Any recipe ideas?  I was kinda wingin' it, but it went well:



That is pork.

Oh man does that look good.

I think this is a shot before the steamer:

Here is a tip. Take a 12 x 12 piece of plywood. Make a u shaped depression in one side. Six inches wide and 5 inches long. Make depression about 3/8 ths deep. Lay the husk on the depression. take a six inch drywall knife and load it with masa. Trowel on the masa with one down stroke (just like drywall work). Saves a buttload of time.

Well it's about time to start making some sweet tamales for the holidays.

thanks,
Ron

I work with a guy who was raised in Mexico during the summers... Grandpa came up here &  got his citizenship, but kept ties down south.

He won't touch "store boughten" Tamales... or pretty much food made by anybody else when it comes to mexican cuisine.

His mom makes an awesome tamale...  

He says she cooks "pretty good for an anglo"

I fucking love making tamales almost as much as I love eating them.

I love eating tamales.I also like to cook..Can anyone post a step by step process/recipe ?

The only thing I miss about CA,is the Sierra's and the MEXICAN FOOD!!!

My neighbor makes tamales. So I buy from her when she makes 'em.

Recipe?

Quoted: Recipe?

+1

I should have paid attention when my mom used to make them.......recipe would be nice!!

Maybe it's a regional thing but "Tamales" and "holidays" don't seem to go together.
It looks good by the way

Do you have a steamer pot or are you using a modified pot?

Home made tamales.

One of lifes pure pleasures!

I like (Tamale) Pie

I make 3 types of tamales for the holidays. Pork and red sauce, green corn and dulce'....

The trick is getting your masa light with LARD (NOT shortening)...Using a trowel for spreading the masa is good too. I used a spoon for the longest time. Many of your finer hispanic stores have tools just for that.

On the sauce, I wing it. Chilies, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper and water. You can use chicken stock too. Go to the thrift store and get a blender you want to ruin with the chilies.

The tamales dulce' have pineapple, raisins, coconut and brown sugar mixed into the masa. Those are GREAT with coffee in the morning.

Green corn, I use Green Giant's white corn nibbletts and green Anaheim chilies...

Yummy!

Edited for a recipe. (Remember, I wing it, so this is off the top of my head)

Masa - Get the "prepared" masa. Usually sold in the meat section of the supermarket. Add about 1-2# of lard  and 1tb salt and beat with mixer until light. Take a glass of water and drop a pea sized piece of masa in it and if it floats, you have enough lard in it.

Sauce - Get the mild dry red chilies. Add about 1/4-1/2 bag of hot if you like your tamales hot. Put them in a pot and cover with lightly salted water. Boil until soft. (About 20 min). Add chilies and some chili water to a blender with some garlic cloves, mexican oregano, a bit of cumin, salt, pepper and blend. (CAUTION- COVER BLENDER LID WITH TOWEL AND ONLY FILL BLENDER 1/2 WAY OR YOU WILL GET BURNED WITH SPLATTERING CHILIES AND YOUR WALLS WILL BE A MESS)... Strain in a fine mesh strainer. Toss skins after pushing pulp through strainer. Only add the spices and whatnot to the first blender batch. Continue blending until finished.

Pork - Get a 10# pork butt or shoulder and have the butcher bone it out for you. Boil (then simmer) it in salted (and whatever other seasonings you want to add) water for a good 2-3 hours until it starts to fall apart. You can roast it but you could end up with hard pieces of pork in your tamales) When it falls apart, keep pulling and shredding it removing any fat. Add enough sauce to make the meat moist. Not soupy. Keep some sauce for when they're done.

Now, you have everything you need for the tamales except the husks. Get a couple bags of dried corn husks (I forget the spanish word for them)..Soak them in warm water for about an hour and pull them apart trying to keep them from shredding. Clean out all the silk and any bugs or dirt.

OK..You're ready to assemble..After all of this, you're ready to DIE! Go have a shot of tequila and come back...

Some people add some of the sauce to the masa. This is personal preference. Just like adding a black olive for good luck.

Spread the masa on a husk about 1/4" thick. Add pork and roll, covering all of the masa. Curl up the end (or tie it) and set aside. Go to the next..

When you're done rolling them, place them VERTICLE in a steam pot. I put a layer of crumpled foil at the bottom for a shelf and to make sure they don't hit the water. Stack them side by side. When you're done with one layer, add a dish towel to seperate the next layer. Keep going until you're done.

Steam them for about 1-1 1/2 hours depending on how many you made. Let them cool for a few, open them up, add some of your sauce and enjoy!

Quoted: Maybe it's a regional thing but "Tamales" and "holidays" don't seem to go together. It looks good by the way

WTF?

Quoted: Well it's about time to start making some sweet tamales for the holidays. thanks, Ron

Yep..Tamales Dulce'.. How do you make yours?

Quoted: CAUTION- COVER BLENDER LID WITH TOWEL AND ONLY FILL BLENDER 1/2 WAY OR YOU WILL GET BURNED WITH SPLATTERING CHILIES AND YOUR WALLS WILL BE A MESS!

Dare we ask for the story behind this one?


Thanks for the recipe, BTW...

the dulce ones sound excellent!

ETA - Oujas is the spansigh for corn husks.

Also found that coffee filters can be used as a substitute for the husks, if you can't find 'em locally.

And found this recipe here

They talk about the Indio (Ca.) Tamale Festival in December. Sounds yummy!

SWEET TAMALES (Yield: 3 dozen) >From Seasoned with the Sun [Junior League of El Paso, Inc., 1989] 1 pound masa harina 1/2 pound lard (do not substitute) 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 tablespoon salt 1 cup chicken or pork broth 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup raisins 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1 1/2  pounds corn husks Mix masa, lard and baking powder together until a small portions the size of a pea floats in a glass of cold water. Add rest of ingredients to dough and mix thoroughly. Place 2 tablespoons dough in middle of cornhusk, spreading towards top end. Overlap husk in a roll and fold bottom of husk up 1 1/2 inches. Place on flat surface with fold underneath. Repeat until all dough has been used. Follow steaming directions for Classic Tamale Recipe above.

I'll try to get my buddy to get his mom's fixin's list.

Quoted: Quoted: CAUTION- COVER BLENDER LID WITH TOWEL AND ONLY FILL BLENDER 1/2 WAY OR YOU WILL GET BURNED WITH SPLATTERING CHILIES AND YOUR WALLS WILL BE A MESS! Dare we ask for the story behind this one? Thanks for the recipe, BTW... the dulce ones sound excellent!

That's just kitchen safety. Hot liquid + blender = expansion and crap flying everywhere if you're not careful. I did however, learn this the hard way. They never taught us this in culinary school..

ETA: Yep, those are the Tamales Dulce'..I forgot about the cinnamon and stuff... Oh yeah, and the TBS of baking powder to the masa...

Quoted: Maybe it's a regional thing but "Tamales" and "holidays" don't seem to go together. It looks good by the way

Tip:  people often give their closest friends and relatives tamales as a gift.

DAMN!!! Half a pound of LARD??? Now wonder I like them so much.

Thanks for the recipe.It will be my first Thanksgiving alone(wife left,took the dog,yada,yada,yada) and I can't think of a better way to enjoy it than to completely gorge myself with tamales!!

anyone heard of fucking Turkey???

LOL

Quoted: anyone heard of fucking Turkey??? LOL

Nope..Never done that to a turkey before. But, the guy above lost his wife and dog so he might be interested...

I just buy them from a co-worker from Mexico. $10/dozen. mmmmm......my favorite Mexican food.

Dos Tomales y una Cervaza, por favor.

+1

My wife's from Costa Rica so I've learned to prefer the superior Central American variety which is bigger and squarer than the inferior Mex-ee-can tamal, and is wrapped in a nice green banana leaf.  "Course my wife can't really make 'em so good, so she usally just buys Mexican Tamales from Mexicans.  

We do drink lots of Rompope (eggnog spiked with good Central American rum) which is a Costa Rican tradition though , which helps make up for her lack of nationalist pride.

shouldn't this be moved to the "Mexico" forum?

Made a batch a couple of weeks ago with ground elk filling in place of shedded pork.  
Mm-mm Good!

it is a well known fact that only 50+ year old mexican women can make tamales worth a damn.  no others need apply...........

theres about a 90 year old mexican lady that comes by selling them every christmas.  she sells regular and hot.  the regular are hot as hell and the hot are about half chilipitine and are guaranteed to melt porcelain.

Quoted: Do you have a steamer pot or are you using a modified pot?

Funny you should ask, I have a turkey fryer that came with an insert for deep frying french fries, etc, an insert basket.  I made spacers for the inside of the boiling pot out of some old tin cans with the top and bottom cut out.  This spaces the insert above the water.  I wrapped the Tamales in wet towels and put them in the pot for a while.  I have a close friend/expert that clued me into this.  She is a real Mexican, I am just in training......  I don't remember how long I steamed them for.  I bet it was about an hour.  

Quoted: Quoted: Maybe it's a regional thing but "Tamales" and "holidays" don't seem to go together. It looks good by the way WTF?

exactly. It must be a regional thing cause us yankee northerners don't give out tamales as holiday gifts

Only four more weeks til my jaw gets unwired.... then solid food again.  Until then, you're all bastards!

Quoted: It must be a regional thing cause us yankee northerners don't give out tamales as holiday gifts

Give it a few more years. JAJAJA

The authentic mexican tamale's we get around here use chicken fat instead of lard in the masa.  It takes a long time to save up 1 lb, or so of chicken fat so tamales aren't made except at special occasions like Christmas, or Cinco de Mayo.

I guess that is why several people often go together and make hundreds of them at one time so they don't have to go through the process very often.

Quoted: The authentic mexican tamale's we get around here use chicken fat instead of lard in the masa.  It takes a long time to save up 1 lb, or so of chicken fat so tamales aren't made except at special occasions like Christmas, or Cinco de Mayo. I guess that is why several people often go together and make hundreds of them at one time so they don't have to go through the process very often.

Chicken fat? Never heard of it and I was raised around mexicans my whole life. I know the Jews use chicken fat in their cooking. It's called schmaltz. No doubt about it, it is a task to make them. That's why you will usually see a bunch of mexican women getting together for a weekend of tamale making rather than just one family making them...

I buy mine from the mexican lady selling them out of a cooler in the back of her truck down off the highway.
My gf was repulsed by some tamales I bought in Texas once, then I got her talked into trying some, she loves them now.

It's been a while, but we have done them before.

Got a whole assembly line of family and friends together, and made a couple hundred.

Nothing better than good homeade tamales.

exactly. It must be a regional thing cause us yankee northerners don't give out tamales as holiday gifts

you dont give them as gifts, you eat them yourself, by the dozen.

Quoted: exactly. It must be a regional thing cause us yankee northerners don't give out tamales as holiday gifts you dont give them as gifts, you eat them yourself, by the dozen.

Ewwwwww.....all that lard and corn meal..



OK


But, with or without sauce? Pork or beef?

Quoted: But, with or without sauce? Pork or beef?

Prefer pork,  sauce  sambal oelek,  its not mexican but its damn good,  made by the same people who bring you sriracha (aka rooster sauce).

Quoted: I just buy them from a co-worker from Mexico. $10/dozen. mmmmm......my favorite Mexican food. Dos Tomales y una Cervaza, por favor.

I used to do the same thing but he recently got married & now his wife makes them... hers suck. She puts carrots in the masa.... what the hell is up with that?

We've made batches of these for years and frozen them.  We use a winning recipe from the "Tamale Festival" and I make the salsa roja.  Can't be beat.  Any moron with a spoon can make tamales if they can follow a recipe.  Any moron.

Quoted: anyone heard of fucking Turkey??? LOL

No, but when we were in Non-Lawyer Legal Officer School at Newport, they had this documented case from the Court  of Military Appeals about a Marine and a chicken.

Hey and this is a thread about food, Good food and you bring up carnal relations with poultry?

Quoted: Well it's about time to start making some sweet tamales for the holidays. thanks, Ron

Local food joint makes tamales de pina (pineapple) during the holiday season and they are sure good for dessert.  

You haven't lived until you've had fancy holiday tamales.

One of my coworkers (years ago) used to bring holiday tamales from her Uncle Larrys tortilleria  (family run mexican food provider) to our Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve potlucks at the market.  Joe the Produce Man would steam clean the veggie/lettuce bin and make an unbelievable antipasto salad (surprising how those jars of artichoke hearts, pepperoncini cheeses and cold cuts would have pull dates of Dec 23rd) , Joe the Butcher would make a few prime ribs, Flo would bake a few cakes, etc.  Maggie would bring the tamales, chile rellenos, etc.  Everybody brought appetites, and this was one of the only days of the year that everybody from corporate would show up, guys that had moved on to other stores in the chain.  And the pot luck ran all day.  If you ever worked in a market on Thanksgiving Eve or Christmas Eve, you know how busy and wild it can get.

Well one of Maggies other Uncles forgot and added un-pitted olives to the extra special holiday tamale process for some of the fancy restaurant orders.  Biting into a tamale expecting pitted olives and finding un-pited olives is not good for business, so they brought in a really big batch of tamales for the pot luck and for everybody to take home.  Gawd those were great.

We've made tamales a few times and tried using muslin instead of husks per a suggestion of a friend.  It worked and sped things up some, but wasn't quite the same.  Unwrapping the husks is part of the fun.  Part of the reason you get a tamale bee (like a quilting bee) is the whole process is pretty labor intensive and getting a bunch of people in an assembly line and you can really turn out a lot and change kinds easily and making a big batch of masa right isn't much more dificult than making a small batch right, so make a big batch and more tamales.

That's what the wife and mother in law are for.  I just unwranp em and eat em.

Tag

Quoted: That's what the wife and mother in law are for.  I just unwranp em and eat em.

You unwrap them? Why steam them vertical?

I've never had tamales. Shit, i dunno if I've ever even seen them.

one of my old cooks makes em every year-$10 a dozen but they're damn good. She buys premade masa at the store-doesn't do it herself. Filling is beef brisket, ancho, guajillo, salt, clove, cooked till ready to shred. Cool over night, lift off the fat from your stock, mix in with the masa. Shred beef , fill and steam.

ok, raise your hand if you're far enough south to have frozen hog heads in the meat aisle at your local grocery store..................

cause that girls and boys, are what real tamales are made from.

Quoted: Maybe it's a regional thing but "Tamales" and "holidays" don't seem to go together. It looks good by the way

+1

Quoted: Quoted: Maybe it's a regional thing but "Tamales" and "holidays" don't seem to go together. It looks good by the way +1

You know not which you speak.