The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

We 3 gmas made tamales for Christmas!

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

We 3 gmas made tamales for Christmas!

The lead in photo is Barb's first ever homemade tamales... She and Helen both made tamales for the first time... and they both made pork... She did a marvelous job meandering outside of her comfort zone.

Helen made her's with her daughters and granddaughter, thus starting a new family tradition... They made about 90 or so of these ...

 Nice looking tamales here too... fun times!!

 My tamales are Chicken and Green Chili... I made plenty for later... we like them rather thick... so my recipe ended up making 42 out of 2 pounds of chicken breast. 

  Just a word of warning... If you happen to wet down too many corn husks... DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRY THEM OUT IN YOUR CLOTHES DRYER!!! On the other hand, I may have discovered how corn flour... or corn starch can actually be made without a grain mill!!! One day, I will look back and laugh... actually any day, I can look back and laugh.. LOL... 

Happy Baking, Everyone... Hoppin John, Cornbread and Greens for the new year... tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TFLOAFIANS.

Barbra, Diane* and Helen

Here is her picture.

Comments

linder's picture
linder

Oh, those tamales would not last long in our house.  We made a bunch with one of my husband's friends from work.  We took 2 dozen home with us, kept one dozen out froze a dozen.  We ate all 24 of them in about a week.  They are so tempting!

Enjoy!

Linda

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I know what  you mean.. we have gone through all we left out of the freezer... will TRY to hold off til tomorrow to pull out more. Thanks for the kind words.

Diane

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

for Christmas!  They are so tasty and 2/3rds of the GMA's live within horse shoe pitchin' distance of Mule Shoe Texas  where the very best tamale masa comes from...you are so lucky.  We love chicken ones, carne asada ones, pork ones, carmitas ones, corn veggie ones, fish one, green chili ones red chili ones, mole ones and any other kind of tamale!  Yours look great.

The cloths dryer escapade is a classic!.  I just put them in the freezer, knock the ice off of them when they get frozen and then leave them in the freezer till the next tamale marathon.

I have some fresh banana leaves, enough to make a 10 person tent,  in the fridge to make a gazillion tamals for New Year's and you can't eat the New Year's Panettone properly.... unless you have a decent tamal to go with it :-)  It is an odd New Year's tradition, I know, but it can't be broken - just like a New Year's resolution.

Love your Christmas Tamals GMA's - Can't wait to see your amazing Twisted Sister baking next year.

Happy New Year to you and yours

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

Not sure I'd consider Muleshoe to be quite that close to Ft Worth and Burleson; a five and a half or six hour drive as I recall; add about an hour if coming from the Whiterock/Lakewood area in Dallas. If you made an early start, you might beat them there.

cheers,

gary

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

of tamales... no seeds???? LOL... sounds like you really do get into the tamale making... yeah... freezing the wet ones would have made MUCH more sense... needless to say... what I "dried" had to be tossed... eh... thrown out after they were tossed... I am still laughing at my stupidity... that was definitely a Lucy moment...no insult intended to your Lucy... she wouldn't have made that mistake...

Thanks for the good words... looking forward to your bakes and creativity this next year... we learn so much from you... like the above mentioned way to keep the husks going... banana leaves hmmmm.... sounds more like CA than AZ... LOL

Happy Happy, Diane

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Some educated professor types think that they could have originated from around 8,000 BC,  The tropical places of Mexico where bananas and plantains grow  Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, and the Yucatán Peninsula especially, plantains and banana leaves are the preferred wrapper for tamals.  They each lend their own flavor like  corn husk does.   With banana leaves you cam make my favorite; a red pork mole tamal that is a foot square and weighs at least a pound - not for the feint hearted!

Happy new Year!

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I love tamales but have not made them myself yet.  Looks and sounds like you all had fun and they must have tasted great.

Have a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Regards,
Ian

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

Thanks for the greeting. I hope this new year is abundant for you and yours. We so enjoy visiting with everyone here.

Happy New Year,

Diane

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

Still have a dozen in the freezer, but there's only one of me. :-D

Good stuff. Half a dozen plus huevos con papas in tortillas equals the perfect breakfast.

cheers,

gary

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

I didn't even know Mules wore shoes... love these Texas names... Dallas, Haltom City and Granbury are so easy... might have to check out that Masa factory... Need Texas Day trips... LOL... Thanks for getting the curiosity going, DAB... Thanks Gary... you know now I am looking up the "con papas"... I know huevos are eggs. Alrighty then... been making potatoes, eggs, and chorizo for years and didn't know what it was REALLY called...kinda like muleshoe... I just love the things I am learning here.

I am signing off now to fix breakfast for supper.

See ya later, Diane

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

"might have to check out that Masa factory... Need Texas Day trips..."

That would be a lo-ong day trip to Muleshoe. The south-west side of FtW used to have a plethora of tortilla factories. Most, if not all made their own masa fresh on site. They would simmer dry corn in lime water (Calcium carbonate) to 1) cook the corn, 2) swell the kernels to remove the pericarp (the hard outer skin), and to convert niacin to a usable form. Masa is dough. What you buy in the store has been dried.

It may be that you can buy some  fresh from one of the local factories. If you're really wanting fresh, you could always make the hominy yourself. ;)

g

gmagmabaking2's picture
gmagmabaking2

The Masa I bought at HEB was just fine and the crazy good thing was ... for each bag of corn husks you bought you got a free 4 lb. bag of Masa... that's what I love about Texas!!! LOL

Didn't know that masa was basically dried and ground hominy... I am blessed to know you expert people...

Happy New year, Diane