Keep calm and make these 2 soups from great Seattle chefs
Out here in Seattle, we’re just washing our hands down to nubs, Googling “can drinking alcohol kill coronavirus” (answer: sadly, no, but can help with nerves), definitely never touching our faces again and encasing all older relatives inside protective bubbles for the foreseeable future. Business at restaurants is suffering in a way that’s getting dire quickly, yet among all the talk of “social distancing,” a collective end-of-days bacchanal spirit may still be readily found. “HAVE A NICE COLD PINT AND WAIT FOR ALL THIS TO BLOW OVER” suggested the sandwich board outside my neighborhood favorite Bait Shop last Friday night, and the place was standing-room-only packed with a loud, festive, low-risk-category crowd doing exactly that.
The citizenry’s panic-grocery-shopping seems to have subsided, the ransacked shelves all restocked. Still, with parts of the city ghost-town quiet and the news just getting worse, the anxiety gnaws. At its root, it’s a real terror: Will this be the end of the world as we know it? In times of deep uncertainty, our thoughts turn to our stomachs: Food is comfort we can engulf, and instinct tells even urban types to lay in some supplies.
A project that occupies the hands and the mind, taking plenty of time and bearing the result of lots of very delicious food — enough to eat now and also freeze for whatever the hell the future might bring — seems like a bright idea for one of these awfully strange days or nights. Two excellent Seattle chefs were kind enough to provide us with recipes for constructive distraction. Keep calm — soup’s on.
For optional chili oil addition: Take 1 part dried japones chilies to 1/2 part vegetable or canola oil. Toast the chilies and oil (use an oil with mild to no flavor, like vegetable or canola) together in a little pot over medium-low heat until fragrant, then puree. Make as much as you want — it will keep in the fridge.
1. Wrap the pig trotter in a flour sack or cheesecloth if you don’t want the bones in the final soup. Put the water and the trotter in a large 12-quart pot. Simmer for 1 hour, skimming off any scum that accumulates on the surface.
2. Cut the pork butt/shoulder into 2-inch pieces. Peel and quarter your onions. Add the onions, bay leaves and oregano along with the pork to the broth. Simmer for 45 minutes.
3. While the pork is cooking, deseed and de-stem your guajillos chilies, and de-stem your japones chilies. Place them in the jar of a blender along with 1 cup of the hominy, the cumin and the garlic, then add enough of your hot broth to cover. Once the chilies are somewhat soft from soaking, puree the mix as coarse or as fine as you prefer.
4. At 45 minutes, check the pork for tenderness. You want it three-fourths of the way cooked — if unsure, cook to almost tender. Leave the onion/oregano/bay leaves alone. When the pork is three-fourths tender, add the