POZOLE ROJO

Día de los Muertos. Day of the Dead. All Saints Day. This is tomorrow, so I guess we are a day ahead of ourselves. Actually, two days ahead, because Australia is already 15 hours ahead of Mexico. Why am I mentioning Day of the Dead? Well, it is Halloween here. In Australia, Halloween is a recent fabrication of commercially-charged minds who see the American celebration of Halloween as another opportunity to make some money. I much prefer the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead to the American celebration of Halloween. In Mexico right now there will be tables set up outside many stores, including supermarkets. The tables will be filled with bottles of tequila and beer, plates of tacos, frijoles, pan de muerte, sugar skulls, vases of marigolds and crucifixes. Tomorrow night (by Australian time), families will assemble at the graves of loved ones. hey will light candles, share plates of food (and especially the favourite foods of the departed) and sip beers, mezcal and tequila through the night. Anyway, at the thought of Day of the Dead I felt I had to cook something quintessentially Mexican. Hence these bowls of pozole. Quite simple to make, this is a dish of chicken stock, pork, ancho chillies, garlic, oregano, cabbage, radish and lime juice. Maybe it was pure luck, but a Cotes du Rhone turned out to be the perfect partner.

POZOLE ROJO