Seeing an opportunity to do a little stocking up, we decide to stop off at the Bodega Mercado, a Mexican super grocery store. Taking advantage of the moment, we head in to pick up a few things for our Mexican night with the kids this weekend.
Tsunami’s mother makes wonderful homemade picadillo (ground beef) tacos so for our family Sunday dinner this weekend, she’s coming over to make tacos. Unexpectedly, we have much to celebrate this weekend as a family.
And since we based our family night on a number of ingredients that we both had on hand, turns out that Mexican night was certainly a good choice. All we were really missing was the ground beef, which they make fresh at the Bodega and so naturally, it was worth a visit.
It should come as no surprise, but if someone ponders lard for 15 minutes, chances are good something will go right.
Our first tamales. And they couldn't have turned out better, more delicious or more satisfying. Maybe that is because we were both so fascinated with each part of the process.
Filling:
First, we had a bulk of smoked chicken quarters that we didn't want to go to waste. Not sure why I thought of it, but I decided that smoked chicken tamales were the ticket.
Next, I made a batch of fresh salsa and after pulling all of the smoked chicken off the bones, we marinate the cooked chicken again in the salsa overnight.
Once ready to make the tamales, we strained the chicken out in a colander and reserved the salsa liquid to make the tamale sauce below.
For the filling, it really was just the smoked salsa chicken. No other seasoning was required and it was delicious.
Tamale Sauce:
We put all but the oil and honey into the sauce pot and simmered on low. I dumped everything from the sauce pot into a blender and slowly added in about 2 tablespoons of garlic oil which made the sauce so smooth and silky.
At the end, I added about a tablespoon of honey just to soften the flavors and it turned out to be so delicious. I mean, come on... honey smoked chipotle tamale sauce... How can you not love it? I practically licked the whole blender clean.
Corn Husks:
We bought corn husks which we brined overnight. I mean, why not? The husks are used to steam the tamales so why not add some flavor to that part of the party as well? You must soak the husks for a few hours or overnight like we did, so we just added flavor at the same time.
Tsunami used a jar of chile pepper brine we had on hand from making hot sauce and to it he added onion salt, garlic powder and black pepper. If you don't get all OCD like we do, but want to season your husks choose flavors that make sense like garlic, onion and fresh lime, for instance. It's very close to the flavor profiles we used to marinate the husks. We just like to use whatever we have on hand and we almost always save our chili pepper brine for just such an occasion.
Masa:
On to my first batch of masa. Here's how I made my first masa, which turned out perfect on my first try. Don't be intimidated. I was a little bit unsure of myself but I'm ok with failures in the kitchen so I was more unprepared for my success than I was expecting a little bit of a first time fail. Turns out, it wasn't at all hard.
To make the masa, start by combining the masa flour with the pork fat. Just like a good pastry recipe, you combine the fat with the flour and it gets crumbly. I just mixed it with a large fork, then added in the baking powder.
Next, add about 1 cup of chicken stock and keep adding more stock slowly until your tamale dough holds enough stock to be loose like a muffin or cake batter. Thick and fluffy, but not stiff and loose enough to spread. If it holds its form on a spoon but spreads easily like a thin icing, you are in good shape.
So for your first time making tamales, I suggest doing what I did. Google making tamales and watch a mamasita make them on youtube. I had no idea how to do the masa part and I found a video not only instructional but it boosted my confidence as we began the process. It certainly helped a lot to have a partner in the kitchen to help, so we divided the tasks between us. I spread the masa using a spoon and my fingers. Meanwhile, my better half did the filling, rolled and tied the tamales.
Process:
Remove the husks from your brine, squeezing out excess brining liquid. They will steam the tamale filling so they don't need to be dry, just not dripping wet. Take any small or torn pieces and pull the husk apart creating thin strips which will be used as ties to tie the filled husks just before steaming.
Place the tapered end towards you and leaving about an inch of space at the tapered end, spread filling with a spoon or your fingers, applying the masa all the way to each side edge. My first ones looked like the one in the pic, but I ended up doing it edge to edge and that worked nicely.
Don't go so thin, you see husk through the masa, but don't go so thick that it oozes out of the edges too much when you roll it up. Do a few and you'll see what I mean.
Place about a spoonful of filling (can be cooked meat, cheese, jalapeños, anything) down the center of the masa and then fold one side over the masa and seal like a roll of sorts with the other masa edge. This creates the tamale and the masa encloses the filling.
You never want to put masa on the entire husk. Just about half is good, leaving enough to allow you to fold over creating a bottom seal. Once the tamale is "rolled" the free end is folded over and creates an envelope of sorts with the tapered end remaining open. Don't worry, nothing falls out.
Cooking:
I used my rice cooker! Yep, that's right. I put a plate that fit the bottom of my rice cooker inside and layered the rest of the unused husks on top of that to create a steaming platform for the tamales. I added just enough water to cover the bottom without getting the husks wet. (You definitely won't like soggy tamales. )
I layered the tamales in the rice cooker and much to my surprise, I got 30 tamales in there perfectly. My rice cooker steams rice in about 20-25 minutes and I thought this would be perfect for the tamales. It was just right. My rice cooker goes into "warm" mode automatically but we were eager to try them so maybe about 40 minutes later, I took one out to test.
Tamales will pull easily out of their husks if they are done. The first one I tried made us both swoon in total amazement at what we had just done on our first try. It isn't rocket science but oh how satisfying when you do something simple so well. We quickly piled a few on plates and gobbled them up, serving them with more of the chipotle sauce on the side. Just incredible.
Just in case you were wondering... his mama came over yesterday to watch our new puppy while we went to Spring Training for the Marlins. Left at home with a warm rice cooker full of tamales, she proudly announced that they were so good, she ate 4. She also admired our ingenious use of the rice cooker and said that was the perfect way to reheat them. Super high praise coming from our favorite family chef!
**If you don't have a rice cooker but have a large stock pot with a steamer, use that. If you have a veggie steamer, you can use that. I just happened to have my rice cooker and suspected it would be perfect for this task and it really was. But in future, when we make more tamales and we most assuredly will make bulk tamales now that we know how, I will probably use a large 20-40 quart stockpot with a steamer basket.
**You may or may not know but tamales are excellent for freezing. Just take out what you need and re-steam. Perfect for stock piling.
**Another tip: get a $7 masa spreader. Google it. Watch the tamale lady's video and you will never spread masa by hand again. Amazon sells them and I bought one immediately. It will get so much use and makes quick work out of this traditionally time consuming part of making tamales.
***UPDATE*** So of course, we make another batch of tamales once the masa spreader arrived. An absolute must, so glad I got it. This time we made just under 5 dozen tamales in about 40 minutes. And this time, we didn't fuss with tying the tamales. Just folded them up and put them in the steamer upright on their ends. This way, we got about 4 dozen in the rice cooker and we froze the other dozen or so fresh. I mean, after all, you will steam them again to reheat so why not just steam them fresh? That's what we're gonna try next. :) So fun and so delicious. We also got a little creative and made pizza tamales for the kids which were so yummy! Pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni. So good.
In order to make use of a massive amount of smoked chicken we made the weekend before, we decide to try our hand at homemade tamales just to round things off. Neither of us have ever made tamales before, but his mama has so we both felt a sense of needing to get this right. Overachievers or true enthusiasts; take your pick. Either way, we were definitely up to the challenge.
I was hoping to get masa at the grocery store pre-made for my first attempt but since they didn’t sell it in bulk, I thought why not just make it myself? What a shocker.
I was hoping to get masa at the grocery store pre-made for my first attempt but since they didn’t sell it in bulk, I thought why not just make it myself? What a shocker.
I picked up corn husks, instant masa for tamales and decided to wing the rest. After all, I'm southern and have grown up eating Christmas tamales in Texas my whole life. I love to make things I love to eat and this would be no different. I just felt like it was somehow in my blood to make this and it turns out, I wasn't exactly wrong...
For some reason unknown to me, I stood in the aisle with the lard trying to decide whether I needed some. I had no idea that tamales actually require lard, but there I stood. Tsunami asks me, “Do we need lard? Why do we need lard? You don’t use Crisco either…” and he wanders off talking towards me about some black label habanero hot sauce he discovered and pointing out they have all kinds of pickled jalapenos en escabeche, which he knows I love. Kids in a candy store...
But there I still stood, pondering and mesmerized. He starts to unload my arms for me because I’m carrying way too much without a basket as usual and with my free hand, I grab a tub of rendered pork fat that is produced by the market’s own meat department and restaurant. No clue why or what made me do it, but that's what I grab. Pork fat.
We carry on and head out with our goodies, which included the freshly ground beef we explicitly came to get for his mama's tacos. We also take home some manzano chili peppers which we are lucky enough to find fresh here in Florida and of course, the black label habanero hot sauce he was enthusing about earlier.
Once at home, I look up a couple of recipes in some of my cookbooks, research a few cooking sites online and all of them had one thing in common which I did not get: lard! Gosh darnit, I’m thinking to myself… there was a reason I was locked in place for fifteen minutes just standing there in front of the shelves of lard! But, then I remembered my pork fat! So I quickly google whether or not you can use rendered pork fat instead of lard and the resounding answer was yes! In fact most of the authentic Mexican recipes recommend rendered pork fat, if you are fortunate enough to obtain it. Aye aye aye!
And so… we endeavoured...
Once at home, I look up a couple of recipes in some of my cookbooks, research a few cooking sites online and all of them had one thing in common which I did not get: lard! Gosh darnit, I’m thinking to myself… there was a reason I was locked in place for fifteen minutes just standing there in front of the shelves of lard! But, then I remembered my pork fat! So I quickly google whether or not you can use rendered pork fat instead of lard and the resounding answer was yes! In fact most of the authentic Mexican recipes recommend rendered pork fat, if you are fortunate enough to obtain it. Aye aye aye!
And so… we endeavoured...
Our first tamales. And they couldn't have turned out better, more delicious or more satisfying. Maybe that is because we were both so fascinated with each part of the process.
Filling:
First, we had a bulk of smoked chicken quarters that we didn't want to go to waste. Not sure why I thought of it, but I decided that smoked chicken tamales were the ticket.
Next, I made a batch of fresh salsa and after pulling all of the smoked chicken off the bones, we marinate the cooked chicken again in the salsa overnight.Once ready to make the tamales, we strained the chicken out in a colander and reserved the salsa liquid to make the tamale sauce below.
For the filling, it really was just the smoked salsa chicken. No other seasoning was required and it was delicious.
- Salsa from marinating the chicken
- 1 can of chipotles
- Poached, roasted garlic
- Garlic oil
- Honey
- Roasted whole fresh red jalapenos, charred in the oven until blackened
We put all but the oil and honey into the sauce pot and simmered on low. I dumped everything from the sauce pot into a blender and slowly added in about 2 tablespoons of garlic oil which made the sauce so smooth and silky.
At the end, I added about a tablespoon of honey just to soften the flavors and it turned out to be so delicious. I mean, come on... honey smoked chipotle tamale sauce... How can you not love it? I practically licked the whole blender clean.
Corn Husks:
We bought corn husks which we brined overnight. I mean, why not? The husks are used to steam the tamales so why not add some flavor to that part of the party as well? You must soak the husks for a few hours or overnight like we did, so we just added flavor at the same time.
Tsunami used a jar of chile pepper brine we had on hand from making hot sauce and to it he added onion salt, garlic powder and black pepper. If you don't get all OCD like we do, but want to season your husks choose flavors that make sense like garlic, onion and fresh lime, for instance. It's very close to the flavor profiles we used to marinate the husks. We just like to use whatever we have on hand and we almost always save our chili pepper brine for just such an occasion.
Masa:
On to my first batch of masa. Here's how I made my first masa, which turned out perfect on my first try. Don't be intimidated. I was a little bit unsure of myself but I'm ok with failures in the kitchen so I was more unprepared for my success than I was expecting a little bit of a first time fail. Turns out, it wasn't at all hard.
- 2 pounds (4 cups) instant masa for tamales
- 10 oz (1 1/3 c) rendered pork fat (soft but not at all runny)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- ~ 2 cups of homemade chicken stock (yes, absolutely makes a difference)
- salt to taste
Next, add about 1 cup of chicken stock and keep adding more stock slowly until your tamale dough holds enough stock to be loose like a muffin or cake batter. Thick and fluffy, but not stiff and loose enough to spread. If it holds its form on a spoon but spreads easily like a thin icing, you are in good shape.
So for your first time making tamales, I suggest doing what I did. Google making tamales and watch a mamasita make them on youtube. I had no idea how to do the masa part and I found a video not only instructional but it boosted my confidence as we began the process. It certainly helped a lot to have a partner in the kitchen to help, so we divided the tasks between us. I spread the masa using a spoon and my fingers. Meanwhile, my better half did the filling, rolled and tied the tamales.
Process:
Remove the husks from your brine, squeezing out excess brining liquid. They will steam the tamale filling so they don't need to be dry, just not dripping wet. Take any small or torn pieces and pull the husk apart creating thin strips which will be used as ties to tie the filled husks just before steaming.
Don't go so thin, you see husk through the masa, but don't go so thick that it oozes out of the edges too much when you roll it up. Do a few and you'll see what I mean.
Place about a spoonful of filling (can be cooked meat, cheese, jalapeños, anything) down the center of the masa and then fold one side over the masa and seal like a roll of sorts with the other masa edge. This creates the tamale and the masa encloses the filling.
You never want to put masa on the entire husk. Just about half is good, leaving enough to allow you to fold over creating a bottom seal. Once the tamale is "rolled" the free end is folded over and creates an envelope of sorts with the tapered end remaining open. Don't worry, nothing falls out.
I used my rice cooker! Yep, that's right. I put a plate that fit the bottom of my rice cooker inside and layered the rest of the unused husks on top of that to create a steaming platform for the tamales. I added just enough water to cover the bottom without getting the husks wet. (You definitely won't like soggy tamales. )
I layered the tamales in the rice cooker and much to my surprise, I got 30 tamales in there perfectly. My rice cooker steams rice in about 20-25 minutes and I thought this would be perfect for the tamales. It was just right. My rice cooker goes into "warm" mode automatically but we were eager to try them so maybe about 40 minutes later, I took one out to test.
Tamales will pull easily out of their husks if they are done. The first one I tried made us both swoon in total amazement at what we had just done on our first try. It isn't rocket science but oh how satisfying when you do something simple so well. We quickly piled a few on plates and gobbled them up, serving them with more of the chipotle sauce on the side. Just incredible.
Just in case you were wondering... his mama came over yesterday to watch our new puppy while we went to Spring Training for the Marlins. Left at home with a warm rice cooker full of tamales, she proudly announced that they were so good, she ate 4. She also admired our ingenious use of the rice cooker and said that was the perfect way to reheat them. Super high praise coming from our favorite family chef!
**If you don't have a rice cooker but have a large stock pot with a steamer, use that. If you have a veggie steamer, you can use that. I just happened to have my rice cooker and suspected it would be perfect for this task and it really was. But in future, when we make more tamales and we most assuredly will make bulk tamales now that we know how, I will probably use a large 20-40 quart stockpot with a steamer basket.
**You may or may not know but tamales are excellent for freezing. Just take out what you need and re-steam. Perfect for stock piling.
**Another tip: get a $7 masa spreader. Google it. Watch the tamale lady's video and you will never spread masa by hand again. Amazon sells them and I bought one immediately. It will get so much use and makes quick work out of this traditionally time consuming part of making tamales.
***UPDATE*** So of course, we make another batch of tamales once the masa spreader arrived. An absolute must, so glad I got it. This time we made just under 5 dozen tamales in about 40 minutes. And this time, we didn't fuss with tying the tamales. Just folded them up and put them in the steamer upright on their ends. This way, we got about 4 dozen in the rice cooker and we froze the other dozen or so fresh. I mean, after all, you will steam them again to reheat so why not just steam them fresh? That's what we're gonna try next. :) So fun and so delicious. We also got a little creative and made pizza tamales for the kids which were so yummy! Pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni. So good.
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