a richer flavor when slow-cooked.
- Blender: A blender or food processor is necessary for blending the chiles into a smooth sauce.
How to Cook Venison Shoulder Roasts:
For venison roasts, particularly tough cuts like deer shoulder or neck roasts with a lot of connective tissue, the best approach is a slow-cooking method to achieve optimal tenderness and great flavor.
Given the tough nature and little fat in these cuts, incorporating acids like red wine, apple juice, vinegar, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, etc. can help in breaking down the connective tissues and imparting rich flavors.
Slow cooking at a low temperature, whether in an oven, slow cooker, or on a smoker, is your best friend when dealing with challenging cuts from the front quarters. This method ensures the connective tissues break down gradually, resulting in a melt-in-your-mouth texture and a venison roast that's both flavorful and tender.
What is Pozole?
Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup that comes in various forms, with pozole rojo (red), pozole verde (green), and pozole blanco (white)being popular variations. These traditional pozole recipes often use pork butt (or other pork cuts) or shredded chicken thighs as the protein.
Other main ingredients include hominy, which is a corn product. Treating dried corn kernels with lye makes them more plump, resulting in the creation of hominy.
Whole hominy is used for pozole. However, you can find hominy in various forms: whole, dried, canned, ground into coarse grits, or finely ground into masa flour, which is used to make tortillas and tamales.
The colors come from the types of chiles used or the absence of chiles. Pozole rojo uses a red chile sauce featuring a variety of chiles like guajillo peppers, ancho peppers, and other red chiles.
Pozole verde gets its color from green chiles and tomatillos. However, pozole blanco does not use chiles but gets its flavor from onions and garlic. Served on special occasions, pozole showcases its versatility as a hearty and flavorful dish.
Step by Step Instructions:
How to Make Chile Sauce for Pozole:
This recipe uses a combination of pasilla, guajillo, ancho, and chiles de arbol to make a complex and slightly spicy broth. However, you can use any variety of red chiles that you'd like.
Step 1: Remove seeds and stems from all chiles.
Step 2: Place chiles in a medium bowl.
Step 3: Cover with boiling water.
Step 4: Place a plate over the chiles to keep them submerged. Let sit for 20 minutes.
Step 5: Place chiles, ¼ cup soaking liquid, onion, garlic cloves, cumin, Mexican oregano, vinegar, olive oil, honey, and salt in a blender or food processor.
Step 6: Blend until smooth.
How to Cook Dried Hominy:
Dried hominy has a more chewy texture and earthy flavor compared to canned hominy. But, canned hominy can be used as well.
Step 1: Rinse the dried hominy in a strainer and place it in a medium bowl. Cover the hominy with a few inches of cold water. Cover and refrigerate for 8-24 hours.
Step 2: Drain the soaked hominy. Add the hominy to a large pot and cover it with several inches of water.
Step 3: Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
Step 4: Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2-4 hours, or until the hominy is soft but doesn't fall apart.
Pro Tip: Cooking time will depend on the size of the hominy, how long it has been soaking, and your local altitude.
How to Make Pozole Rojo with Venison:
Now that you have the chile sauce and hominy down, let's learn how to make pozole!
Step 1: Preheat oven to 250°F. Pat the meat dry with paper towels. Combine cumin, oregano, and salt in a small bowl. Rub spice mixture all over the venison roast.
Step 2: Heat lard (or other high smoke point cooking fat) in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add blade roast and sear on all sides possible for 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Step 3: Rinse or wipe the pot with a paper towel before cooking the chile sauce. Heat lard over medium-low heat in a Dutch oven. Add chile sauce and cook, stirring frequently, until bubbly and fragrant, about 3-5 minutes.
Step 4: Add wild game stock (or beef broth) and bay leaves to the Dutch oven with chile sauce. Stir to combine.
Step 5: Add meat back in. There should be enough liquid to completely cover the top of the roast.
Step 6: Bring to a boil on the stove. Place the lid on the Dutch oven and cook in the oven for 6-8 hours.
Step 7: When the meat can easily be removed from the shoulder bone, it is ready to be shredded.
Step 8: Remove the meat from the broth and shred it, discarding any connective tissue.
Step 9: Strain the broth using a large bowl and a fine mesh strainer.
Step 10: Rinse or wipe the pot with a paper towel to remove any brown bits stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot. Pour the strained broth back into the Dutch oven. Add the shredded meat back to the cooking liquid.
Step 11: Add in the cooked hominy. Bring to a boil on the stove. Cover and place back in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
Step 12: Serve warm with desired toppings and warm corn tortillas or tortilla chips for dipping.
Pro Tip: The chile sauce and broth can be prepared a day in advance. To add extra flavor depth, marinate the roast in the chile sauce and stock overnight. The next morning, bring the mixture to a boil and proceed with slow cooking in the oven.
What to Serve with Pozole:
One of the best things about pozole is the variety of toppings you can add to customize your bowl. You can add as little or as many toppings as you'd like!
My favorite toppings are cotija or queso fresco cheese, shredded green cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado, sliced jalapenos, sour cream, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
You can serve corn tortillas or tortilla chips on the side for dipping or as an additional topping. However you choose to top your bowl, you're going to love this rich, flavorful, hearty Mexican stew!
Recipe FAQ's:
Venison shoulder is the perfect cut of meat for slow-cooking. Long cooking times soften the connective tissue in it. You can make it into a classic venison pot roast, cook it in soups like pozole rojo, or even cure and smoke it to create venison ham.
The amount of connective tissue in venison shoulder naturally makes it a tough cut of meat. However, it can be softened by slow cooking.
Pozole rojo is a traditional Mexican soup made with a red chile sauce, hominy, and some type of protein (typically pork). Pozole is often served for special occasions and is accompanied by a variety of fresh toppings like shredded cabbage, radishes, tomatoes, etc.
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Recipe:
Pozole Rojo with Venison Shoulder Roast
Ingredients
Meat:
- 1 venison shoulder blade roast
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon pork lard (or other cooking fat)
Soup:
- 6 pasilla chiles
- 6 guajillo chiles
- 3 ancho chiles
- 4 chiles de arbol
- boiling water
- 1 yellow onion, quartered
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon pork lard (or other cooking fat)
- 10 cups stock (wild game, beef, or pork)
- 4 bay leaves
- 6 cups cooked hominy (12 oz dried)
Optional Toppings:
- crumbled cotija cheese (or queso fresco)
- shredded green cabbage
- sliced radishes
- fresh cilantro
- diced tomatoes
- sliced avocado
- sliced jalapenos or fresno peppers
- sour cream
- lime wedges
- corn tortillas, for dipping
Instructions
Cooking Dried Hominy:
- Skip these steps if you are using canned hominy.
- Rinse the dried hominy in a strainer and place it in a medium bowl. Cover the hominy with a few inches of cold water. Cover and refrigerate for 8-24 hours.
- Drain the soaked hominy. Add the hominy to a large pot and cover it with several inches of water. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2-4 hours, or until the hominy is soft but doesn't fall apart. Cooking time will depend on the size of the hominy, how long it has been soaking, and your local altitude.
Chile Sauce:
- You can use any variety of chiles that you'd like. I used what I had on hand but many different combinations will work.
- Remove seeds and stems from all chiles. Place chiles in a medium bowl. Cover with boiling water. Place a plate over the chiles to keep them submerged. Let sit for 20 minutes.
- Place chiles, ¼ cup soaking liquid, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, vinegar, olive oil, honey, and salt in blender. Blend until smooth.
Meat:
- Combine cumin, oregano, and salt in small bowl. Rub spice mixture all over meat.
- Heat lard in dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add blade roast and sear on all sides possible. Remove to plate and set aside.
- Rinse or wipe the pot with a paper towel before cooking the chile sauce.
Soup:
- Preheat oven to 250°F.
- Heat lard over medium-low heat in dutch oven. Add chile sauce and cook, stirring frequently, until bubbly and fragrant, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add wild game stock and bay leaves to the Dutch oven with chile sauce. Stir to combine.
- Add meat back in. There should be enough liquid to completely cover the top of the roast.
- Bring to a boil on the stove. Place the lid on the Dutch oven and cook in the oven for 6-8 hours.
- When the meat can easily be removed from the shoulder bone, it is ready to be shredded. Remove the meat from the broth and shred it, discarding any connective tissue.
- Strain the broth using a large bowl and a fine mesh strainer.
- Rinse or wipe the pot with a paper towel to remove any gritty pieces stuck to the sides. Pour the strained broth back into the Dutch oven. Optional: Rinse out the strainer and strain the broth a second time back into the Dutch oven.
- Add the shredded meat back to the cooking liquid. Drain the hominy if you're using canned. Add in the cooked hominy. Bring to a boil on the stove. Cover and place back in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
- Serve warm with desired toppings and warm corn tortillas for dipping.
Freezing Instructions:
- Fill a freezer zipper bag with pozole, squeeze out the air, and freeze flat on a sheet pan. Freeze for up to 6 months.
Notes
-
- Any combination of red chiles can be used to adjust the flavor and spice level of pozole. This recipe uses a combination of pasilla, guajillo, ancho, and chiles de arbol to make a complex and slightly spicy broth. Pasilla chiles have a smoky and fruity flavor without much heat. Guajillo chiles have a sweet, fruity flavor with medium heat. Ancho chiles are mild with a rich, fruity flavor. Adding spiciness to this recipe, chiles de arbol contribute a smoky, spicy flavor. However, you can omit the chiles de arbol if you want a more mild pozole.
- A slow cooker or crock pot can be used in place of a Dutch oven. You can also reduce the time by using a pressure cooker like an Instant Pot, but the broth develops a richer flavor when slow-cooked.
- A blender or food processor is necessary for blending the chiles into a smooth sauce.
- Keep an eye on the chile sauce and stir it frequently. It can burn quickly if you're not careful!
- The chile sauce and broth can be prepared a day in advance. To add extra flavor depth, marinate the roast in the chile sauce and stock overnight. The next morning, bring the mixture to a boil and proceed with slow cooking in the oven.
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