Tamales

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by chad

Bearded, cherrystone, or greatneck??

Bearded, I'm in Minnesoda dontchaknow.

[racer_81]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Bearded, I'm in Minnesoda dontchaknow.

In Minnesota, I thought the tacos were - ooops. Never mind. Wrong forum. Mod.

[Bigdog]

Kevin,
Are you having a tamale building party? I went to one once, and we tasted a bunch of Mexican beers while making the tamales. Great time. I now do it with my family, sans beer. My wife spreds the masa, my son is the meat man, I sauce 'em and roll 'em and my daughter is great at tying the little knots to hold them together. We make a great team.

[Kevin]

Yep, Did it yesterday. Cooked the meat up and made the chili sauce saturday.Put in the 18 quart roaster to keep warm sunday morning. I made the masa, wife, wife's friend, and daughter assembled. I was in charge of the steamers and dishes. 180 Tamales and more than a few beers. A good time was had by all.

[Bigdog]

Kevin,
So, did you like that new steamer?

And brothers, if you have not been to or hosted a tamale party, you are missing out. They are a blast. Even the family ones are great if everyone can agree on which job they want to do.

[Kevin]

Yes sir. 2 dozen per batch versus a half dozen made a world of difference.

[Bigdog]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Yes sir. 2 dozen per batch versus a half dozen made a world of difference.

I can't remember, but mine holds a ton of them, 3-4 dz. as I remember.

[Jorge]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Kevin,
So, did you like that new steamer?

And brothers, if you have not been to or hosted a tamale party, you are missing out. They are a blast. Even the family ones are great if everyone can agree on which job they want to do.

You've got that right. I've been to two and had a blast at both. Instead of assigned jobs family and friends ran in a circle with stations containing massa, filling, corn husks etc.. and deposited the finished tamale before starting the circuit again. Breaks for filling etc. to be refilled. One of the best times I've had.

[Elkhound]

OK here is my mother in laws recipe:

5 lbs. Pork Butt
1 jar green olives
10 lbs. fresh Masa
5 lbs. Lard
12 Cascabel Chiles
1 1/2 cup Chili Powder
1 large can sliced jalapenos (sliced longways)
12 thin sliced "french fry" style potatoes
1 head garlic (all cloves crushed)
12 tomatoes
3 onions
2 tbsp. Cumin
2 tbsp. Oregeno
3 1/2 tbsp baking powder
5 pkg. extra wide corn husks
salt
pepper

Boil the Pork Butt, 1/2 onion, garlic and oregeno untill meat is fall apart tender. Remove meat from broth and shred add salt and pepper to taste. Strain the broth and save for later. Boil cascabel chilies with 1 tsp oregano and cumin until tender. Put chiles and 1/4 cup of the water it boiled with into a blender and mix until smooth. Seperate chile mix into 2 equal parts. Put half of the chile mix with the meat in a large pot. Add 1 cup chile powder, olives and half of the meat broth. Simmer this for about 30 minutes. if it gets a little dry add a little water and keep it moist. Refrigerate overnight. Leave masa out overnight to soften.

Soak corn husks a large bucket. For the masa. Take 5 lbs of lard and baking powder and mix by hand in a very large bowl. Add the remain leftover broth (hot). Mix until smooth with spatchula or by hand if you can take the heat. Add 5 tbsp salt, mix until smooth. Add the remaining cascabel chile mix and 1/2 cup chile powder and mix. Add masa a little at a time keeping the mixture smooth (no clumps at all even little ones!!) Mix by hand working the masa mixture for about 40 minutes. Let it sit for about 20 minutes. While it is sitting, reheat the meat mixture.

Drain corn husks. One at a time place the corn husks on a tray and spread 2 tbsp of the masa mixture leaving space at each end. Fill with aprox. 1 tbsp. meat mixture, one slice each potato, onion, tomato and jalapeno. Fold one side then the other and finish by folding the pointed end halfway. Continue until all the mixtures used up.

Take the folded tamales and steam for 50 minutes ~ 1 hr. (no more than 20 at a time) Smaller pots work better.

When they are all done let cool then enjoy !!

[Kevin]

Elkhound, you are my hero. Seriously though, we made a big batch last weekend and they were good, but not fantastic. This recipe will be tried by me.

[JohnMcD348]

Originally Posted by BrooklynQ

Steamers? You put clams in Tamales?

Clams aren't exactly what I was thinking when he sadi steamers....

[tommykendall]

OK - I did about 120 tamales yesterday. Took all farking day between prep time and all the cleaning. I played Santa last night and delivered 6 dozen to various neighbors. Also, a few of those neighbors and I tossed back many Coronas and went through about 3 dozen last night with some posole (also good chit). I didn't forget about Arlin, Aeynghus, and anyone else interested in a recipe/process. I don't really have much of a recipe - much is in my head. I did however snap 26 photos of the process and will post them to this board with a complete narrative in the near future.

[Bigdog]

Many thanks, Elkhound, for the recipe. Never heard of cascabel chilies. Are they the same thing as chile de arbol?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Many thanks, Elkhound, for the recipe. Never heard of cascabel chilies. Are they the same thing as chile de arbol?

look like dis:

[Bigdog]

Looks like a dried cherry pepper. So I take it that the answer is no?