Holy Tamales batman!

We did our first tamale making marathon this weekend. Wife's cousin and partner and the two of us built 90 of the little critters. Flavorwise they turned out terrific. We did beef, pork with spicy red sauce, chicken w/ a salsa verde, and roasted chiles and cheese (personal fave but we need to find a better cheese, wife did the shopping, I'd written monterey jack, per recipe, thinking she'd get a block and we ended up using shredded colby/jack blend and the cheese just settled to the bottom).

Talk about labor intensive. We started around 11:30 and the last batch went in the steamer around 4 and then had to steam for 2 hrs.

We need to figure proportioning better, too; our meat to masa ratio was too high so we didn't end up with fully encased tamales (for lack of a better description); when we unwrap the husk the filling's just kind of piled on top. Very fun experience and several lessons learned for the next time.

Any tamale mavens around these parts who might have tips?

I've never tried this myself but I can tell you that I really dislike when the meat ratio is small compared to the masa. One of the tamale makers at the Farmer's Market has a higher meat ratio than the other tamale makers. They are gone until April or I would ask them. I know someone I can ask however and if I get in touch with them, I will ask.

[Jenise]

Scott, very cool! Tamales are fun to make, aren't they? And like most things, as you discovered it takes a bit of trial and error to get the portions right. Having done your first batch, I'm sure you'll zero right in on the correct proportions next time.

What makes me laugh about tamale making is how, if you've got three of you working, you'll end up with three different shapes. Somehow no two pairs of hands is just alike, and too depending on where you're from your idea of a perfect tamale might be different from the next person's. I was shocked, years ago, to spend some time in Texas and discover that the standard Tex-Mex is a rather small tube of a thing compared to the fat pilow shapes I grew up with in Sonora-style influenced Los Angeles.

One trick I use when making tamales is to mix the masa in the bowl of a KA stand mixer until it is fluffed up enough that a small spoonful floats when dropped in a glass of water. This makes the masa very tender when cooked. -RP