Rexx and Chris,
Pozole (or posole), is a traditional Mexican pork and hominy stew. The soup base for the red version that I cooked is made by rehydrating then pureeing dried chili peppers, straining to get rid of any chunks, and then combining with chicken broth + spices + sauteed onion/garlic.
Its usually topped with any combination you like of sliced cabbage, sliced radish, diced onion, oregano, avocado, lime or lemon, cilantro, and maybe a few other things I'm forgetting.
I don't like cabbage much so I skipped it.
Also, warm buttered tortillas for dipping!


OMG,
The dried green stuff is mexican oregano. A bit smokier tasting than the usual variety found in most US supermarkets.

Rexx, I found out the other day that salt and pepper squid virtually doesn't exist in the US. Imagine my horror.

Excellent. I just have one followup question.

I looked it up. Hominy is not a thing here. Not called something different, doesn't exist.

Chris,


That’s not correct.

I know it's sometimes available at Chinese restaurants, but it's nothing like the extent here. Salt and pepper squid is probably the most-ordered Asian dish in the country. It's a pub staple. It's even been suggested as the national dish, the way Chicken Tikka Masala got voted national dish in the UK.

Put it this way, when I mentioned it to suzzer he said he'd never had it, and when he googled "best salt and pepper squid in", the autocomplete suggestions were Portland (for some reason) and then Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane. Googling from LA.

Oh weird. Always just assumed it was widely available, but guess it's a pretty regional thing popular in areas bordering Mexico, and in the South for making grits.
Not sure what shipping is like, but maybe you can get it online if you ever wanted to make it?
Hominy itself is dirt cheap around here. Like 2 bucks and change for a 30oz can.

I googled. There's a few specialty stores in my city I could get it. Or online, obviously.

Like everywhere, ethnic food got brought over by immigrants, so Australia is heavy Italian, some Greek, and various South East Asian cuisines. The newest wave is Afghani. "Mexican" has until recently been basic stuff filtered through the US, like tacos and nachos. When I ate at a really good Mexican place in Sedona, AZ it blew my mind, I don't think stuff that good exists here. I think it also blew the waiter's mind, some of the stuff I was asking what it was, he looked at me like I was a moron

That's disturbing!
Thank goodness

Now I don't know who to believe!

It also depends where you live in Australia.

It's called calamari in USA#1 you straya ****. Not you Rexx.

Calamari here is specifically squid like this:



Squid prepared any other way is "squid". I think it's because before Asian immigration, that was the only way you got squid, so Asian restaurants had to differentiate. You do occasionally see "salt and pepper calamari" from some contrarian types.

Salt and pepper squid is fairly common in the US but you are right that its only served in select Chinese restaurants.

It blows my mind that its the General Tso's of Australia.

The pub versions are all awful manufactured stuff out of a frozen packet, by the way. But the dish done well, from a good restaurant, can be good. I tend to like the Vietnamese rendition.

ChrisV,

That picture is pork bung.

Speaking of salt and pepper seafood.
To me Cantonese salt and pepper prawns are goat status and really I have to put Cantonese seafood as a top 3 globally. The wok makes some damn magic.

And since I brought up prawns. I grew up with shrimp/prawns pretty much always cooked in their shell. Come to your plate and you rip the head off, suck the brains out if you want then pull the rest of the shell off and eat.
I'm not an adventurous eater. I don't eat tripe, kidneys, liver, etc... but watch these cooking competition shows and judges are like "zomg, they didn't de vein the shrimp!". Is this really a big deal to people or just a fine dining thing?

El D and amoeba are correct. Apparently Chris meant "rarely available at pubs" when he said "virtually doesn't exist in the US", but no biggie.

This part is just a Google thing. If you Google "salt and pepper squid", even in an incognito window, the images will show a number of calamari style pics mixed in. But salt and pepper squid is widely available in LA Chinese restaurants, and even in suzzer's LA South Bay area.

Best salt and pepper squid in Los Angeles, CA gets a lot of results, and there are a number near Redondo Beach as well.

These are great, and my family and friends usually get salt and pepper shrimp over salt and pepper squid. Most don't even de-shell and simply eat them with the shell on. About half eat the heads, half don't.

I would imagine that's a cooking competition show thing, but others itt would know better than I. Lots of cuisines have shrimp dishes that they serve cooked in the shell, so I doubt most casual eaters care about that.

i've been having great success adding orange juice to marinades.

I prefer tentacle squid to ring squid.

As much as I would like to hate the store bought Panera salad dressings I have tried have been really good.

You can devein shrimp with the shell on, I’m pretty sure you can even buy them that way

I've never considered deveining a shrimp. That seems like a huge waste of time.

Have any of you foodies heard about the current raw seafood salad craze in Thailand?

Those Chinese girl cooks stuff traditionally videos are so funny how nobody shows any emotion when they are eating. It seems almost like it might be communist propaganda.

That's what I'm saying. If the choice was devein shrimp or don't eat it I'd go with the latter.

I’m always torn on the de vein thing. On the one hand it is the **** pipe. On the other hand whose got time for that ****?

Just always buy easy peel shrimp. Already deveined.