| Pages:
1
2 |
Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
No More Tamales Please !
My wife is a very good cook but somehow she has just not got the knack of tamales. I am getting a little tired of grainy, crumbly masa and dried out
meet filling.
Any idea what she is doing wrong with the masa ?
It never has that smooth, noodly texture like my favorites in Baja.
Once she has cooked and shredded the pork and placed it in the pan with peppers and onions, what can she do to keep it moist other than lard ?
Tomatoes ? Broth ? ??
Help !!!
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Diver
Any idea what she is doing wrong with the masa ?
Help !!! |
Real recipes call for lard although veg shortening will do. is she cutting corners on this in the interest of health?
|
|
|
Diver
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4729
Registered: 11-15-2004
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
Real recipes call for lard although veg shortening will do. is she cutting corners on this in the interest of health? |
Yep, I think she used "Smart Balance". 
Isn't there something that works that she won't think will kill me ?
.
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by Diver
[
Isn't there something that works that she won't think will kill me ?
. |
Maybe you should make the masa while she's washing your car.
Vegetable shortning, Crisco Lite, isn't as bad as lard. Anyway, a lousy, dry tamale might hang up in your throat, killing you instantly. It
happens all the time.
|
|
|
Iflyfish
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3747
Registered: 10-17-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
You are going to die anyway and maybe from something else. Better to take the risk and eat the real tamale! Bless her heart for trying, but nothing
beats pig fat!
Iflyfishwhenicangetmylardburroupoffthelardsoakedsofa
|
|
|
ELINVESTIG8R
Select Nomad
Posts: 15882
Registered: 11-20-2007
Location: Southern California
Member Is Offline
|
|
The secret is to mix in manteca into the prepared nixtamal until you can roll it into a small ball the size of a marble and it floats in a glass of
warm water.
|
|
|
tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
Member Is Offline
|
|
If they don't improve you can always smother them with enchilada sauce and top with sour cream. 
Ken
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by tripledigitken
If they don't improve you can always smother them with enchilada sauce and top with sour cream.
Ken |
There you go, Diver. That sounds pretty good.
|
|
|
The Sculpin
Nomad
Posts: 401
Registered: 9-3-2002
Location: Back in the Saddle
Member Is Offline
Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
|
|
Lard is much better and healthier for you than shortening. You can always work off the lard, you can't work off the trans-fats!
That said, here's an "award winner" (1st place winner for the "Best Commercial Gourmet Tamale" at the Indio International Tamale Festival Indio,
CA-Dec. 2, 2000) that doesn't use lard. This will feed 8 people or one large texan!
Recipe for 60 minutes
Yields approx. 25 tamales
Ingredients:
6 cups MASECA CORN FLOUR FOR TAMALES
1 can Chicken broth 49 0z.
1 cup Canola vegetable oil
2 tsp. Salt
1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
2 Large rotisserie chicken
2 ½ jars Green tomatillo sauce of 12 oz. each
1 bag Corn husks (shells type)
Instructions:
Soak the corn husks in warm water until soft.
Blend with an electric mixer, Maseca, corn oil, salt, baking powder and the chicken broth to obtain a consistent mixture.
Shred the chicken and marinate in the green tomatillo sauce.
Spread masa evenly over corn husks, and spread a spoonful of marinated chicken on top of the masa.
Fold the sides of the corn husk to center over the masa so that they overlap to make a long package. Fold the empty part of the husk under so that it
rests against the side of the tamale with a "seam".
Place the tamales in a steamer and cook tamales for 35 - 40 minutes. Check every 20 minutes.
The tamale is cooked when it separates and easily from the corn husk.
Good luck - and life is too short to drink cheap scotch or crappy tamales!!
[Edited on 5-2-2008 by The Sculpin]
Whoa there, Cowboy - pull back on those reins!
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by The Sculpin
Lard is much better and healthier for you than shortening. You can always work off the lard, you can't work off the trans-fats!
|
Crisco has a model that is trans fat free.
I'm going to try your recipe with the canola oil.
|
|
|
CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Peacefull
|
|
I picked up a dozen home made tamalies recently at one of our local favorite restaurants...
After getting home I popped a couple in the steamer and waited for the delicious delicacies ....
When eating the first one ... to my surprise ... I found a three inch long c-ckroach baked into the masa 
Now I understand there are curious and quaint cooking customs down here .... but ... this addition has put me off tamalies for a long time .....
I think I am going to learn to make them at home ....
And damm the lard, full speed ahead.
CaboRon
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
When eating the first one ... to my surprise ... I found a three inch long c-ckroach baked into the masa
|
Sounds like one of those big ol' water bugs.
|
|
|
Paulina
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3810
Registered: 8-31-2002
Location: BCN
Member Is Offline
|
|
Theres an idea of what to do with all the stink bugs that are taking over Punta Banda! A little more protein never hurt anyone.
P<*)))><
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
|
|
|
DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
|
|
Hitchc-ck could have made a movie about the creepy little critters. They're disappearing slowly.
|
|
|
CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Peacefull
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by CaboRon
When eating the first one ... to my surprise ... I found a three inch long c-ckroach baked into the masa
|
Sounds like one of those big ol' water bugs. |
Dennis,
We used to call them concertina bugs.
CaboRon
|
|
|
bajabound2005
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2760
Registered: 10-15-2005
Location: Punta Banda, BCN
Member Is Offline
Mood: words cannot describe...
|
|
I think she's overcooking the tamales...I'll post my recipe tomorrow.
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
|
|
|
CaboRon
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3401
Registered: 3-24-2007
Location: The Valley of the Moon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Peacefull
|
|
| Quote: | Originally posted by bajabound2005
I think she's overcooking the tamales...I'll post my recipe tomorrow. |
So, you mentioned a recipe ???
I want to learn how to make these at home.
That way I can control the ingredients
CaboRon
|
|
|
bajabound2005
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2760
Registered: 10-15-2005
Location: Punta Banda, BCN
Member Is Offline
Mood: words cannot describe...
|
|
The recipe posted by The Sculpin is EXCELLENT. I recently made those. You will, however, need more broth than that. I use corn or sunflower oil;
canola will work just as well.
Into the masa (before adding liquids), add:
3 Tablespoons paprika
1 Tablespoon cumin seeds (whole)
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
3 Tablespoons garlic powder
Increase the salt to 2 Tablespoons
Adding some spice to the masa gives it lots of flavor, otherwise it's just cornmeal.
I've never added baking powder to my masa but a number of recipes do call for it. When mixing in the liquids, you're trying to get to the consistency
of peanut butter.
Friends don't let friends drink white zinfandel.
|
|
|
Cypress
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
Member Is Offline
Mood: undecided
|
|
About those tamales?  There are a couple of ladies in Mulege that sell 'em $1US/
tamale. The best! Marta makes premo tamales. Had some pork tamales way up in the boonies, from a fresh killed hog at a rancheria owned by Vincente
Mayorales(my spelling is suspect) that were hard to beat, along with fresh goat cheese and cracklins(chincaronnes?). 
|
|
|
Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6346
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
Member Is Offline
Mood: TEQUILA!
|
|
Ey, Cypress!
You are correct about Marta's tamales! YUM-O!
By the way, when you head north from Mulege you need to make a stop in San Ignacio at the La Pinta hotel restaurant for some chips and guacamole.
Their guacamole is average, but the chips are the corniest (maiz) I have ever tasted. They really have the WOW! factor.
After literally eating hundreds of thousands of chips all over Mexico, these stand out.
As a matter of fact, this will be one of our stops for the FOOD NETWORK TV SHOW "[U]FEASTING ON ASPHALT"[/U], where I will be the spanish interpreter.
Alton Brown and the crew will travel either northbound from Cabo, or southbound from Tecate on BMW bikes and eat nothing but road food over a five
week period.
I'll let you know when we are going to make the trip. Should start in mid January of next year. My other job is production assistant (make eating
recommendations as well as places to stay that can accomodate a crew of 25).
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
|
|
|
| Pages:
1
2 |
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
