(Not so) Hot tamale!

Tamales have always frightened me a little. I got a chuck roast 1/2 off last week and made French dip sandwiches on Monday. The roast was big, and there were a lot of leftovers, so I decided to take on the tamales.

I'm not going to lie, it was an all day project since I could only do them during Dean's naps. Not only that, but his napping was all messed up today because (I'm guessing) some top teeth are trying to make their way through. Maybe not, but he was very irritable and seemed to be in pain. After looking in his mouth, it looked like swollen gums, but I've been fooled before.

The tamales turned out quite well for my first attempt. I have to admit they were better than some restaurant tamales I've had. They weren't, however, as good as some homemade tamales I've had. The filling was not quite right. It needed some oomf. I got the wrong kind of chilies, so I had to change the filling a little. It would have been much better with the chillies.

I combined recipes (surprise! right?) I'm not expecting anyone to really make this, but it wasn't as hard as it appears. If I had made them without having to worry about a baby, it would have been fairly easy (for one who likes cooking):

Here is a good site for tamale making visuals.

AUTHENTIC MEXICAN TAMALES—makes around 5 dozen (recipe from our friend Amanda Dacey's mom)
Combine in a crock pot and cook over night:
Pork roast (butt or shoulder), whole clove of garlic, salt, pepper, onion
Let it cool in morning until you can touch. Shred it and take fat off to put in separate bowl. Run meat juice through strainer to keep juice.

Masa de tamales—Quaker (I used MaSeCa brand)
(If you end up with extra masa you can freeze it for later. Just let it thaw and come to room temperature so you can spread it again.):

5 lb masa
2 lbs. lard (by meat department), melted *I used shortening instead of lard*
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Melt lard to liquid, but don’t get it too hot. In a huge bowl, mix 1 ½ tsp. salt, 2 ½ tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda with the masa; make a well and mix in beef juice. Get to peanut butter consistency, not too dry or not too runny. When you run out of meat juice can use water until it reaches spreadable consistency.

Chili:
Fill blender ½ full of water and add:15 pods of dried red chili—soaked. Cut off end and take out as many seeds as possible. Soak in warm water 10 min. till pliable. 5 cloves garlic. salt to taste. Blend up.

Corn husk (hoja):
They come rolled up and dried. Must soak in really hot water till you can take them apart. Sometimes there will be silk and bugs, so wash them really well. Put them in strainer and dry with paper towel. One side of corn husk is smooth.

Putting it all together:
Spread the masa ½ way on the smooth side of the husk (Do masa thin because gets twice as thick. Seriously, do it thin.) Put 2 Tbsp. meat in the middle. Put meat and chili sauce on top and roll it up.The skinny end is folded up. (Some of cornhusks will be tiny and can put a couple together to make a full husk.) Set on table in a little stack.

Cooking it:
Use a flower metal steamer. Put water in bottom to meet the bottom of the steamer. Turn on high to get a boil, turn down to medium low. Put tamales in; put a thin kitchen towel and foil over top and then a lid. In small pan you can fit 2 ½ dozen and in big pan 5 dozen. Stack them in a circle, with only about 3 in the middle. Takes about 1 ½ hours to cook. Check every 20 min. to add water as it evaporates. Let it cool 10-15 minutes, try it and see if the masa is cooked or still raw. If it’s still raw, keep it going until it’s cooked.
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Recipe I used for the dough: a combo of the above recipe and the maseca recipe

4 C. Maseca for tamales
3 1/2-4 C. lukewarm beef broth
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 C. shortening, just melted but not too hot to handle

Combine all dry ingredients, make a well in the center. Pour in the shortening and mix. Add in broth until you reach a nice spreadable Peanut Butter consistency.