March 27th
2007
Looking around within our circle of dear and loved friends, it's no secret, they are all food lovers and I really couldn't imagine it any other way. Who would otherwise be willing to put up with our constant musing about everything and anything edible. Granted, not everyone enjoys to cook as much as we do, there are however - sort of 'making up' for the rest - a few who are just about as crazy as we are. Stephanie and David, our dear American friends are the best example. Over the two years they lived in our neighborhood, the term hospitality got redefined: Our very first dinner together at the Greek place just around the corner transformed into an ecstatic party with lots of broken porcelain, the ultimate food shopping tips were exchanged over hot chocolates at Tambosi's, fabulous dinner parties were thrown over at Casa Kunstle and we found ourselves lucky recipients of freshly baked goods Stephanie dropped of just before heading out of town. When both finally moved back to Colorado, tons of emails were flying back and forth not short of the one or other recipe. Our first trip to the land of mountains was quickly booked and with it came some of the most memorable family feasts we remember. One event in particular allowed us to enjoy the most delicious tamales, and speaking of which I'll stop right here, since this is my dear friend Stephanie's guest post:
When Nicky asked if I would mind sharing my Grandma Salazar’s recipe for tamales with d:d readers, I didn’t hesitate to say “yes!” In our family, Grandma’s tamales are like gold, and if you don’t like tamales before you’ve had hers, you will likely convert after you do.
The tamal (plural, tamales) has a long history in the Southwestern US, Mexico, Central and South America. Sources conflict on when the first tamales originated and in what form (some say thousands of years B.C.) but what is certain is that Latin cultures have fully mastered the art, and in each country and region you can find different interpretations of that delightful little package. The makings of a tamal reveal its ancient and rustic history. Maize is cooked in an alkaline solution, typically limewater, to separate the hull from the grain which is then ground and dried to become the meal we know as masa harina. This process is called nixtamalization and was developed in Mesoamerica, and used to sustain Aztec and Mayan warriors. Tamal filling varies widely depending on the region, and the creation comes wrapped in a corn husk or some type of leaf. In my travels, I have had savory meat tamales wrapped in corn husks spiked with ground chilies, large tamales wrapped in banana leaves, smothered in Oaxacan mole, sweet little dessert tamales with cinnamon and raisins inside, Costa Rican Christmas tamales with green and red bell peppers (void of anything “picante”) to celebrate the season, a Marin County white tablecloth version overlooking the San Francisco Bay, far too many poor renditions at various Mexican-American restaurants, and then there are Grandma’s.
Anything my Grandma’s hands have touched is beyond delicious. She is a real-life Tita from Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water For Chocolate…a must read for all Foodies) - she was born to cook. When my Grandma, Maria Elucresia Herrera, entered the world “early,” in October of 1922, she weighed only 3 pounds. So, as the story goes, my great-grandmother, Jesusita, wrapped her little Maria up, and placed her in a shoebox near the wood-burning stove to keep warm. Well, this sweet little thing had plenty of fire in her blood, and has been thriving ever since. It is no wonder she is a natural in the kitchen. As soon as she could climb on a stool to reach the cupboards and stove, she was making biscuits for her father, Elfido Herrera. He passed away when she was just six, and her mother followed just ten years later. Maria and her six older brothers and one sister had to make a way for themselves, so they left the family farm in Questa, New Mexico, and moved north to Grand Junction, Colorado. At 17, while her brothers labored in the fields, Maria cooked for them and the other workers. In this part of the world, you could bet on a steaming pot of creamy pinto beans that had been cooked all day, potatoes fried with onions, and stacks of soft, warm, handmade tortillas.
But Grandma’s tamales weren’t conceived until she fell in love and married her childhood classmate, José Olojio Salazar, in 1947. My Grandma said she never liked any tamales that she had tried, so she was determined to come up with her own recipe. My grandparents have always had a little garden where they grow the chilies, onions, and garlic that make their way into the tamales.
Through the years, with seven children, 18 grandchildren, and now two great-grandchildren pulling at her apron strings, she has perfected her tamales. This November, “Joseph and Mary” will celebrate 60 years of marriage and 60 years of tamales. You can bet that our ten-month-old Sofia will be making tamales like her great-grandmother as soon as she can stand on a stool and mix masa!
A few tips:
The key to good tamales is to spread the masa (dough) thinly on the husk. I never get more disgusted than when I try tamales at a restaurant that are really just logs of steamed masa, with hardly any filling to speak of.
The more the merrier when it comes to making tamales. They are certainly labor intensive, but oh, so rewarding. If you can’t talk your friends or family into helping, there must be plenty of good music to get you through.
Plan two days for the project, and make sure you (or your neighbors) have enough freezer space to preserve the abundance.
If you are a pro, serve tamales like my Grandma or my mom does with beef or chicken enchiladas, refried pinto beans or tostadas, and some Spanish rice.
If you are planning to be a pro (moi?), start by serving your tamales with a Pozole soup (see here and here) which can be cooked all day or just simply Spanish rice.
We like to mix the beef and pork for the tamales, but if you’re a purist, feel free to go with one or the other.
View procedure step by step (in pictures) »
Day 1:
Cook meat (pork or beef, or both in separate pots) in a large pot of water (or in a slow-cooker filled with water) with an onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook for the day, 4 hours minimum. The more broth you can generate from the meat, the better!
After the meat is cooked (so that it falls apart and shreds easily), remove from pot, set aside to cool, and puree the onion and garlic with the broth. Season broth mixture to taste with chili powder and salt.
Shred meat finely with two forks (you can even chop it after shredding), and store covered in refrigerator separately from broth.
Soak corn husks in water overnight.
Day 2:
Rinse and clean corn husks thoroughly. Drain well and pat dry.
Season shredded meat with chili powder, salt, and cumin (optional) to taste. As you season the meat, add a small amount of broth to moisten meat, but it should not be runny.
For every 2 cups of masa harina (meal), add ½ cup of shortening or lard, 1tsp. of salt, and enough chili powder to make a pink dough. Add broth mixture a little at a time to masa and mix with your hands to get a smooth, spreadable consistency. If you run out of broth, you can use hot water, but you will wish you had plenty of broth. (If you use about 6 pounds of meat, you will likely use about 8 cups of masa harina in total).
Assemble the tamales: spread masa about 1/8 inch thick on corn husk with fingers, leaving about ½ inch border along the sides and 2 inch border along the top and bottom of husk. Use about 2 Tbsp. of shredded meat to fill the tamal (like a cigar). Fold sides until they just overlap, fold narrow end under, and place tamal folded side down. Grandma Salazar tears thin strips of the corn husks to tie a “little belt” around each tamal to keep it secure. Although this isn’t necessary, it does look the nicest and makes each tamal a little gift to be opened.
To cook, steam fresh tamales for 15 minutes or until masa is no longer sticky.
Store in freezer. Steam frozen tamales for 20 minutes. (This is a real treat a few days or a few weeks later. After you’ve recovered, it’s almost like someone else made them for you!).
Nicky's resume:
A revelation, seriously, every bite made me go "mmmmhhhhh" and "soooo goooood"! Since it was our very first attempt making tamales (made only possible by one of Stephanie's lush care packages) I was equipped with a fully charged cordless phone, prepared to give Stephanie emergency calls any time. But the whole process went unbelievably smooth (not quick mind you!) and we didn't run into any problems or pitfalls.
I'm not sure, if their looks would be approved by a tamales pro, yet I believe their taste can hardly get any better. Per Stephanie's suggestion, we made sure to use enough chili powder for the masa to add a nice kick, definitely recommended! We made about 30 of them and I'm already planing our second tamales session. Thank you Stephanie and Grandma Salazar for sharing your fantastic recipe :)
Pork and/or Beef Tamales
Recipe Source: Maria E. Salazar
Required Time: 2 days (the ultimate in slow food)
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Ingredients (using 6 pounds of meat makes about 10 dozen tamales and will take over a large American freezer, so feel free to cut this recipe in half or more, but don’t decrease onions or garlic)
3 pounds pork roast
3 pounds beef roast
2 large onions
4 cloves garlic
1/3 to ½ cup chili powder or more (depends on heat of chili powder and spice tolerance of tamal eaters)
salt
pepper
cumin
8 cups masa harina
2 cups shortening or lard
Corn husks (2-3 packages for full recipe)
I live in New Mexico and LOVE good tamales. One day I will give myself the time to make these. Thank you for taking the time to write this out.
There are very few actual boasts one is allowed to make in a well-lived life that don't get you in to too much trouble. I will just say that as Stephanie's sister-in-law not only do I occasionally get to revel in her wonderful culinary talents but I have actually been so lucky as to have a small package of these delicious tamales snuggled into my kitchen by her mother :) Too die for- and such a pleasure to experience the guest article of such a talented and sweet woman. As always wait with great anticipation fo d:d Thanks Nicky
This looks so good... I've always seen Tamales on these travel shows and never knew how to make them. Thanks for the recipe! :)
I'm a huge fan of real Mexican food, not what you get in most Mexican restaurants though. I had sweet tamales two or three times, but never spicy. Can't wait to make them, if I can find masa harina!
How wonderful!! I had some great tamales in Mexico in 2005, and would love to try making them at home. I know for sure, however, that I won't be able to find corn husks anywhere in Estonia, so I must find an online source or buy some in London next month.
Thank you for a informative recipe!!
This looks extraordinary (thanks!) and is definitely a must-try. Pleasepleasepleaseplease tell me where to get corn husks in Munich...
What a lovely recipe! My grandma who lives in Santa Fe taught me to make sweet tamales and now I teach my daughters. In our house no birthday party is complete without them.
I don't know if I'm drooling more over the tamales, the method for preparing the filling (which I will be using very, very soon, or over the mention of fried potatoes, beans and tortillas...
I can't take it, I've gotta go cook something!
Thank you for sharing your grandmother's recipe!
That is such a special story about your grandmother and how wonderful for her (and you) to have so many people to share it with.
The tamales look fantastic, though I am admittedly a bit intimidated by the process. My mom cheats and buys them from the store, but I do love them!
Thanks for sharing this recipe, I can't wait to give it a try.
Stephanie's grandmother sounds like a tremendous woman. Thank you for paying tribute to such a culinary delight. I grew up eating tamales and now only get them when I can have someone ship masa to me.
[...] ALSO: some time when I have a free weekend, I’m going to make these fabulous-looking tamales. [...]
Beautiful, Thanks.
Thanx for the recipe!! I love tamales!
This has got to be my favorite post of yours ever. I love the exchange between the voices writing this, the pictures that add such a beautiful history, and of course, as an avid tamale-eater, I'm thrilled about the recipe. Thank you for this.
Wow, those tamales look and sound so much like the ones my Grandma makes (and which I have been saying for years I was going to try to duplicate). I'm feeling inspired!
what a wonderful post on my favourite mexican food ever! tamales are such a special treat, probably because there's so much work involved. where i lived in mexico, the savoury version was ALWAYS made with banana leaves, whereas the sweet ones were smaller and wrapped in maize husks. my host-family's aunt made a delicious filling of pineapple and nuts, i will never forget indulging in those - and the merry fiesta going on around me as i got lost in tamal after tamal... i had to try each and every variety, after all and the filling was hard to tell from the outside ;-)
This indeed reads like a page from Como Agua Para Chocolate!
Finally, instructions with step-by-step photos. I have long wanted to make my own Mexican tamales. I still need to make the heftier Filipino (rice) tamales though.
It's been nearly 35 years since I had my first tamale from Grandma Salazar's (Mom for me) kitchen. When I was dating Rita they invited me to dinner and Oh Boy, what a surprise. The only Mexican food I'd ever had until then was a hard shell taco from Taco John. Rita's Mom served up a combination plate that was out of this world. Tacos, enchiladas, toastadas, beans, rice, and of course the famous Grandma Salazar tamales. I am truly blessed as Rita has picked up not only the art of the tamale but nearly all of her Mom's great dishes.
Thanks for the post. Rita's Mom is going to love showing this to her friends and family.
Oh, it's so cute !
what a wonderful post! Thanks nicky, stephanie and please do greet grandma salazar from us here in Austria (fans of d:d). thanks for sharing the photographs. it is totally different when you have somebody so special behind a recipe! Warm regards from vienna! Carolina
this is such a wonderful post. plus i absolutely love the step-by-step photos. great to discover tamales
Stephanie, that sounds delicious - we need to try them;-)
is that a bamboo steamer used to steam the tamales? that's what i use! loved the story about grandma.
Bueno!!! What a delicious story of a lovely familia. Blessings to you, Grandma Salazar, and your sweet Mamacita who have passed on their love of family gatherings and have found joy in creating an atmosphere to laugh, create and celebrate life. So grateful to have been nourished with wonderful food, amazing company, and sweet encouragement at your table. Will cherish this recipe along with your story.
What a wonderful story and recipe! Thank you for sharing.
I was taught to make tamales by my Mexican friend Josie. It's almost a party in itself to do so; her grandmother and sister also joined us, and we drank wine and talked and laughed the entire time, me in my high school Spanish to her abuela, who spoke no English. The occasion was the upcoming Christmas & New Year holidays, and we made over 250 that day, mostly savory, but also some with a sweet cheese and raisins in them. Their method is to use the back of a soup spoon to spread the masa on the corn husk, and the work goes quickly.
In the metropolitan Chicago area, with a large community of Latinos from many countries, we are able to buy prepared masa for tamales in many groceries, and that is what most of the Mexicans do too. In the neighborhoods you can also get great ones from 'tamallerias' if you don't feel like going to all the trouble.
Now I'm hungry, and I think I have a few left in the freezer...
So strange to find your Blog , to read Tamales and then the story of Tita ...
I am a french cook , crazy about that beautiful Movie , i have experienced Tita's undercovered feelings and passion for food ...i lived 20 years ago in Mexico too " for a short while " , i had a grandma (she just passed away ) and your photos made me think of her , well it is a strange thing that to read you today , beautiful Blog too ....
Garance
Lovely guest-post! I only know the sweet version of tamales, which we enjoyed on our road-trip through Mexico, but now I'm craving spicy ones! Thanks for sharing your grandmother's recipe.
[...] Grandma Salazar’s Tamales (deliciousdays) mit Schweine- oder Hühnchenfleisch gefüllte Maisküchlein [...]
Amy, Thank you for your lovely feedback! I am so envious about the small package, our frozen leftovers are already gone... And please say Hi to your family, hopefully we'll have another chance to meet soon ;)
Pille, Meanwhile I even found an online store for them here in Germany (haven't tried yet!), will let you know, as soon as I found a shop shipping to Estonia.
Kaltmamsell, There's help ;) I searched a bit and found out, that there's a German online shop that sells everything and beyond you need for tamales (the corn husks were hidden in a section, I already forgot where...), and - even better - a Mexican shop in Neuhausen. I haven't tried either of them so far, so please let me know, when you do!
Jerry, Max, Culinary Cowgirl, Christina, Jennifer Hess, Carolina, Vicki O, Thank you so much for your kind words, Grandma Salazar received a printed copy of this post and she was very positively surprised by all of your comments. It made her so happy to discover that her beloved tamales recipe is traveling to so many different and far away countries (like Austria) now :)
Johanna, I think I already have something in mind for our next get-together? A tamales night, how about that?
Robert, You've got mail :)
Allison, Yes, it's a bamboo steamer, I really didn't have anything else I could use. It was a work-around but ended up being quite functional...
Peggasus, I like your idea of a tamales party, friends gathering around the kitchen table and chitchating over the whole procedure. But the amount of 250 is pretty intimidating ;) And I never heard of tamallerias before, sounds like the place for a great snack!
Thank you! What a wonderful entry, so sweet and the recipe is a lovely plus.
I've always wanted to do this! I grew up in Southern CA with really great Mexican food, but I've never learned to make tamales. Thanks to Stephanie for sharing.
i was never a big fan of tamales because they were "logs of steamed masa, with hardly any filling to speak of"!! i thought it was just personal taste. this gives me hope that there are better tamales out there. :) you know once i bought some tamales that had chicken bones in it. it was quite confusing. great post!
[...] now is the time to fix that. The beautifully illustrated step-by-step instructions for how to make Grandma Salazar’s Tamales are simply not to be [...]
This is really interesting. In Brazil we have something very similar to tamales called Pamonha. I shall look into posting about it. I loved everything about your post. Beautiful reading.
Thank you for the recipe and the story. I've made Tamales with friends but just helped, never from the beginning to the end. I'm teaching a cooking class and this will be something I will incorporate in a class.
Thank you so much for sharing this story. I was always a closet "Foodie", now I share my love of food with everyone. I'm hispanic (from So.Calif.) and have participated in Tamal making a few times, but my grandmother is illiterate and a record of her tamale recipe has never been recorded. My mom tried a few times, results were great, but she ad-libbed each time. I look forward to trying out this recipe on my family. I have a question though, what "type" of chili powder is recommended for this recipe. There are tons of type of chili available dried whole and ground. Is it a personal preference? I'm used to working with ground "California" and "New Mexico" chili, which I use for Pozole.
I glad I discovered your site.
P.S. My husband is German and he loves when I cook Mexican food. The spicier the better. :)
Frances, I'd say go with your personal preference. I'll consult Stephanie to see if she recommends a special type, but as long as you like it, I'd say the results will be delicious, no matter what. And please say HI to your German husband :)
here in Chile we have something similar to tamales, humitas. they are made of corn, milk, basil, and seasoning, then wraped in corn leaves and boiled. they're usually eaten alone (some people put sugar on them when they open them :P), or with tomatoes. humitas are typical chilean food and are very, very, very good :)
Nicky,
Fantastic post, fantastic blog - thank you!
Peggasus, I'm a chicagoan too - would you mind telling me where to find a good tamalleria? I'd be so grateful, I just love tamales. Oh, and is there a place one can buy vegetarian savoury ones? In So. Cal., I used to get tamales with a spicy cactus filling that were superb, but I haven't run across anythng like that here. Thanks in advance!
is there anything you can use besides corn husks in making the tamales. It seems I have heard of some kind of thin paper you can use. Thank you Nelda
Nelda,
I've heard that you can use parchment paper or even freezer paper that is coated on one side. I'm sure it would be a handy alternative to corn husk. Good luck. Frances in So. Calif.
I waned to say thank you for such a wonderful post. This year will be my first "attempt" at making tamales on my own without the aid of my mother and grandmother. My family's recipes are always given orally, so it helps knowing that I have this wonderful recipe to fall back on.
The author's family and my own have similarities, it's wonderful. Even down to how we also made half pork and half beef tamales. Although we would use a tortilla presser with wax paper (dab of oil for non-stickiness) to press the dough onto the husk.
Thanks again!!
There's nothing like a tamales that has a small amount of chicken and loaded with masa in the corn husks...please no picante!!!!
--Southern "colored" girl from NC
I just made a recipe from makingtamales.com
You're right, there is nothing like a good tamale. I look forward to trying this recipe too.
Beautifully Done Post!
May we put a link to you from our Tamales Recipe page?
Thanks!
The first time I had pork tamales was back when I was 20 (ish), and I wasn't quite as culinarely finely tuned as I am now. That meant I said more "yuk" then "mnnn!".
I'm sure if I tried them again now I could appreciate the taste a little better!