Tamales
Tamales
8 oz. dried New Mexico red chile (whole chiles preferred to powder)
8 oz. dried corn leaves
6 lb. fresh coarsely ground masa
3-4 lb. fresh pork roast (shoulder or butt)
1-2 lb. chicken bones/beef tendon (to help broth jell)
garlic
star anise
cumin
oregano
flour
lard
salt and pepper
Cover pork roast, chicken bones, 1 T. salt, and star anise with water. Cook until tender. When cool, debone and cut into small chunks, mixing all meats together. Dice pork skin finely. Keep some fat also. Save broth for masa. Need 8-10 C. meat plus fat & 2-3 qts. broth.
Soak dried chile until soft. Remove veins and seeds so chile won’t be too hot (optional). Put in blender for 30 seconds. Strain to remove tough skin.
Melt 2 T. lard in 6 qt. pan on low-medium heat. Don’t scorch. Add 3 T. flour. Keep stirring and add: 1 t. crushed oregano, 1 t. cumin, 3 cloves crushed garlic, 1 t. salt. When mixture is lightly browned, lift out and put aside. Using same pan (don’t wash), render fatty meat & drain excess oil. Brown meat, lightly tossing. Add more oregano and cumin & salt to taste. Lift out and put aside. Note: Be careful not to scorch. Toasted flour is the KEY to tasty chile!
Put toasted flour mixture back into pan. Add liquid chile sauce and bring to boil. Careful, it pops. Add meat. After coming to boil, cool and refrigerate overnight. Need 8-10 C. of chile-meat filling.
Prepare masa in small batches. ¾ C. lard + 2 T. salt for each 3-lb. batch. Whip lard till fluffy. Alternately add masa (breaking into small chunks), salt and broth. Careful, it splashes. It’s ok if broth is cold and jelled. Masa should be consistency of thick oatmeal. Refrigerate overnight. Note: When ordering masa, specify “coarsely-ground for tamales”.
Soak leaves in water overnight. Place open leaf in palm of hand, narrow end of leaf away from body. Spread 1/8” layer of masa along bottom half of wide part of leaf. Leave 1” margin on sides and bottom. Place generous 1 T. chile-meat mixture in center of masa. Fold along grain of leaf to cover meat and fold other side over on top. Fold in half across the grain.
Line steamer with broken leaves. Place shallow bowl in center so tamales will be elevated at slight 15 degree incline.
Steam for 1-2 hours (depending on how solidly tamales are layered in steamer). Carefully lift out and stack flat on tray. Can be gently reshaped at this time. Eat immediately. Yummy! Refrigerate or freeze. Re-steam individually.
