I hate playing catch up ---

Yet I seem to procrastinate more than I should. Never the less...in my bid to get as many as I can put up before I start going crazy again, here be some deliciousness from the portable aisle.

Tamales. I love tamales. The first time I had them was at a Christmas get together at the home of the Lujan's. Esther would spend an entire day making these things and i used to think that they were oh-so-simple, why can't she make more? For me! By the dozens. What an amazing food. It's portable, nutritious, delicious and not as simple as I thought.

So, I basically whined about not having them until I saw AB make them. He made it look simple again. Well - simple from the aspect of not as hard as I imagined, but not as easy as you might think. Getting the meat done is easy. Getting the husks ready was easy. Getting the masa dough together was easy. Oh - and I LOVE the fact that there is lard in this application. Yes! ANIMAL FAT! Only the best for my healthy snacks. Don't get in a tizzy about it though. You can't beat the stuff for flavor and texture. Anyway - I digress. Putting the dough on the husk without ruining the husk and ensuring that it's spread properly and that you have enough room to properly roll the tamale....THAT'S tricky and takes practice.


So, with that, I'll make this disclaimer: I didn't take enough pictures. I'll have to add more the next time that I make them.

The meat is braised for a couple hours in a broth of stock and spices. The meat is then pulled out to cool a bit and then once cool enough to handle, shredded with a couple forks. The liquid from cooking is reserved for later use. The meat is then cooked a bit with some added aromatics and some of the liquid until the liquid is absorbed. It winds up looking like this:

After the meat is ready, the masa is made. Masa dough is made with - creatively enough - masa flour which is a corn flour. No gluten and VERY fine. The masa is mixed with the lard, some soda, some salt, and enough of the reserved liquid to make a moist dough that can be spread with the palm of your hand without breaking apart, but is also not too wet. You'll get it if you do it. You can see that it looks almost like cookie dough. The feel is different though.

The husks come to you dried. You must rehydrate them with hot hot water which takes about an hour. Once rehydrated, I stacked them into a container for easy access. Yeah, I took pictures late in the game. This one is the left over and had mostly dried back up.

I did three at a time. Three to a bundle that gets ties together. Oh - and DON'T FORGET THE STRING.

So, like I said, three at a time laid out in front of me with the masa in a bowl and the meat in a bowl so that I can dish masa, spread masa, dish the meat, roll the goodness and tie them up and move on.

You can see that the husks are thin and this is why they tear easily. Anyway, they get rolled into the bundle and set aside until ready for steaming.

Steam them for about 25 minutes or until you can see the dough start to pull away from the wrapper. Remove - CAREFULLY - and set aside to shove quickly into your face. They are really filling.

You can get just over a couple dozen with the application I used and that will feed up to 6 very happy people.

When I get more pictures, I will add them and the details that go with them.

Enjoy!