Tamales

Last night I made tamales for the first time. Tamales are a traditional and very delicious mexican dish. Basically a tamale is a corn meal dough filled with meat or vegetables and steamed in a corn husk. What could be bad?

I really started making the basic ingredients for my tamales about 2 weeks ago. I bought 10 lbs of beautiful beef bones at Apollo Meats (226 Apollo Beach Blvd, Apollo Beach, FL 33572, (813) 645-2379). I dumped them in my 22 quart stock pot and covered them with water. I cooked them at a low boil for the next 24 hours, topping the pot off with more water as needed. After the first 24 hours I removed the bones and added celery, carrots, onions and garlic. I cooked this at a low boil for another 24 hours. Because these bones were so meaty and marrow filled I needed to skim the pot every few hours. After straining the stock I was left with about 5 gallons of thick aromatic stock. As the stock cooled, the fat seperated out. I skimmed out all the fat and heated it back up and strained it a couple of times. I was left with 2 pints of pure beef tallow. I seperated the stock into gallon containers, cooked a few other things with it (1 gallon of fench onion soup, 1 gallon of lentil soup and 1 gallon of 15 bean soup). 

So back to yesterday. Here's the recipe for my tamales. 
Filling (I used chicken, but you can use pork, beef, veggies or cheese)
1 chicken
5 lbs carrots, cut into 3 inch pieces
1 bunch celery, cut into 3 inch pieces
2 yellow onions, skinned and cut in half
2 bay leaves
3 small peppers (pablano or jalapeno)

1. Cut chicken into pieces and place in stock pot. add veggies and bay leaves. Cover with water. 
2. Cook at a low boil for 3 hours.
3. Remove chicken from broth and strain remaining broth (reserve for another day).
4. Seperate chicken and discard bones and fat. 
5. Wearing gloves, cut peppers in half and remove seeds and internal membranes. 
6. Roast peppers on a baking sheet cut side down for 20-30 minutes until soft.
7. Shred 1 cup chicken (light and dark mixed) 
8. Dice/puree roasted pepper and saute with chicken and 1/2 cup water.  

Dough
2/3 cup beef tallow (or lard)
2 cups fine masa harina (or corn meal)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups beef stock/broth
20 corn husks

1. Soak the corn husks in warm water to soften
2. Combine tallow with 1/4 cup of warmed beef stock. Mix till smooth.
3. Slowly add masa harina, baking powder and salt to tallow mixture. The best way to combine these ingredients is to use your hands. Add beef stock 1/4 cup at a time until dough is spongy and a little crumbly but not too sticky.
4. Spread about 2 tbs dough on corn husk. Should be about 1/4 inch thick.
5. Place about 1 tbs filling in center of dough.
6. Roll corn husk up and fold ends in to create a rectangle. Should be about 2" x 3"
7. Place in a steamer (use your prefered method, I used an electric steamer) and steam for about an hour. Time will vary based on the humidity.
8. Remove tamales from steamer. Unwrap and serve with sour cream and salsa (recipe below)

This is the best, easiest, freshest salsa you will ever eat!

4-5 roma tomatoes
1 yellow onion
2 small peppers (pablano or jalapeno)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tbs cumin
2 tbs miced garlic

1. Skin onion and cut in half
2. Wearing gloves, cut peppers in half and remove seeds and membranes
3. Roast onion and peppers, cut side down in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes
4. Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Blend until desired consistency. I like mine pretty smooth for the tamales. 

For dinner I served 2 tamales topped with sour cream and salsa with a salad of mixed field greens (that I harvested myself from Fort Lonesome Farm in Lithia, FL) topped with roasted corn kernals, chopped roma tomatoes, chopped cilantro and lime juice. A lot of prep went into making this dinner, but it was well worth it! The tamales freeze great, just individually wrap them and put them in a gallon freezer bag. To reheat, allow to defrost and pop in the microwave for about a minute or until center is hot.

I hope you enjoy eating these tamales as much as I enjoyed making them! I encourage you to experiement with scratch cooking. Be sure to check out your local organic and Pick Your Own farms for the freshest ingredients!

Here's a not so great picture. You can see my electric steamer on the right side of the cutting board.