Fatback Joe
Babbling Farker
I asked my local pork guy for a couple of hams recently and when he stopped by the house with them he gave me a couple of heads too since he knew that I will deal with them. I don't mind getting them, but they sure eat up some freezer space and when not expecting them, they kind of force you to take action. So.......one going for tamales.
I am by no means a tamale expert, so take this post for what it is worth. :biggrin1:
Removed the face.
Broke the face down into easier to handle pieces and hit them with salt, pepper, cayenne, granulated garlic and seems like another spice or two that escape me now.
That went into the smoker while the head went to into the pot to simmer for broth.
When it was done, separated the meat from the fat and skin. Some of the best meat on the pig comes from the head IMO.....
Anyhow, gave it all a rough chop.
Got the masa around using the broth for the liquid in it and got to assembling things.
I find that I make my tamales to whatever size the corn husk allows......no uniformity at all.
Steamed them for a little over an hour.
I just took to eating them. No sauce, salsa or anything else required to make me happy.
Right at the end of things, it hit me that I had been taking pics of the process never got a shot of the insides......tail end of the last one.
All in all, pretty happy with them. I still need to work on getting the masa texture exactly right, more uniformity in the size, and getting the masa/to meat mixture right.
In any case, another head put to use instead of just going to scrape.
I am by no means a tamale expert, so take this post for what it is worth. :biggrin1:
Removed the face.
Broke the face down into easier to handle pieces and hit them with salt, pepper, cayenne, granulated garlic and seems like another spice or two that escape me now.
That went into the smoker while the head went to into the pot to simmer for broth.
When it was done, separated the meat from the fat and skin. Some of the best meat on the pig comes from the head IMO.....
Anyhow, gave it all a rough chop.
Got the masa around using the broth for the liquid in it and got to assembling things.
I find that I make my tamales to whatever size the corn husk allows......no uniformity at all.
Steamed them for a little over an hour.
I just took to eating them. No sauce, salsa or anything else required to make me happy.
Right at the end of things, it hit me that I had been taking pics of the process never got a shot of the insides......tail end of the last one.
All in all, pretty happy with them. I still need to work on getting the masa texture exactly right, more uniformity in the size, and getting the masa/to meat mixture right.
In any case, another head put to use instead of just going to scrape.