Tamales

More food inspired by Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

While I discover the secrets of -

Tamales

Not  a how to guide or recipe, but the steps involved to get from ingredients to Tamales. It's not difficult, but there's lots of time consuming steps

The  pork  shoulder joint cubed and slow cooked overnight 

--then shredded (it's really soft, so just needs mashing with a fork) 

Stalk and de-seed the chillies

Boil 'em up for 15 mins or so to soften, add garlic and spices etc

Blitz and sieve the puree

add to the meat

Put the Masa Harina (flour) in a bowl , add  a bit of the chilli paste for colour and flavour, add lots of melted lard, and mix with some of the  "Broth/liquor" from cooking  the pork, and mix to a sticky batter like dough

Most recipes I've seen call for dried corn husks, I used fresh ones, soaked .

Spread a layer of batter in the corn husk, add the meat mix

Fold or fold/tie the husks around the mix

Stack them in a steamer, cover and steam for 90 mins or so

 --and miraculously, you have savoury, spicy little parcels, and,

Ari, (or maybe Benjamin) is right, they do heat up well in an oven

Thanks to Benjamin Alire Saenz, for the book, and the various recipes 

combined here to make these