Nicoletta and Annabelles Excellent Adventures

Okay so this is my first time updating this, and my writing is completely worthless compared to Annie's. So forgive me for terrorizing your eyes and internal voice with my horrible writing, but hey, at least the pictures will be cool!

Also, I was doing homework during this adventure, but Annie and my Mother really seemed to enjoy themselves. I greatly enjoyed the outcome too. They could have used to have been a bit greasier, but my Mom was very proud of herself. It was her first try, I told her she should continue to try and try and I'll eat all the test runs.

I remember when I was younger, living in San Antonio. We would get tamales in these big aluminum foil cylinders. Inside of the big cylinder, under several layers of foil, were the tamales. All bunched up together, sweating red, spicy deliciousness amongst themselves. These had been made by little Mexican ladies, this was their forte, their specialty. Corn husk. Masa. Carne. Roll. Wrap. Stack. And so on and so forth. We'd heat them up in the microwave in the husk, then flop out the little greasy package. Hot sauce or salsa was an acceptable topping. Sour cream? Uh...no. And don't even think about ketchup. I can't get tamales like that up here in Washington, they're just never the same as they are back home. Sigh. Anyways, enough reminiscing.

This story starts out...with a stock pot. We carried this certain stock pot 23.7 miles from Annie's place to mine, since I guess my Ma needed it to steam the tamales. This stock pot went to Pike Place with us, sat with us while we ate our bagel, got free comics with us on free comic book day, and got squished on the super crowded 101 bus out of Seattle.




This is the aforementioned stock pot. All filled with porky goodness that my Mom made before we got home. I know it's no hog head or anything, but it was still very good despite how lean it was. Also I remember thinking sometime during this process what would happen if bacon tamales were made into existence. Hmmm...I'll just let that idea sit on the back burner for a later date and time.



Here is my lovely Mother mixing the masa....I think. Again, remember I was doing lovely homework on surgical instruments at the time this was being done.



I really like this picture. Annie is looking at the masa in a way that implies she is getting great satisfaction from pummeling it into a rough mixture with her bare hands. She does like getting messy though.



I just asked my mom what the consistency was like for the finished masa. She compared it to tortilla readiness. Which means you should be able to get a handful, press it lightly, and have it stay together in a mass without crumbling, or being too wet. You just kind of have to get a feel for it.



Then they opened up a husk, stuffed the masa in, and spread it out some so that they could put the porky goodness inside.



Then you roll em up, and squish it together some.



Whoo! Look they made a crap load of them!

Okay so here is the part where things got a little difficult. My mother needed a vegetable steamer for the tamales, and Annie brought one with us, a silicone one. I guess the weight of all the tamales together made it sag, so there was a bit of freaking out while my Mum tried to figure out what to do. Eventually my Dad improved, drilling holes into a cake pan.



Then I guess my Ma needed string, but they didn't have any or something like that, so they improvised with non-flavored dental floss. Once again, this is the best relocation of what happened then I can muster, I was labeling Carmalt hemostats versus Ochsner Hemostats. Lame. I know.



Hey look! Boots the monkey is helping too! :D



The steamy steam is steaming them to perfection. While they were steaming we watched Detroit Rock City since I finished my homework. It was pretty much the most amazing thing ever. Annie and I watch the best movies and such.



The end result. Mmmm they were so good. Ma says she might be trying to make them again this upcoming weekend. I can't wait to try them again, and help make them too this time! I missed out on a lot of giggling and jokes, or at least it seemed like that from my spot behind my laptop at the table.



Alton Brown's Hot Tamales
For the meat filling:
Ingredients

* 1/4 cup chili powder
* 2 tablespoons kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon paprika
* 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
* 1 tablespoon garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon onion powder
* 2 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
* 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon freshly toasted and ground cumin seed
* 2 pounds Boston butt meat, untrimmed
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 large onion, finely chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

For the wrappers:

* 4 to 5 dozen dried corn husks

For the cornmeal dough:

* 2 pounds yellow cornmeal, approximately 6 cups
* 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 7 1/2 ounces lard, approximately 1 cup
* 3 to 4 cups reserved cooking liquid

For the meat filling:

In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, kosher salt, paprika, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper and cumin. Divide the mixture in half and reserve 1 half for later use.

Cut the Boston butt into 6 even pieces and place into a 6 to 8-quart saucepan. Add half of the spice mixture and enough water, 3 to 3 1/2 quarts, to completely cover the meat. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the meat is very tender and falling apart, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove the meat from the cooking liquid to a cutting board. Leave the cooking liquid in the pot. Both meat and liquid need to cool slightly before making dough and handling. Remove any large pieces of fat and shred the meat into small pieces, pulling apart with your hands or using 2 forks.

Place a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Once shimmering, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are semi-translucent, approximately 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeno, and remaining half of the spice mixture and continue to cook for another minute. Add the meat and cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

For the wrappers:

While the meat is cooking, place the husks in a large bowl or container and submerge completely in hot water. Soak the husks until they are soft and pliable, at least 45 minutes and up to 2 hours.

For the dough:

Place the cornmeal, salt, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and combine. Add the lard and using your hands, knead together until the lard is well incorporated into the dry mixture. Gradually add enough of the reserved cooking liquid, 3 to 4 cups to create a dough that is like thick mashed potatoes. The dough should be moist but not wet. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set aside until ready to use.

To assemble the tamales:

Remove a corn husks from the water and pat dry to remove excess water. Working in batches of 6, lay the husks on a towel and spread about 2 tablespoons of the dough in an even layer across the wide end of the husk to within 1/2-inch of the edges. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture in a line down the center of the dough. Roll the husk so the dough surrounds the meat, then fold the bottom under to finish creating the tamale. Repeat until all husks, dough and filling are used. Tie the tamales, around the center, individually or in groups of 3, with kitchen twine.

To cook the tamales:

Stand the tamales upright on their folded ends, tightly packed together, in the same saucepan used to cook the meat. Add the reserved broth from making the dough and any additional water so the liquid comes to 1-inch below the tops of the tamales. Try not to pour the broth directly into the tops of the tamales. Cover, place over high heat and bring to a boil, approximately 12 minutes. Remove the lid, reduce the heat to low, to maintain a low simmer, and cook until the dough is firm and pulls away easily from the husk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Serve the tamales warm. For a 'wet' hot tamale, serve with additional simmering liquid. Store leftover tamales, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, in the freezer, for up to a month. To reheat, remove the plastic wrap and steam until heated through.