captndan
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I'm going to try my hand making tamales. Does anyone think some left over NC style pulled pork would be OK or should I stay with the more traditional beef and chicken?
The masa tends to dull some of the meat and seasoning flavors, and the steaming does too. Because of these two things, tamale meat has to be seasoned quite heavily, actually over-seasoned to overcome the masa and steaming.
Here's the last batch of pulled pork tamales I made... http://bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109919 I had "things" to do so I was in a hurry. :becky:
Wow, Wayne! I'm floored by the amount of seasoning on that meat! I understand why, but does it taste really "hot" spicy, or would it be okay for those of us that can't take that much heat?
By itself, the meat is pretty spicy. The real heat comes from the tepin peppers, which are hotter than Habaneros, so you could cut back on those and add to taste. The chili powders are for distinct flavor and color. The Top Hat is a blend, the others are straight.
Masa is corn flour, lard and water and is a thick but spreadable dough, and the steam time on the ones I make is 60 minutes. Those factors kill some of the heat. Because of their size and seasonings, my tamales could be called Tex-Mex and are popular in Northern Mexico, Southern Texas, New Mexico and California. You can see the amount of meat and the meat-to-masa ratio I use. If they were super fat tamales, they would be spicier after steaming than mine are.