My wife's step-father is Mexican-American, so she grew up making tamales as part of her annual holiday celebration. We not only continue that tradition in our (gringo) family, most of our Hispanic relatives think ours are (almost) as good as Granny used to make. Making tamales isn’t so much about following a recipe but rather about understanding the process, learning, and then applying the techniques. Although a tamales may be prepared in many diverse ways, the recipe below is for traditional Mexican style tamales made with pork based on Granny's recipe. I have been 'winging it' for years using handfuls, pinches and approximations until my brother, Bob, had me over to show him how it's done. He observed, measured, mixed, blended, and cooked alongside me, writing each step down along the way. Thanks Bob for your perserverence, typing skills, (and anal-retentiveness).
Prep
Time: Forever and a Day (but worth it) Yield: 4 dozen tamales
There
are 4 basic steps involved when making a batch of tamales.
•
Preparing
the meat filling (usually prepared the day before all else)
•
Preparing
the masa harina dough which will be used to coat the corn husks
“wrappers” before steaming the tamales. Masa
harina (“corn flour” in Spanish) is specially processed and
ground cornmeal.
•
Assembling
the tamales
•
Cooking
the tamales
INGREDIENTS
FOR ABOUT 48 TAMALES (Depending on amount of filling desired)
(Day 1)
Pork Filling:
•
8
– 10 dried ancho chilies, stems and seeds removed (Kitchen shears
and cooking gloves are recommended.)
•
4
tbsp. – ground Mexican cumin (comino molido)
•
1
large head – garlic (crushed and paper skins removed)
•
2
– tbsp. salt
•
8
lbs. of untrimmed pork butt or pork shoulder makes about 4-dozen
tamales.
•
Approximately
2 gallons of water (just enough to cover the meat)
(Day
1) Miscellaneous Ingredients:
•
1
large package dried corn husks
(Day
2) Masa harina dough:
•
4
cups masa harina mix for tamales. (I use Maseca brand.)
•
10
oz. by weight, or approximately one and a third cup – lard.
•
2
tbsp. baking powder
•
1
tbsp. salt
•
Approximately
1 cup of reserved cooking liquid from Day One (warmed slightly in a
microwave)
PREPARATION
– DAY 1 (The Day before Assembling and Cooking Tamales)
Cooking
the pork (prepared the day before assembling the tamales):
•
Cut
each pork butt or shoulder into 4-5 chunks and place in a large pot.
Leave fat on the meat.
It
will be easier to remove once the pork has been cooked and cooled.)
•
Add
the garlic, dried ancho chilies, salt, Mexican cumin and enough water
to cover the pork.
•
Bring
ingredients to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2½ hours
(covered).
•
Let
the mixture cool for 1 hour.
•
Using
a spider strainer, a slotted spoon, or a sieve carefully remove the
meat from the broth.
(If
handled too much, the meat will fall apart, so take care when
removing the chunks of pork.)
•
Cover
the cooked pork with aluminum foil and chill until ready to use.
•
Likewise,
remove, drain and reserve the ancho chili peppers and the garlic
heads. (These will be used in preparing the meat filling.)
•
Strain
the remaining cooking liquid into a large container and place in a
cold location overnight. (When cold, the fat in the broth will
congeal at the top of the mixture for easy removal). Discard the fat
layer.
•
Keep
this broth in a cold place until ready to use. Soak the corn husks
in cool water overnight.
PREPARATION
–
DAY 2 (Assembly and Cooking)
Pork
filling preparation (prepared the day of the tamales assembly):
•
In
a food processor, blend together the reserved cooked garlic/ancho
chili peppers until they form a smooth paste
•
Trim
the meat, removing as much of the fat as possible. Discard any
remnants of bones, fat, sinew etc., leaving only the meat. Gently
scraping away embedded fat from pieces of chilled meat with a knife
is a good way to remove the fat.
•
Cut
the trimmed meat across the grain into 1/3” to 1/4” slices
•
In
a large bowl (or on a clean work surface) add the following to the
meat (to taste):
o
approximately 1 tbsp. black pepper
o
approximately 1 tbsp. salt
o
2-4 tbsp. of Mexican cumin
o
the blended chilies and garlic paste
o
Just barely enough of the reserved pork broth to moisten the mixture
slightly. (You’ll want to be able to form the pork mixture into a
cigar shape and not have it crumble apart.)
•
Using
your meticulously cleaned hands, mix in the above ingredients until
completely incorporated into the meat. (Meat should now be of a
consistency resembling a thick, coarse paste, but still a little
chunky – something like hamburger meat.)
•
Set
meat mixture aside while you prepare the masa
Masa
Harina preparation:
•
Beat
the lard with a heavy duty mixer on high speed until smooth and
somewhat glossy and then set aside.
•
Combine
the masa harina, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl until
blended
•
Add
one cup of the broth to the dry ingredients and mix together well.
(Using your hands works best.)
•
By
small handfuls, beat the masa mixture into the beaten lard at high
speed. One of the biggest
mistakes
in making the masa dough is not mixing long enough; this causes the
tamales to fall apart. Keep mixing the masa dough until a small
amount (1 tsp) will float in a cup of water. (The mixture should be
of a consistency of hummus.) If it is too wet, add more masa harina.
If it is too dry, add some of the reserved broth.
Tamale
Assembly:
•
The
corn husks should only measure 4-5 inches across; larger ones can be
torn to size, smaller ones may be overlapped. Position your corn
husks with wide end toward you and spread with a thin layer of masa
dough, completely covering the bottom 2/3 of the corn husks (on the
smoother side). Use a masa spreader, spatula, butter knife, or the
back of a large spoon. The masa should be thick enough so that you
cannot see through to the shuck, but no thicker.
•
With
your hands pick up a 1-2 tbsp.-sized portion of the meat mixture,
roll into a cigar shape and then place down the center of the masa
dough.
•
Carefully
roll up the corn husk with the meat mixture inside.
•
Fold
down the top 1/3 of the corn husk (the portion with no masa) and set
the tamal aside with the folded end down.
•
When
you have made enough tamales for a cooking batch, stand them up in a
tamale steamer (folded side down) until the pot is full. Cover with a
clean tea towel and steam for 1 hour (after you observe steam
escaping from the pot). Try to keep the tamales as upright as
possible. Hint: If you place a clean penny in the bottom of the pot,
you will hear it clanging around as the water boils. If you no longer
hear the penny, you need to add more water to the pot.
•
After
steaming for one hour, remove pot from heat, cool slightly and remove
the tamales one- at-a time. While still hot, the tamales are very
soft so take care not to squash them when removing from the cooking
pot.
•
When
completely cooled, place the tamales in freezer bags and freeze until
ready to use.
Tamales
frozen in this manner should keep one year in your freezer.
