I gotta tell you that homemade tamales are mighty good

[leftofthedial]

mighty good

Took almost all day to make 6 dozen. I should really do this more often than once a decade . . .

Then it took a couple of hours to clean . . .

It was fun though. Nearly the whole family got in the act.

[SeattleGirl]

1. Yummmmmm! I haven't had homemade tamales in quite awhile.

Sounds like y'all had a great time.

[leftofthedial]

4. it makes for a long day

but it's worth it. :-)

[XemaSab]

2. I want some tamales!!!!

:bounce:

NOW!!!1111!1!!!!!

[driver8]

3. We had some amazing tamales last night at a friend's party.

One of the guests picked them up from a place in East Los Angeles. She said that people start lining up at 5am to buy tamales from this restaurant.

You make your own -- that is impressive!!

[leftofthedial]

5. We used to make them every Christmas time...

but the last 6 or 7 years, we didn't for a variety of reasons.

It's actually easy. Just time consuming.

[BikeWriter]

6. We used to make and sell 125 pounds of boudin weekly...

It was an on the side job. :)

[leftofthedial]

11. 125 pounds!

that's HUGH!

[BikeWriter]

16. I'm SERIES!!!!!!1111 Yes, and we exported some to Louisiana!

[conscious evolution]

7. yumyum

I first stumbled across tamales when living in Metarie La. in the 1970's.
It seemed like there was a tomale cart guy on every other steet corner.I had never even heard of them till a friend turned me on to them one friday nite after the game.I've been hooked on them since.
I'll even eat the crappy canned ones!
I have a couple of questions about them though.
Where do they come from?Are they from Mexico or Central America or elsewhere?

[leftofthedial]

12. The ones we make are traditional Mexican "holiday" food

I think they originated in Central America

[Lyric]

8. Care to share your recipe?

I've never made tamales, and I'd like to try it. :)

[leftofthedial]

13. tamales are more of a method than a specific recipe

you can use all sorts of things for filling, breading and wrap.

we do simple, traditional pork tamales.

Soak corn husks in hot water (the longer the better, keep replacing the water to keep it hot)

Cook the pork (stew it or roast it)

add the pork to a red chili sauce. make the final mixture moist but not too runny.

mix up masa harina (corn meal mix) with broth (from the pork is fine, you can even use water if you must) and lard (squeamish use canola). This makes a paste.

wring out and dry the softened corn husks with towels.

smear the top 2/3 of the corn husk with the masa.

place a dollop of filling in the center of the area smeared with masa.

roll up the tamale and fold the unspeared end up to seal one end (if you want to get fancy, you can use extra little strips of husk to tie the tamale)

stack the assembled tamales in a steamer. Steam for about one hour until the masa sets.

[Beausoleil]

9. Christmas time in San Antonio!

We have an order in for a few dozen.

[youthere]

10. A friend of mine hosted a "tamale party" summer before last

before that I had never had an actual tamale, except the ones in the can (which I don't think count because they are kind of nasty). So it was definitely an experience for me. It is a lot of work, but the results are more than worth it. Among 10 of us we made close to 600 tamales..bean and cheese, pork, chicken, and of course some sweet tamales.
My favorite are the bean and cheese ones. I had tamales in my freezer until March. She's planning another party for superbowl sunday (we're not football fans, so this is a good substitute). I can hardly wait.

[reyd reid reed]

14. Pork, chicken or beef?

I've been making them for a week...I probably did about 250 of them.

Yummmmmm....

[leftofthedial]

17. we did pork

If I have time, I may make a small batch of chicken and a small batch of green chili cheese

[Patiod]

15. Do you deliver to Philadelphia?

I grew up in a tamale-free zone. Just discovered them recently. Mmmmm....tamales.

[leftofthedial]

18. man, I don't even deliver to my sister's house

and she lives here in town . . .

:-)