Tamales

INGREDIENTS

PORK FILLING (makes about 3 dozen tamales):

• 2 ½ lbs pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch cubes

• Salt and pepper

• 2 TBS canola oil

• 1 tsp cumin

• ½ white onion, roughly chopped

• 4 garlic cloves, smashed

• 2 bay leaves

RED SAUCE:

• 3 guajillo peppers, stemmed and seeded

• 4 ancho peppers, stemmed and seeded

• 2 jalapeño peppers

• 1 medium white onion, roughly chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, smashed

• ¼ - ½ cup chicken stock, unsalted

• Salt to taste

TAMALE DOUGH:

• 1 pound of lard or manteca

• 2 TBS salt

• 1 ½ TBS baking powder

• 3 lbs of masa

• 1 cup chicken stock, no sodium

ADDITIONAL NEEDS:

• A large packet of corn husks (about 1 lb)

• Sauce for serving (optional)

GO FOR IT

PORK FILLING:

1. Cover pork cubes with salt and pepper

2. In a dutch oven or large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat, then add pork and brown (about 3-5 minutes)

3. Add in onion, and soften (about 3 minutes)

4. Cover pork with water about 1 or 2 inches

5. Add in cumin, garlic, bay leaves

6. Bring to a boil and then down to a simmer before covering and cooking for 3 hours or until pork can easily fall apart with a fork

7. When ready, remove pork and shred with a fork, then set aside

RED SAUCE:

1. Using a sauce pan, add stemmed and seeded chilies, jalapeños (seeded if desired for less heat), onions, and garlic and add just enough water to cover all ingredients

2. Bring to a boil then simmer for 15 minutes (or until all ingredients are tender)

3. Strain out all liquid and add everything else to a blender

4. Blend together, add chicken broth until you reach a smooth sauce that isn’t too liquidly and isn’t too thick

5. Taste and blend in salt as desired

6. Combine sauce with shredded pork to create your pork filling (save any excess sauce to use with finished tamales)

CORN HUSKS:

1. About 2 hours before the pork is done you can separate your corn husks and soak them in warm water

TAMALE DOUGH:

1. Combine lard, salt, and baking power in a stand mixer bowl with paddle attachment (you can beat yourself by hand but this will be much quicker if you have access to a stand mixer)

2. Beat on medium speed until lard if light and fluffy (this will only take about 4 minutes but you will occasionally need to stop the mixer and scrape build up off the paddle)

3. Reduce speed to low and slowly start adding about ¾ of the masa until all is combined (again, you will have to stop on occasion to scrap everything down)

4. Add about half the chicken stock and combine - the batter should be like a thick cake batter so add more chicken stock if too dry and more masa if too wet

FINISHING STEPS:

1. Take a corn husk from it’s soak and pat it with a paper towel to remove excess water

2. Using a rubber spatula or large spoon, scrape out ¼ - ½ cup of masa dough (will depend on size of corn husk - you may want to look up a video)

3. Spread out dough into a rectangle but leave enough husk space on the side to close up the husk when finished

4. Add in about 2 TBS of filling to the center of the masa dough spread, leaving enough masa dough exposed on either side so that when you fold it down the middle, it will seal in the filling around the dough

5. Close tamale by folding in half, wrapping over, then folding the end under to keep it all sealed together

6. Repeat process until all filling and dough is used

7. Using a large pot and steamer, line bottom of steamer with additional corn husks, then place tamales vertically until pot is full

8. Add more corn husks on top to create an cocoon for the tamles

9. Cover bot and steam for 1 to 2 hours (will depend on size of pot and number of tamales - I was unable to fit everything into one pot and had to use 2)

10. Tamales are ready when they will easily fall out of husk without falling apart (you can poke on with a fork after an hour to get a sense - if it’s still mushy then leave in or if not you can pull one out to test)

11. Serve hot and freeze any extras

NOTES:

Again, this is a huge process, especially when it comes to filling nearly 3 dozen corn husks so you will want some help. And also please look up some videos on filling these things. These kind of instructions are very difficult to describe in words and it will take some time to get it perfect. It’s alright, though. Imperfect tamales are still just as tasty.

If you want to do something more vegetarian you can also use oil instead of lard in your dough and vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. However, be warned, without lard it’s hard to get these as fluffy as they should be.

In additional to the red sauce, you can also make a green sauce filling. I used some of the Colorado Green Chili in a few of mine and it was great.