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Michaela
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Rachel May wrote:
| The tamales, on the other hand, will probably be a 3 day process at least. |
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I would  it if you could share your recipe and instructions. However, I absolutely understand that if it takes three days to make them, it may be too much to type out.
I've been tossing the idea to make homemade tamales for my husband (he is 1/2 Mexican). We've talked about his traditions growing up & they always had tamales at Christmas. After 20 years of marriage, you'd think I could *make* tamales for him, but I've never had anyone teach me. Can I fly you to WA for a day? 
I've been thinking about either making them for his birthday (this Monday) or start a new tradition of having them for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Is it too hard for a novice to attempt?
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Michaela
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JodieLyn
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Not Rachel May but I knew I had the tamale recipe I use typed up and handy so thought I'd post for you. I learned from my MIL.. my dh is also half mexican. These may not be the most authentic (his mother's family has been in New Mexico since before it was NM so it would be that style) But they're good. And I think a novice could manage them.
TAMALES
First thing you want to do is to cook the meat. Shredded meat of any variety works well. I've used beef, pork, turkey and chicken. A pressure cooker will shorten this step greatly. Basically you just want to cook the meat until it's falling apart. I usually roast it with some water.. but have most of the liquid cooked off when it's done but still moist. Shred it with 2 forks or your fingers. While it's still pretty warm is much easier than waiting until it's cold. What helps me save time is to make 2 roasts a night or two before hand so that I can have one for dinner and one to shred. (or two chickens or whatever) I only flavor the meat while cooking with salt and pepper.
Ok, so you should have the meat ready to go before you get ready to start the whole putting together process. Next you want to pull apart the corn husks (one of the 8x8 or so size bags is plenty) separate them out into individual husks and try and keep them as big as possible. Discard the corn silk. Next you'll put them in a large pan and pour boiling or very hot water over them and weigh them down with a plate to soak. You want them to get nice and pliable.
I make a red chile sauce with some of the dried red chiles (you'll see them at the same place as the corn husks) I like the New Mexico or California chiles. Ok, so you want to break off the stems of the chiles and dump out the seeds (seeds make it hotter usually) but don't worry about getting every seed. Rinse them off and put into the blender. You'll want about a half of a blender with them pushed down but not packed. Then pour boiling water over them and blend. Add garlic, oregano, salt (lots of salt, little oregano) to taste if you can.. if not let me know and I'll try and find something more specific for measurements.
MASA
1c solid fat (shortening, lard, butter)
4c quaker masa harina de maiz (this is like a corn flour not corn meal so be sure to get the "masa")
2t salt
3c broth
In large bowl, beat 2/3 cup lard until fluffy. combine masa and salt; alternately add with broth to lard, mixing well after each addition. Gradulally beat in 1/3 c melted lard, mising to consistency of thick cake batter.
I now mix the meat with some of the red chile sauce... not too much or they get too hot for some people but it gives nice flavor in moderation. (you can use the red chile sauce or not as you choose)
Assembly: you will want to lay out a corn husk and spread 2T masa in the center. Spoon 1T of meat onto the masa. Fold (roll) husk over filling (add another husk if you need more cover) fold up the bottom part way through the rolling (like a burrito).
Cooking: stand the tamales with the open end up in a steamer basket. Don't pack tightly and fill with extra corn husks if there's not enough to hold each other upright. Cover, steam 2-3 hours (I find it does not take that long but maybe my tamales are smaller... remember smaller faster cooking) To check open a tamale (pick a larger one) and if the filing falls away from teh corn husk and you can kind of flake it with a fork.. it's not gooey but more bread like... they're done. Serve with more red chile sauce or salsa for topping.
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Michaela
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Oh my goodness, Jodie! It's written as if you were standing next to me and talking me through it.  It's exactly what I need.
Thank you so much. I'm going to give it a try!
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Michaela
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Rachel May
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Michaela, It takes me 3 days because I hardly know what I'm doing (this is my second year on my own), and I stress out! 
I'm excited to come back and read Jodie's recipe in a little bit, but before I forget I wanted to add this link pictures of how to make tamales. I like being able to see if what I'm doing looks right. It was also especially helpful to see the label of the Maseca before I went shopping.
When I want really good tamales...I import my small Mexican cooks, Mom and Grandma. 
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lapazfarm
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Oh, this is great! I've always wanted to learn how to make tamales! Now I may be able to surprise dh with them when he comes home. He is Cuban, and their tamales are a bit different, but he enjoys the Mexican kind, too.
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Theresa
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msclavel
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My sister's husband is Mexican so she learned to make them for him and then spent a day teaching me. I loved them, they were so good, but a bit of work. I've made them one more time since . I will dig up my sister's recipe for the meat and the sauce. Traditionally they should be made with pork, but I made them with chicken and they were delicious.
Theresa, my mom's cuban  and it upsets my grandmother that we make the mexican tamales...I'll tell you a secret...I like the mexican ones better.
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Michaela
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Each year all the women in DH's family (his mom, five of his sisters, adult neices, and several SILs) get together in a teeny-tiny kitchen, assembly line style, to make the tamales.
The closest I've come to experiencing it is when we read Too Many Tamales.
Thank you for the link, Rachel. Pictures are a great help to me. The last paragraph had me :
Congratulations! You are now part of the few, the proud, the tamale cooks. You will notice that your life will be instantly different. You will be popular. People will invite you over. As you walk up to a crowd of people, you will hear someone say, "Isn't that the Tamale cook?" Yes folks, your simple life will never be the same. You have arrived. Please remember to be kind to the little people.
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Michaela
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lapazfarm
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msclavel wrote:
Theresa, my mom's cuban and it upsets my grandmother that we make the mexican tamales...I'll tell you a secret...I like the mexican ones better. |
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Oh, then it would really upset her, but I actually prefer the Puerto Rican kind!LOL!
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Rachel May
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I thought if I added a few ideas to Jodie's recipe, it might make it more printable. Then you can cross out what you don't want. I hope you don't mind Jodie!
JodieLyn wrote:
TAMALES
First thing you want to do is to cook the meat. Shredded meat of any variety works well. I've used beef, pork, turkey and chicken. A pressure cooker will shorten this step greatly. Basically you just want to cook the meat until it's falling apart. I usually roast it with some water.. but have most of the liquid cooked off when it's done but still moist. Shred it with 2 forks or your fingers. While it's still pretty warm is much easier than waiting until it's cold. What helps me save time is to make 2 roasts a night or two before hand so that I can have one for dinner and one to shred. (or two chickens or whatever) I only flavor the meat while cooking with salt and pepper. |
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My mom's recipe calls for 5 lb pork shoulder roast. I cook it with salt, 2 chopped onions, and lots of garlic (10-20 large cloves), and I cube it.
Quote:
| Ok, so you should have the meat ready to go before you get ready to start the whole putting together process. |
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This is what I do on Day 1. I save any excess liquid for the chile sauce.
Quote:
Next you want to pull apart the corn husks (one of the 8x8 or so size bags is plenty) separate them out into individual husks and try and keep them as big as possible. Discard the corn silk. Next you'll put them in a large pan and pour boiling or very hot water over them and weigh them down with a plate to soak. You want them to get nice and pliable.
I make a red chile sauce with some of the dried red chiles (you'll see them at the same place as the corn husks) I like the New Mexico or California chiles. Ok, so you want to break off the stems of the chiles and dump out the seeds (seeds make it hotter usually) but don't worry about getting every seed. Rinse them off and put into the blender. You'll want about a half of a blender with them pushed down but not packed. Then pour boiling water over them and blend. Add garlic, oregano, salt (lots of salt, little oregano) to taste if you can.. if not let me know and I'll try and find something more specific for measurements. |
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This is my Day 2. The small difference here is that we boil the chiles (Mom likes Pasillo or CA, but not NM, go figure ) in the broth until soft, then blend, then push through a seive to remove skins, and then add salt, garlic and cumin and more broth if you want a thinner sauce. No measurements, sorry. If she's rushed, she buys 2 large cans of Las Palmas red chile sauce.
Next is my Day 3: Assembly and Cooking
Quote:
MASA
1c solid fat (shortening, lard, butter)
4c quaker masa harina de maiz (this is like a corn flour not corn meal so be sure to get the "masa")
2t salt
3c broth
In large bowl, beat 2/3 cup lard until fluffy. combine masa and salt; alternately add with broth to lard, mixing well after each addition. Gradulally beat in 1/3 c melted lard, mising to consistency of thick cake batter. |
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I'm going to try this. I followed the side of the bag and thought the results were iffy. If you have a local Mexican store, you can also buy your tamale masa already prepared into dough by the pound. I remember being in a crush of people at the carneceria one year with money over my head in one hand and how many pounds I wanted on the other hand.
Quote:
I now mix the meat with some of the red chile sauce... not too much or they get too hot for some people but it gives nice flavor in moderation. (you can use the red chile sauce or not as you choose)
Assembly: you will want to lay out a corn husk and spread 2T masa in the center. Spoon 1T of meat onto the masa. Fold (roll) husk over filling (add another husk if you need more cover) fold up the bottom part way through the rolling (like a burrito).
Cooking: stand the tamales with the open end up in a steamer basket. Don't pack tightly and fill with extra corn husks if there's not enough to hold each other upright. Cover, steam 2-3 hours (I find it does not take that long but maybe my tamales are smaller... remember smaller faster cooking) To check open a tamale (pick a larger one) and if the filing falls away from teh corn husk and you can kind of flake it with a fork.. it's not gooey but more bread like... they're done. Serve with more red chile sauce or salsa for topping. |
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I put a thin damp dish towel over the top before I cover the pot. My non-hispanic friends also needed to be told to remove the corn husk before eating.
Also, if you want, you can freeze them uncooked in plastic bags, and then steam them for a little longer so they are fresh when you eat them. Last year, I had trouble getting some of mine to cook thoroughly, but if you warmed them in the microwave, they finished nicely. But I don't have a microwave now, so I'll have to figure out how to get them to cook correctly.
I've also had veggie tamales where the veg was in a green sauce. YUMMY! What are Cuban and Puerto Rican tamales like?
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Rachel
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Rachel May
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Michaela wrote:
The last paragraph had me :
Congratulations! You are now part of the few, the proud, the tamale cooks. You will notice that your life will be instantly different. You will be popular. People will invite you over. As you walk up to a crowd of people, you will hear someone say, "Isn't that the Tamale cook?" Yes folks, your simple life will never be the same. You have arrived. Please remember to be kind to the little people. |
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And you will note how true it is. Mention tamales in passing on a baking thread....
I'm glad there are lots of tamale makers here to help us come up with the perfect 4 Real recipe.
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Rachel
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JodieLyn
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Rachel.. don't mind at all.. it's fun to read how other's do it.
I've taken to typing up recipes that I've been asked to share and then saving them on the computer.. so it's easy for me to post without having to sit down and type it up each time. 
Even though it's more rolling.. I like making tamales on the small side.. easier to get them cooked right.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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lapazfarm
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Here are the Cuban style:Cuban Tamales
The main difference being that the pork and the masa are mixed together.
The Puerto Rican style is wrapped in a banana leaf rather than corn husks, the masa is made from Yuca rather than corn, there are usually and plaintains in it, and can have a variety of fillings, even sweet. What I like about them is you never know just what you will get when you bite in!!
Here is a basic recipe:Yuca Tamales
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Theresa
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Rachel May
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Has anyone else been cooking their tamales this week? Yesterday, I cubed the 5 lb pork shoulder roast and took off the fat and cooked it with the salt and 2 coarsely chopped onions and a bulb of garlic. I halved the garlic cloves and peeled them to save time. Cubing took forever so I may shred next year. It took about 1 1/2 hours to make the meat nice and tender. I removed the meat and saved the broth and whirred it in the food processor so the onions and garlic were mixed in.
Today I had to pick up more dried chiles since mine were old and breeding bugs. They only had "anchos" which were marked mild. I seeded one package and boiled them with 2 1/2 C broth. The flavor was good so I just added about 1/2-1 tsp of cumin after I had put it through the food processor and sieve. It didn't need to be thinned either and was enough for all the meat, but since it was much spicier than I remember the pasillo chile sauce being, I kept some of the meat back to make sauceless tamales for the kids. Does anyone know of a way to mark which are which?
Tomorrow, masa, cook, and dinner with pintos on the side. I think I even have pina colada mix in the freezer.
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Rachel May
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lapazfarm wrote:
Here are the Cuban style:Cuban Tamales
The main difference being that the pork and the masa are mixed together.
The Puerto Rican style is wrapped in a banana leaf rather than corn husks, the masa is made from Yuca rather than corn, there are usually and plaintains in it, and can have a variety of fillings, even sweet. What I like about them is you never know just what you will get when you bite in!!
Here is a basic recipe:Yuca Tamales |
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I think I've had a Cuban style when my grandmother was trying something new, but I've never seen a Puerto Rican one. I love how the Cuban ones looked so neat. Mine never look like that.
You inspired me to be adventurous so the other day when I was picking up hojas, I bought an El Salvadorian one from the deli in the Hispanic food shop. Apparently, "El Salvadorian" means "slimy, flavorless, and including chicken neck vertebrae." 
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lapazfarm
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Rachel May wrote:
You inspired me to be adventurous so the other day when I was picking up hojas, I bought an El Salvadorian one from the deli in the Hispanic food shop. Apparently, "El Salvadorian" means "slimy, flavorless, and including chicken neck vertebrae." |
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Oh, gross!
I am not sure if this is authentic or not, but we have a Salvadoran friend who make tamales. They are always delicious, and no neck bones!
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Michaela
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Rachel May wrote:
| Has anyone else been cooking their tamales this week? |
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It's been a tough week here.  My plans to have them done by today won't happen.
On a positive note, my MIL has been giving us a cold shoulder for two years because when DH retired, we decided to take a job here in WA instead of one offered close to her in CA (doesn't sound positive, I know, but it gets positive). Yesterday, Robert called her to ask about how *she* makes tamales. His face lit up listening to her talk, bringing back memories, and at how the conversation of tamales finally softened her heart. Now, making the tamales will be even more of a pleasure knowing how they help make my DH happy.
Rachel, do you tie your tamales? (ripping a husk to make the tie) maybe you could add a tie to differentiate between tamales w/ sauce and those without.
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Michaela
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Rachel May
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Michaela,
That's exactly what I did end up doing! I tied the saucy ones.
This morning I used Jodie's recipe to make the masa (using my mixer so I wouldn't have a Too Many Tamales moment ), and then after the little guys went down for a nap, I sat down to make them. It took me about 2 hours to make 40 because I'm out of practice and I had forgotten how hard it is to spread the oil-based masa on a water-infused corn husk. The 40 used up all the masa and about half the hojas and meat, so next time I'm going to start by only soaking half the package of hojas.
I cooked them for 2 hours, and they were absolutely delicious...almost as good as my mom's. The chile sauce turned out to be less spicy when it was in the actual tamale, so next time we're kicking it up a notch. Also, I think I would prefer the meat shredded so I'm definitely going to do that too.
I'm so glad that the tamales added to a great family moment too. What a blessing!
And Theresa, I think I need to meet your friends. My PR friend told me today that PRs make "empanadas de yucca" not tamales (so she's not a source for tamales with delicious surprising fillings apparently), and you see where my El Salvadoran connections got me! My brother tried to tell me that the bones made it authentic.
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Rachel
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marihalojen
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Saw a notice on our bulletin board the other day, a lady is selling Tamales for Christmas, $25 a dozen. I wonder what style they are? I never knew there were different types before, but I'm betting on the Cuban style down here!
Do you think that $25 a dozen is a good price for homemade Tamales?
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lapazfarm
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A very good price! Grab them up!
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Theresa
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Michaela
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marihalojen wrote:
| Do you think that $25 a dozen is a good price for homemade Tamales? |
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I think it's a fair price, considering that's about $2.08 each.
I'm "behind" but didn't give up.
Yesterday, I cooked and shredded the meat.
Today, I plan to finishing them before something else unexpected happens that changes those plans.
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Michaela
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Tamales -- Rachel May
