You may not remember Quinn’s journal entry on page 55 but I sure do. Why? Because I based part of it on one of my own real-life experiences, and let me tell you… It was a hysterical one! Let’s start off with Quinn’s journal entry:
Friday, May 26, 2023
Note to self:
Things have been going so well at home. Mom and I have kept up our weekly dates—sometimes doughnuts, other times the movies. We even started trying to make new foods together, despite our epic fail at homemade tamales. Dinner conversations with the three of us have become normal by anyone’s standards. We can even mention Troy’s name and honor his place in our lives without having an unhealthy chaos storm afterwards.
Ahhhh yes. The epic fail of an attempt to make tamales from scratch. It’s time to provide the inspiration behind this little detail.
Let’s break today’s tale down this way:
- story
- best part
- recipe
- notes for next time
THE STORY
Back in 2004, my husband and I were newly married and living in our first home in California. Wanting to be the best wife I could possibly be, I decided to surprise Jason one evening with homemade tamales. I had heard time and time again over the course of our four-year relationship that his Nana’s tamales were the absolute best. Unfortunately, in her older years, she could no longer spoil the family with her delectable dishes.
Challenge accepted.
Enter scene: Erica, the new bride with ZERO schema. At that point in my life, I had never eaten a tamale, and honestly, I wasn’t even sure I had ever seen one.
At the time, my husband worked a shift that landed him home around 9:00pm. Knowing my skills in the kitchen (or lack thereof), I smartly tripled the expected recipe time. I gave myself a bit of a cushion and got to work at around 6:30.
Looking back, I should have known after the looks I earned at the grocery store that maybe, just maybe, I was in over my head. Not only did I need assistance finding the ingredients, but I didn’t even recognize the husks for what they were when the clerk pointed them out to me.
Let’s just fast forward. Let’s zoom right past the fact that I didn’t have the electric mixer. Let’s pretend not to see the splatters on the kitchen wall or hear the not-so-ladylike phrases that were exploding from my mouth. Let’s imagine that the flour all over my face and hair were actually endearing, and let’s picture my husband’s face when he walked in and happened upon the disaster with all five of his senses.
The kitchen was in total disarray. There were dishes and utensils everywhere, next to globs of half-mixed ingredients smeared on every surface. The only thing that looked worse than the kitchen was my husband’s bride.
Okay, so, enter scene: Jason, the guy who grew up eating authentic Mexican food and who was already a master in the kitchen.
There I was, completely unaware of my husband’s presence, finally scooping my first spoonful of pseudo-filling into the tamale husks. I’m going to repeat that, because surely you missed the important letter there. I was filling tamale husks. As in the plural of husk.
I thought the stack of husks was ONE husk.
As I was painfully trying to fold the first masterpiece, which was certainly an impossible task, my husband lovingly greeted me with a gentle rub on the back. I can only imagine the giggles he was trying to stifle as he delicately suggested that I remove one husk layer to fold. When he demonstrated this, the lightbulbs went off and I was instantly mortified by how ridiculously clueless I was. Of course, I burst into tears. Well, first I balled up the tamale and chucked it in the sink in a pitch that would have made an MLB player proud, and then I burst into tears. (I wasn’t as mindful as Quinn in my younger years, haha!)
Needless to say, we had fast food that night for dinner.
But wait. It gets better.
THE BEST PART
A few weeks later, when Jason and I were visiting with his family, I mentioned to Nana that I tried making tamales. She immediately tried to change the topic of conversation, and when I didn’t let up, she pulled me aside for a private chat. Can you guess where this is going? Because I couldn’t! I was totally blindsided…
As it turns out, Nana hadn’t made tamales in AGES. She had been buying them from a lady downtown who made them from scratch in her kitchen. My mouth fell to floor in utter disbelief as I processed Nana’s secret, but only for a moment before the two of us shared a special moment of the heartiest laughter. To this day, this is one of my fondest memories of our sweet Nana.
THE RECIPE
https://tastesbetterfromscratch. com/mexican-tamales/
Simple step-by-step instructions for making authentic Tamales filled with pork, chicken or beans and cheese and cooked on the stovetop or in the instant pot.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Author: Lauren Allen
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 4 cups Masa Harina
- 3 cups broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable broth)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/3 cups lard
- 8 ounce package dried corn husks
Filling ideas:
- Red chili pork
- Salsa verde chicken See notes for recipe
- bean and cheese See notes for recipe
- Authentic Mexican Rice , for serving, optional
Instructions
- Soak the corn husks in a bowl of very hot water for 30 minutes or until softened.
- Prepare desired fillings*.
- Make the tamale dough: In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the lard and 2 tablespoons of broth until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Combine the masa flour, baking powder, salt, and cumin in a separate bowl; stir into the lard mixture and beat well with an electric mixer.
- Add the broth, little by little to form a very soft dough. Beat on high speed for several minutes. The dough should spread like creamy peanut butter and be slightly sticky.* Cover the mixing bowl with a damp paper towel, to keep the dough from drying out.
- Assemble the tamales: Lay a corn husk, glossy side up, on the counter with the wide end at the top. Scoop about ¼ cup of dough onto the top, center of the corn husk. Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the dough and use your hands to press and spread the masa into a thin layer, about 1/4 inch thick. Keep the dough spread along the top half of the corn husk to allow plenty of room to fold the bottom husk up, when it’s time. Remove plastic wrap.
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of desired filling in a line down the center of the dough. (You don’t want too much filling).
- Fold in one long side of the husk over the filling. Fold in the other long side, overlapping the first (like folding a brochure). Fold the bottom of the husk up.
- Tying tamales (optional): You don’t have to tie a corn husk string around the tamales–it does take more time and they will hold together without it. However, if you’re making multiple fillings, tying ones of a certain kind can help to identify them.
- Cook on the stove-top or Instant Pot: Add water to the bottom of your steamer or instant pot. (About 1 cup for IP and a few cups for a steamer pot—don’t fill above the steamer rack.) Lay a few extra corn husks on the bottom rack to keep the tamales from falling through and any boiling water from directly touching them.
- Place tamales standing upright, with their open end up, just tightly enough to keep them standing. If using a steamer pot, lay a few soaked corn husks or a wet towel over the top of the tamales before closing the lid.
- Steamer: Bring water to a boil (in Mexico they would often place a coin at the bottom of the steamer and when the coin started to tap in the pot you know the water was boiling.) Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and steam for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or longer. Check them after 45 minutes.
- Instant Pot: Cook on Manual/High Pressure for 25 minutes. Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, and then quick release.
- To test if the tamales are done: Remove one and try to pull the husk off. If the husk pulls away cleanly from the tamale they’re done. If the dough is still sticky or wet looking, cook them for 5-10 minutes longer and try again.
- Store leftover tamales in the refrigerator for 5-7 days depending on the freshness of your ingredients.
THE NOTES
- Purchase from store.
- Drive home.
- Heat tamales.
- Eat.
Pro-tip! Use paper plates to avoid dishes.
I hope you enjoyed my tragic tale! It’s been over two decades, though, so perhaps it’s time I try again. If you decide to give this a go, please let me know! I’d love to hear how your tamales turn out.
Best,
Leave a Reply