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MEXICAN TAMALES

Source of Recipe

Cousin Nora


List of Ingredients

10 lbs. Pre-Mix Masa (Salt)
2.5 lbs lard
5 �8 Chiles (chile Ancho)
10 � 12 lbs. Boneless pork legs
2 pkgs. Dried corn husks
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 chicken boullion
chili powder
cumin seasoning



Recipe

Separate corn husks and pick out the hairs and bugs. Be careful not to rip husks. Soak corn husks in very hot tap water. Use a plastic grocery bag (doubled), place husks inside and cover with water, tie the top closed, let sit.

Boil chiles in a pot of hot water. Boil until very soft. Discard water in pot, pull out the stems and seeds and veins. Place chiles in blender with 1cup cold water. Liquify. Set aside.

Cook meat in large pot of water. Add garlic, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until meat can be separated (shredded) with two forks. (I usually cook the meat the night before I am ready to make the tamales.)

Shred all of the meat into fine pieces. Fry meat in two large spoons of lard. Season with chili powder and cumin to taste. Add � of the chiles sauce and fry a little longer. Remove from heat.

Mix 5lbs. Of the masa at a time with the remaining chile sauce and two large spoons of lard and a little of the juice from the meat. The more you mix this, the better it is.

Dry a few corn husks at a time and place near the mixed masa. Spread the masa thinly on fatter half of husk. Fill with a spoonful of meat (in the center lengthwise) and fold one end over the meat and then the other. Then fold up the tail. Pinch the top together (sometimes it will open up, that�s o.k.).

Fill tamale pot with water just to rack. Place bowl (not plastic) upside down in the center. Stand up tamales around the bowl (pinched or open side up). Fill pot � full with tamales. Cover and cook for 1 hour on top of stove.

Tamales are done when the masa pulls away from the husks easily, if it sticks, they are not done yet.

If you do not have a tamale pot, use a large pot, put a rack in the bottom and fill with water just till it touches the rack, place the bowl upside down on top of the rack and stand up the tamales around the bowl. Place a small wet kitchen towel on top and then a plastic grocery bag on top of that and cover with the pot lid. Cook for 1 hour on top of stove.