Musings, Recipes

Importing Tamales: It runs in the family

January 16, 2013 , 1 Manon Cooper

Manon’s winter break story is filled with TSA trials and tribulations, but her good humor and amazing cooking skills leads us once again to a fantastic recipe.

Every time my family and I go to France, my parents manage to bring the most outrageous things with them in the suitcases. A couple years ago for example, they were able to fit a Weber barbeque into the bags, accessories and all. We have one in California and my dad swears it’s the best outdoor grill on the market. He’d been wanting to introduce American, barbequed burgers to his French in-laws, so naturally, the Weber was the only way to properly do so. Interestingly enough, it turns out that the summer we imported the barbeque was the year that that particular brand and model became available in France. Oh well..

In other years past, my mom’s brought back fabric for curtains or crabmeat for crab cakes (we haven’t found good crab meat in France). One time she even tried to bring back a bottle of sake for the sushi night we’d been planning on having, but it didn’t go through security. The incident that really topped them all was when my mom bought a 9 x 12 foot rug for the living room and brought it to France. I still don’t understand how she was able to fold and fit it into a TSA-approved bag, but somehow it got through. The rug was, to be sure, a beautiful addition to the living room, but I think the hassle of that particular trip officially stopped my parents from bringing any more crazy things back to France.

Even though my parents have finally stopped importing crazy things, I always crave the foods I can’t have while in France, so I’ve now taken up their old task. I had extra room in my suitcase this winter, so the day before the flight I went out and bought a bunch of salsa, chili powder, Maseca, and cornhusks: we were going to make tamales. Little did I know what I would be getting myself into.

When I had decided to make tamales I knew it was going to be a time consuming process, but I had not anticipated it taking quite as long as it did. By God, it literally took forever. I mean, the preparation itself is pretty easy: you basically just stew the meat, mix together the dough (masa), and stir a chili preparation into the meat. But it’s the assembly that takes time. I guess part of the problem was that since I had so much meat I had to double the recipe, so I ended up having an incredible amount of masa to use up. Good thing I had bought the big bag of maseca and two cornhusk packages, because after a bowl-full of masa and 40 corn husks later I had only used up half of the meat filling and needed to make a new batch of dough. Finally, after a full afternoon of filling and folding cornhusks, victory was mine, and the freezer was full of chicken and beef tamales. All that was missing to have a perfect Mexican-themed dinner party was a couple of ripe avocados for guacamole and a fresh batch of margaritas.

So for those who are feeling adventurous, here is the recipe I used for the chicken and beef tamales. Though time-consuming, the final result is well worth the effort.

Chicken and Beef Tamales (adapted from María Teresa Bermúdez’s Mexican Family Favorites Cookbook)

Begin by soaking 2 bags-worth of cornhusks in water.

Chicken Filling

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken thighs and wings
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 whole garlic clove
• 1 small whole onion

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cover with water. Stew over medium heat until skin is easily removed from chicken, about 2 hours. Remove garlic clove and onion, drain and save all stock. Shred chicken by hand and reserve separately from stock.

Beef Filling

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs beef
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 whole garlic clove
• 1 small whole onion

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cover with water. Stew over medium heat about 2 hours. Remove garlic clove and onion, drain and save all stock. Shred beef by hand and reserve separately from stock.

Masa

Ingredients:

• 6 cups maseca
• 2 cups shortening (I used duck fat)
• 4 cups chicken stock (saved from stewing)

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and knead until smooth.

Chili

Ingredients:

• 10-12 tablespoons cooking oil
• 12 tablespoons flour
• 8-9 tablespoons chili powder (or more if you can tolerate spicy food; I can’t so this makes mild tamales)
• 8 cups chicken and beef stock (saved from stewing, you can use water if you run out of stock)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 4 garlic gloves, diced as finely as possible

Heat oil and flour in a medium-sized saucepan until it browns. While the flour browns, dissolve the chili powder in the stock and then add to the flour mixture. Bring to a fast boil, stirring constantly, and then reduce heat and add remaining ingredients. Add chili mixture to each reserved meat batch, cover, and let simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.

Assembly

Drain cornhusks and dry with a dishtowel. Spread about 2-3 tablespoons of masa into a rectangle shape in the middle of a husk and place about 1-2 tablespoons of meat mixture in the center of the masa rectangle. Fold over the longer edges of the husk to form a “tube” and then fold down the husk flaps. Repeat for remaining tamales. Can be frozen.

To cook, arrange tamales in an upright position and steam cook about 1 hour, or until the masa is firm and easily removed from the husk. Serve hot with salsa and guacamole.

Written by: Manon Cooper