Christmas Means Tamale.

[worth1]

Here's a small one.
Looks like it came out of a machine.

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[worth1]

@worth1 Your tamales look delicious!! May I have your masa recipe? I see what ingredients you used but is there a trick to getting the masa to the point it floats. I would love to try your masa. Looks quite tasty!

Your basic run of the mill masa recipe with lard.
I didn't actually measure to the T or that precise.
It needs to have lots of air whipped into it to make the ball float in water..
And sometimes there isn't enough lard or oil.
It isn't really necessary to make it float but it helps.

[worth1]

Once I get the red all made I'm going to do pork with green chilies and green stuffed olives.
Plus red jalapeño.

[worth1]

Bigger tamale from the batch.

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[worth1]

Next up is Yucatán habanero pork tamales.
The masa is dyed with a anatto
The pork will get a goodly amount of my homemade habanero lime hot sauce.
Just cracked open a fresh quart.
Plus a surprise in each tamal.

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[worth1]

Atomic tamales.

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[brownrexx]

I have never tried a tamale. I will have to order one the next time we go to the Mexican restaurant. You guys have made me wonder what they taste like.

[worth1]

I have never tried a tamale. I will have to order one the next time we go to the Mexican restaurant. You guys have made me wonder what they taste like.

I think tamale was one of the first words I ever spoke.
I my opinion there are no bad tamales its just some are better than others.
I have never had an outstanding tamale in a restaurant.
Even the ones that make their own.
But they are truly an experience one must have.

[brownrexx]

@worth1 my Mexican restaurant is a 10 table hole in the wall restaurant run by a Mexican/American family. Their food is the best I have ever tasted including my trips to Mexico. Your tamales might be better but I can guarantee that if I tried to make them they wouldn't be as good as theirs.

[worth1]

Here's one of the little ones.
Its got a good kick to it.
The masa is so flavorful and moist.

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[worth1]

This is part of them.
It's so time consuming and labor intensive.
But he reward is so worth it.
These are really good.

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[worth1]

I just saw a video where they made Al pastor tamales.
They even put pineapple in the masa as well as the filling.
If you haven't had good Al pastor it's a real must to have.
Then to put it together as a tamale has just gotta be over the top.

[worth1]

Just discovered I had about all the ingredients to make a version of these tamales Al Pastor.
And without any real work.
Just modifying the red pork filling with the needed spices and such of which are.
Ground ginger.
Ground cinnamon.
Mexican oregano.
Ground clove.
Crushed pineapple and juice.
No orange juice on hand so I used orange extract.
Just tasted it and it really is over the top.
Now I have to add crushed pineapple to the masa i pre made the other day.

[worth1]

Field improvised tamale steaming kettle.
Had to move up to my 16 quart kettle.
In Mexico many people use round rocks.

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[worth1]

There's over 50 tamales in the steamer ready to go.
So far I've made over 100 tamales by myself.

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[worth1]

@worth1 my Mexican restaurant is a 10 table hole in the wall restaurant run by a Mexican/American family. Their food is the best I have ever tasted including my trips to Mexico. Your tamales might be better but I can guarantee that if I tried to make them they wouldn't be as good as theirs.

No I'm sure theirs are better than mine.
My reference was to the run of the mill TexMex restaurants we have too many of here that don't really make tamales.
You can always tell.
The very best sometimes are of the local tamale makers that sell out of an old truck or trunk of a car.

Not trying to outdo anyone but showing how a simple person such as myself can accomplish this feat with good results.
If I can do it, anyone can.

[worth1]

Put timer on 1 hour and 30 minutes for steaming.
Then as timer went off I turned heat off and stepped back.
Waiting for giant kettle to cool off on its own.
No testing of tamales.
The reason for the longer steaming time is due to the volume and crowding of tamales.
Due to experience this should work.
Let's hope so.

[worth1]

While we're waiting for the tamales to finish I'm going to show y'all something.
In the forthcoming picture you will see tamales on the package of masa I use.
Some tamales will be the regular ones you think of and the others will be green.
On a video from America's test kitchen these two gal's say that the green ones are from green corn husks.
This isn't true.
They are tamales made with banana leaves.
My point is don't take for truth what America's test kitchen has to say.
Do your research.
And research some more.

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[worth1]

The test tamal.
I had two tamales that had no filling, this is one of them.
Pretty authentic as not all tamales come with meat.
As a matter of fact the pineapple is from the America's and spread throughout the world by way of the Columbian exchange.
This test tamal came out really tasty without meat and possibly something they ate way back when.

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[worth1]

The real deal and OMG it is so tender moist and delicious.
All the flavors you could ask for.
Pineapple, cinnamon, clove, sweet, pork, hot chilie pepper savory, salty and so much more.
I couldn't have done this on my own without the countless Mexican tamale queens that taught me so much on how to make tamales.
Thanks to you all.

Folks I honestly have tears in my eyes they are so delicious.
The best tamales I have ever made and or had.

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