The Mija Chronicles

Mexican food and culture, on both sides of the border

Live blogging: Stumbling my way through one dozen tamales

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This weekend I’m hosting a bunch of women for a tamalada, or tamale-making party. Seeing as I haven’t made tamales in like three years, and the last time was with a cooking course — when they chopped everything for me and cleaned up — I figured I should try a practice batch today, just to see how they turn out. And hell, since I’m doing this all by myself, why not live blog it?

I’ve got all my ingredients. Windows are open, as to diffuse any strange cooking smells. Hair is back. Apron, about to be tied on. Music, I need to choose. Other than that I’m ready to go.

Ooooh! Can you feel the excitement? What’ll happen? Will my lard be rancid, as a teensy weensy part of me thinks? (Because I purchased it from a plastic bucket, from a random dude at Mercado Merced.) Will I succumb to the little voice in my head telling me to toss in a handful of romeritos and mole as tamale filling, even though that’s not a typical Mexican Christmas tamale?

Will I eat all of my queso manchego before it makes it into the masa?

And how the heck long is this going to take, anyway?

Find out. Live tamale blogging starts now.

10:14 a.m. Just tried to take a picture of all my ingredients, but there are too many and it’s not coming out right, because the corn husks are too long. Here’s one anyway.

I need to stop with all this frippery and just make the damn tamales. My plan is to make two varieties: cheese, rajas and salsa verde; and sweet.

10:44 a.m. I’ve emptied four teakettles of hot water into my brand-new steel tamale steamer, plus 20 corn husks. Gonna soak ’em for 30 minutes, or maybe a wee bit more. I’ve also placed my poblano pepper on the grill, for the rajas. Next step: boiling the tomatillos for the salsa, and chopping the onion and peppers.

11:09 a.m. Poblano done. Wow.

11:41 a.m. Green salsa done. When I lifted the blender lid, my eyes started watering. Mmm. Good sign.

I wish I had a sous chef to wash all my dishes for me. Where’s Crayton when you need him? Oh yeah, working…

12:17 p.m. Back from the market, where I bought some more butter and manchego and resisted the urge to buy a poinsettia for my dining table. My eyelids are heavy. Does this mean I’m hungry? Maybe it’s my music. Otis Redding is kind of a snooze.

12:28 p.m. Starting the assembly line! I’m about to put my fillings on separate plates: the rajas, strips of manchego cheese, raisins for the sweet tamales, and the romerito, which I’m currently sauteeing in a bit of onion. Isn’t it pretty? The taste reminds me of a bean sprout, crossed with spinach.

I can’t believe it’s 1 p.m. and I haven’t even gotten to the masa yet. CRAP. That’s next.

1:58 p.m. Or not. I took a break to eat lunch and watch Law & Order SVU. I love it when Elliot interrogates the perps by playing the chauvinistic bad cop. Okay, onto the masa.

2:31 p.m. I think I screwed up. My masa seems way too thick, but it’s too late to add more lard and broth now, right? (Too late on the broth because I HAVE NO MORE.) I have a bad feeling about this. Oh well. At least my fillings look nice.

2:58 p.m. I have no idea what I’m doing. I have no idea how to roll a tamal. And how thick should I spread the masa? Diana Kennedy says a “thin layer,” and RB says three tablespoons, which is a lot. I’m spreading, and then folding, and my filling is oozing out — I can see it through the corn husk. I really don’t know why I took this project on. Forget about the sweet tamales. They need sugar in the masa, and I have absolutely no desire to whip up another batch.

3:16 p.m. Changed my blog title to “Stumbling my way through one dozen tamales,” instead of “How to cook one dozen tamales” because I have no expertise here. I made one dozen, though. They’re in the pot. Just remembered — I forgot to test whether my masa was fluffy enough. You’re supposed to put a bit of masa in a glass of cold water, and if it floats, it’s ready.

Okay. I just tested mine now and it sunk to the bottom.

Whatever.

Gotta learn somehow, I guess.

4:47 p.m. They’re done! I have no idea if I cooked them too long.

For the first hour that they steamed, I smelled this great, soft corn smell… and then maybe 20 minutes ago, a sharp burnt odor. Turns out one of my tamales opened, and the cheese filling spilled inside the tamale pot.

Going to taste one now. Update to come.

THE VERDICT: Not bad. The tamal unrolled easily from the corn husk (is that the lard?), and the green salsa is as spicy and tangy as I’d hoped. The masa is definitely too dense — it tastes more creamy than light and spongey. But it’s not inedible, or dry.

Overall, a valiant first effort. I’m proud of myself!

TOTAL TIME: Just under 7 hours, including a 45-minute lunch break, a 10 minute trip to the market, and all cooking, tasting and dish-washing times.

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Comments

  1. What, you schlepped all the way to Merced for freakin’ lard sold by some random dude out of a plastic bucket — and you’re using imported, free range organic low sodium chicken brother from a box? Manchego in the masa? I think you’ve already departed from the “typical Mexican Christmas tamal that you should feel free to abandon all pretense of tradition and go with the romerito-mole tamal!

    You’ve got your apron on, but is it polyester?

  2. You’re right Jennifer. 🙂 Oh, but I wanted to be traditional! Oh well. No, apron is cotton, embroidered with my name. A gift from my mom.

  3. I don’t think there is such a thing as a “Traditional Christmas Tamal”. Tamale fillings differ, state to state! I say, add whatever you want. A romerito-mole tamale doesn’t sound as weird as you think. The traditional filling in Jalisco is Mole Ranchero and roast lomo or pierna de cerdo, then when served they’re topped with shredded lettuce/cabbage and a tomato salsa. Actually, your Romerito tamales sound delish. Might even start a new trend in tamales. Best of luck and can’t wait to see what you make! 😀 My faves are Tamales de rajas con requeson!

  5. Yumm! I love tamales. Have never tasted your versions but it would be good. My favorite tamal is of puerco and I eat them with ketchup, which is a habit from when I was little. When my family makes tamales, we cook the meat and with that extra drippings from the pork, we add that into the masa. It gives the masa a little orangey look. Have tried so many diff. tamales from other families, but I know I will almost be dissappointed if I don’t see that orangey color. Not sure how it will work with this type of tamal though. It takes a lot to perfect a tamal, practice makes perfect. Love your blog btw.

    • Orangey tamales — I’m intrigued! Makes perfect sense to add the pork drippings into the masa, though. The ketchup thing, on the other hand, seems a little strange… I think I may have to try it to see what I’m missing. 🙂

  6. May I recommend the book “Tamales 101” by Alice Guadalupe Tapp. You can certainly get it on Amazon. It has some detailed drawings of different styles of wrapping different kinds of tamales, and many recipes for different fillings. It also shows how to spread the masa.

    When I make tamales, I use a spackle spreader – you can get some nice ones that are made of plastic and easily washed later. Especially good if you are making several hundred at a time.

    In Oaxaca, the traditional Christmas tamal is the mole negro tamal wrapped in banana leaves. Everyone wants to get a seat right on the zocalo and have hot chocolate and a mole negro tamal!

    I also love your blog, it always makes me hungry! And you are always doing something fun and posting to your blog, very interesting!

    • Thanks! I’ll check out my local hardware store for a spackle spreader — that’s a great idea. And the book looks cool. (Although part of me feels like buying it would be admitting defeat.) I’d love to learn from a tamale expert here in Mexico City. Need to begin a search for my own DF grandmother.

  7. As we live now in Tamalandia, Michoacán, I would never make my own. The average price for very good ones here is 8 pesos each. You could probably negotiate a quantity discount.

    Back in the 80’s, when we lived in ArKANsas, I was nuttier than now and ocasionally made tamales in large quantities. (When you are going to all that trouble, why make only a dozen?) Those were projects that took most of a day.

    I envy your youthful energy and enthusiasm.

    Saludos,
    Don Cuevas

  9. So sad I will miss the tamalada! I’m in New York, so I’ll have to get my fill of Mexico from your blog until I get back in January.

  11. Hi Lesley!!, I want to wish you a wonderful year for you and your entire family. Please enjoy a yummy Rosca de Reyes on the next days. There are some many options to taste it, so I can’t name the best one. Congratulations