Of all the cuisines, Mexican is one of my all-time favorites. I love queso and chips as
much as the next guy, but for me the ultimate Mexican dish is tamales. And they are hard to come by. Not many
restaurants serve them and it’s even harder to find a person who makes
them. I know. For years, I’ve wanted to
learn to make them. I’ve always been told that they are soooooo hard to
make. They are soooooo complicated. They
are such a project that someone’s grandmother might make them for a very
special occasion. So, I’ve merely dreamed and aspired to become a tamale cook
for a very long time.
I came across an old 1980’s Mexican cookbook that a friend
was throwing out. I scooped it up and
there it was. A tamale recipe. I read it over and over again because I just
couldn’t grasp what was so difficult about what I was reading. And then it happened. I bought a Boston butt and I made tamales.
I don’t know what I’ve been waiting on. I let others
convince me that this was some insurmountable task. But here’s the news
flash…it is not difficult to make tamales.
At all. It takes some time, but
it’s not hard. And, they were fabulous!
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| I started with a Boston butt; trim excess fat and cut into pieces |
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| Stewing on the stovetop for about an hour |
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| Guajillo chiles are the base for the sauce |
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| Gorgeous color! Homemade enchilada sauce |
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| I love that happy little corn man |
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| You spread the masa on the corn husk with your fingers |
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| Add a little filling |
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| Fold sides over filling and pointed end under |
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| Steam bath for about an hour |
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| My finished product |
OMG! My tamales were fantastic, if I do say so
myself! The sauce has out-of-this-world
flavor. It’s so simple to make. You soak
the chiles in hot water to soften them up, then remove seeds and puree them with
the soaking liquid. Then you cook the puree with some garlic, flour, vinegar,
cumin and oregano. Nothing difficult about that. The pork is stewed with some
garlic, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns. After it’s cooked, you shred it, mix
with sauce and refrigerate overnight.
Nothing hard about that.
You also save the pork broth for the masa.
Refrigerate that overnight so you can skim the fat off before mixing up the
masa. The next day, you simply mix the
masa with warm broth, shortening, and baking powder until it becomes a soft,
wet dough. You soak your corn husks in
hot water for about an hour to make them pliable. Then, it’s just a matter of
spreading out some masa, add some filling and fold. They steam for about an hour and then you are
ready to dig in. The masa was so soft and tender and flavorful. This is key
because even in restaurants I’ve had tamales with dried out masa and it ruined
the whole dish. The pork was tender and that sauce, oh the sauce!
And none of this was hard to do! It takes some time, but anything worth doing
is worth the time. My parents came to dinner and we all fell in love with the
tamales. So much so that later that week, I made another batch. A double batch!
