Robert-R
TVWBB Diamond Member
After attending and certifying at Tamale Skool (https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?76220-Tamale-Skool), I decided it was time to put my new learning to use.
Tamales 101:
Purchased the masa from the store that held the tamale class - 4 1/2 pounds. Made a chili colorado paste to season (overnight) some smoked shredded brisket and pulled pork for filling.
Had a tamale party the next afternoon with my wife and her twin sister.
We made 6 beef, 6 pork and 6 jalapeno cheese tamales. It was a lot of fun and also a mess.
Forgot to take pix of the party or the assembly of the tamales.
Steamed them for 1 hour 20 minutes.
Out of the steamer!
Time to eat!
They tasted better than they looked - the beef and pork were a bit on the dry side, though.
Tamales 102:
There was enough masa and meat fillings left to make more tamales, so the next morning I decided to use it up.
After reviewing the recipe for the colorado paste, I realized I left out the water in the original batch. Which explained (to my mind) the dryness of the beef and pork tamales. I made a new batch of the paste and mixed it into the leftover fillings. We had all struggled with spreading the masa and the tamales looked like it. This time I just used my fingers lightly moistened with water to spread the masa. This worked much better. Ended up with 9 more tamales.
Out of the steamer and onto the plate:
Out of the husks:
Time to eat!
¡Mucho mejor! And a few left for another time.
Still lots to learn about making tamales - it's an enjoyable process and I can see many possibilities for the future.
Tamales 101:
Purchased the masa from the store that held the tamale class - 4 1/2 pounds. Made a chili colorado paste to season (overnight) some smoked shredded brisket and pulled pork for filling.

Had a tamale party the next afternoon with my wife and her twin sister.
We made 6 beef, 6 pork and 6 jalapeno cheese tamales. It was a lot of fun and also a mess.
Forgot to take pix of the party or the assembly of the tamales.
Steamed them for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Out of the steamer!

Time to eat!

They tasted better than they looked - the beef and pork were a bit on the dry side, though.
Tamales 102:
There was enough masa and meat fillings left to make more tamales, so the next morning I decided to use it up.
After reviewing the recipe for the colorado paste, I realized I left out the water in the original batch. Which explained (to my mind) the dryness of the beef and pork tamales. I made a new batch of the paste and mixed it into the leftover fillings. We had all struggled with spreading the masa and the tamales looked like it. This time I just used my fingers lightly moistened with water to spread the masa. This worked much better. Ended up with 9 more tamales.
Out of the steamer and onto the plate:

Out of the husks:

Time to eat!

¡Mucho mejor! And a few left for another time.

Still lots to learn about making tamales - it's an enjoyable process and I can see many possibilities for the future.
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