Mission: NOT Impossible

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!

I started with a Boston butt; trim excess fat and cut into pieces

 

Stewing on the stovetop for about an hour

Guajillo chiles are the base for the sauce

Gorgeous color!  Homemade enchilada sauce

I love that happy little corn man

You spread the masa on the corn husk with your fingers

Add a little filling

Fold sides over filling and pointed end under

Steam bath for about an hour

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!

Texas Tamales

Texas is known for a lot of things.  Oil rigs, the Dallas Cowboys, cattle, steak, BBQ and Tex-Mex food.  While other Southwestern states can also lay claim to Tex-Mex, well, notice that there aren't cuisine names such as Ariz-Mex or New Mex-Mex. Nope, Texas has the Tex part sewn up.

Hats, boots, belt buckles, wooden Indian...they got it all.

 

I happen to love Mexican food in all its forms. Since this was my first visit to the Lone Star State, I knew some sort of Tex-Mex was definitely in my future.  After visiting NASA/Johnson Space Center, it was time to fuel up.  We went to a place called Eduardo's Mexican Kitchen. I've probably talked about this before, but it's really, really hard to get a good tamale here in Columbia, SC.  They are usually too much masa, not enough filling and dry as the Agave Desert. If I could get a good tamale, it should be here in Texas, right?  Right.

My dad, mom and I all ordered the lunch tamales.  The meat was tender and moist, nice shredded pork, which I love. The masa was also tender and flavorful. The tamales were covered in a nice ranchero type sauce and served with charro beans.  Dad and I opted to pair ours with a frosty Dos Equis, while mom went the margarita route.  I wish I could get a tamale like this at home.

Moist shredded pork inside, tender masa outside

Yummm, Dos Equis amber

 For those of you who follow my Facebook page, you may remember that I mentioned the most, awesome tamales that came from a Kroger?  Well, it's true.  As much as I loved my lunch at Eduardo's, there is a Kroger near my sister's house that is serving up even better tamales than the restaurant.  I know, I know, sounds crazy.  But, ever since my parents went out to help Katherine move, they have been talking non-stop about these tamales.  In the deli, there are some Mexican ladies back there making fresh tortillas and tamales.  They bought some while we were all there this trip and OMG, who'da thunk it?  They were incredible.  The masa layer was a little thinner and the meat was cooked perfectly and so very tasty.  It made me think of how often Guy Fieri has discovered goat curry in a gas station or fish tacos at a Zippy Mart.  

Stay tuned.  I have more Texas food adventures to tell you about.