When we were buying ingredients for our corn tortillas at Fiji Market in Newtown, this bag of tamale flour caught my eye.
“Oooh, look, tamale flour! Let’s try making those!”
“Babe, we have never eaten a tamale. Actually, we’ve never
even seen one. We’re not even really sure how to pronounce
the word. How are we supposed to make them?”
“Aww, c’mon Petey, how hard can it be?”
Sigh. My husband and I have a lot of conversations like this.
There is, of course, a great art to making tamales. And it helps if you have the right ingredients to start with.
We didn’t have any lard.
We didn’t have any corn husks.
We did, however, have a bag of tamale flour, some leftover nachos topping, a couple of Mexican cookbooks and a healthy measure of enthusiasm. Surely that would be enough?
In place of the lard, I thought I’d try using my frozen duck fat. Unfortunately, an integral part of the recipe is to beat the lard or vegetable shortening until light and fluffy. And as room temperature duck fat is a liquid, that actually proved impossible to do. I presume the process incorporates air into the batter, as the instructions went on to say that the mixture should be beaten until a small ball of it was light enough to float in a glass of water.
I beat that sucker to within an inch of its life, but it kept sinking like a stone.
Thomasina Miers’ cookbook suggested that the tamales could be wrapped in parchment paper and foil instead of corn husks. This bit actually worked well, although I had no idea how much mixture was supposed to go into each one…
The little parcels were steamed over a vigorously boiling pot for just over an hour. And, despite our complete ignorance, the end results were quite tasty.
So here are our duck fat, parchment wrapped, nachos-topping filled “tamales”…
To tamale purists everywhere, our humble apologies. Please feel free to quote this post as an example of how not to make tamales! (But we did have fun!)
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Ha, you rock. We have conversations like that. Today, in fact, I insisted I was going to make some cobnut marzipan. But surely it didn’t need eggs, no no, so an eyebrow raised but compliant Pete helped me blitz the nuts in my loan Thermomix. Then we mixed in some honey. But no amount of squishing would make the stuff come together all soft and pliant like. No! So, I got pete to squish it into a pretty flat cake shape and shoved it in the fridge, in clingfilm. I guess I’ll try it again with egg white, at some point, as all the recipes (for almond marzipan) on the web suggest. Snort!
Thou art a true kindred spirit, my friend. :)
I’ve never made them either. Although my mother loved them and kept talking about the delicious hot tamales she had when she was a maid in California for a very wealthy couple. The laundress was Mexican and invited my mother over for dinner on their days off. She said this lady mixed up the dough in an old wooden bowl and they were wonderful. But she didn’t have a recipe and had my mom never made them for us. Yours look good. My dil makes them with corn husks- they’re good!
Heidi, that does sound amazing for your mum! I’ve found a source for dried corn husks, so we might try again.. :)
Celia if you hadn’t said that yours weren’t really authentic I would have been none the wiser. They sure look delicious.
I have conversations like that all the time though usually it’s Will saying ‘where are you going to put it?’
Aah Claire, give that new hubby of yours a few years. After a while they give in and stop trying to fight it, and then turn their energies to figuring out ways to store all our “must have” purchases.. :)
Look up Mexican food safari on YouTube, they make tamales…they look yummy still!! :-)
Oh now that’s a good idea, thank you! I missed that episode!
I would just let people think they were the ‘real’ thing, they look pretty good to me! I don’t like to let reality squash my enthusiasm, half the fun is in experimenting and you learn a lot by your ‘mistakes’ :)
Becca, there is a fabulous quote from Adam Savage on Mythbusters…”I reject your reality, and substitute my own!”. :D
Littlej says that to me ALL the time!!
They look wonderful to me! I made Dan Lepard’s pita bread instead of nan to have with a curry Monday night; they puffed up like ballons were gorgeous silky soft and himself said he didn’t like the shape…..and refused to eat them………..I felt tempted to tie the remaining pita’s together and strangle him. However, the moment soon passed.
They sound amazing, Elaine! Can’t believe your other half turned them down! :)
Given you didn’t have lard and your didn’t have corn husks, I think these turned out amazingly well and they look like they were packed with flavour. It’s good to branch out into new territory and you certainly did. I certainly have never attempted a tomale! xx
Thanks Charlie, they were very nice. Unorthodox perhaps, but nice. :)
You created a new dish, no apologies needed. Your inquiring mind needed to know what if duck fat was used instead and what if parchment and foil were used to wrap instead, You liked and end results and so you succeeded. That’s how new recipes come about.
Norma, you are very kind to be so encouraging, thank you! I wasn’t unhappy with the end result, but I did think it was probably a bit rich to be calling it a “tamale”.. :)
Give the dish a different but unique name.
The Chinese makes something similar, called “jung”, using rice (grains) instead of (the) flour and bamboo leaves as the wrapper.
Norma, I grew up on bah jung – my Hokkien grandmother’s speciality. Now that is something I’ve never tried making – I have memories of them being massive amounts of work. But they were my absolute favourites, and A-Mah used to make them just for me, bless her. The “tamales” actually reminded me a bit of jung, or lor mai kai… :)
Hi Celia, your tamales look very yummy! And I always enjoy reading your stories.
I have been awarded the Illuminating Blogger Award (http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/) and would like to pass it on to you. It’s an award for illuminating and informative blogs. And I think your blog more than qualify that! :)
Thank you! That’s very kind of you! :) The “tamales” were great fun – I think we’ll have another go after I’ve done a bit more research…
wow! they look amazing! You are a brave woman. I have only tried once, and was exhausted afterwards….so I wait to come back to Mexico to enjoy them instead. But you have inspired me now! I shall try again! This trip I have encountered a new style tamal: you mix the dough with the filling (chopped carrots, capsicum in a couple of colours and cheese -panela, a fresh cheese that doesn’t melt) then use this mix to stuff ‘chiles poblanos’ (sold in tins in Australia, then wrap in banana leaves and steam). They were served with a creamy cheese sauce. Was amazing!
Maria, they sound amazing! The “tamales” were an adventure! I’ve just discovered Fireworks Foods – http://www.fireworksfoods.com – which apparently stocks heaps of authentic Mexican supplies. Haven’t bought anything from them yet, but I’m eyeing off the blue cornflour!
You are amazing Celia – and you had me laughing out loud at an early hour of the morning…no mean feat!
Ha! I’m glad you got a giggle, Sally, the whole thing tickled my funny bone too. Pete walked out near the end of the process and said, “hey, where did that steamer basket come from?” and I had to reply, “I have no idea, I just found it on that high shelf in the pantry..”. Things just seem to magically appear in this house! :)
Good for you Celia! I think you guys did a stellar job! Wonder if butter would have worked in place of the duck fat? Then again, the duck fat did a perfectly good job – never know, you may be famous for it one day…
:-) Mandy
Mandy, Pete keeps going on about using vegetable shortening, but I think given the choice I would prefer to use lard. I think butter is a good idea, but for some reason no-one mentions it. We could certainly beat it until light and fluffy. Himmm…thanks for the suggestion!
Brave blogger you! :)
“Brave” isn’t the word my husband used, Sue.. ;-)
They look pretty good!
Thanks Deb! I thought so too. Then again, I have no idea what they actually supposed to look like! ;-)
Your tamales look spot on! ¡Que sabrosa! My hub buys them from a mom at his school for a buck a piece. Tamales are, from what I hear, a tremendous amount of work. Most of the hispanic families around here make them only for holidays. They are on my short list of things that I will never try to make.. tamales, bouillabaisse and puff pastry. Everything else is fair game. :-) Maz
Really? Thanks Maz! I still haven’t made bouillabaisse or puff pastry yet, although puff is probably on my list of things to try. Not in any urgent hurry though!
They look great! I had some while in Argentina and they look just like that! I’ll have to email you a copy of the photo!
Please do! Or better still, give me the link to your post! Thanks L.. x
Well done. I have only eaten tamales once or twice, not sure I would want to try them at home.
Liz, that’s once or twice more than us! ;-)
As long as you had fun and they tasted good that is all that counts :)
Tandy, we had great fun, and a good laugh! :)
This is new for me and seems so nice… Thank you dear Celia, love, nia
Ah Nia, you’re always so kind, thank you! :)
You didn’t fail at making a tamale, you made something else. The cutting edge of culinary innovation. Weren’t Brownies a ‘failed chocolate’ cake?
Thanks Cosmo! You’re right of course, we made a duck fat flavoured steamed corn thingy. And it was very nice too.. ;-)
I had a good LOL at that too Celia – and I love that quote, except I would embelish it with “Pah” i reject your reality….etc (in a French accent, teehee). Even your ‘failures’ look delicious Celia.
Thanks Jan! They were all eaten without complaint! :)
Ooooooo. Tamales! Yep – haven’t a clue either, Celia.
Have made them once using masa harina, but my not having tried the real deal, I don’t really know how I did.
Part of a vegan dish, I served them along side a black bean chili.
Hus wouldn’t touch them, please yourself! (So you’re lucky to have Pete)
But he loved the vegan chili bean carne.
Your tamales look super.
Ah Grilly, someone else who tried flying blind with these, glad to know we’re not the only ones! It was a fun project! :)
Oh Celia, you’re just too much of a perfectionist – they sure look great. That’s the same brand of masa that I use over here – and I’ve always thought that tamales were a little challenging, if not just time consuming. But one of my fondest memories of spending winters in Mexico was buying tamales from the back of a pickup truck as he cruised the neighborhood – nice.
Somewhere buried in my blog archives is a recipe for shrimp tamales, which I, and most of my Mex friends, consider the best of the many kinds of tamales.
Doc, perfectionism requires an understanding of the final goal, and as I mentioned, we had no clue. :) I’m going to hunt through your archives, thank you!
Celia you are too funny :-) I reckon with enthusiasm you can pretty much achieve anything. Mr Chocolate’s mum makes tamale type things with mushy corn… I call them mushito’s ;-)
Brydie, you need to get Mr Chocolate to take you to Fiji Market in Newtown to stock up – all sorts of treasures in there! We really had fun with “Mexican week”.. :)
You know, these don’t look too bad.
Greg, you are very kind to say that, thank you! I, of course, have no idea whether they look good or bad. One friend told me there should have been more masa and less filling…
I’ve seen lots of tamales but I’ve never made any. You amaze me by your ingenuity and unfailing optimism. Total success!
Thanks Maureen! It’s always fun to play in the kitchen with things like this. And Pete had a good laugh as I was beating the living daylights out of the batter and cursing every time I dropped it into the glass of water.. ;-)
Honestly, these look pretty great! I’ve eaten tamales dozens of times, but I’ve never attempted them at home. You’re brave in the kitchen! I’m heading to the States for two weeks in Aug. Might have to get the Hispanic ladies who work with my mom to teach me proper tamale making… I’m feeling left out! :)
SK, you’ve done it now, you’ll have to go and learn and then come back and write a detailed blog tutorial for me! :) xx
You go girl…. they look great. dont think you can get corn husks any more can you???. You couldnt for a while. They look perfectly delicious. I wish I had a fellow food adventurer to cook with!!
http://www.mykitchenstories.com.au
Tania, thanks! I recently found this website from a link in the SMH (so I think it’s legit).. http://www.fireworksfoods.com.au
They sell corn husks and blue corn meal and all sorts of other Mexican treats! :)
Here’s the link to the SMH article:
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/cuisine/chicken-or-pork-20120602-1zod8.html
My husband, Peter & I also have the same discussions in our Asian supermarket! hahahahaha! But you 2 did try & make them! Good for you! I think they don’t look so bad!!
Thanks Sophie! :)
I’ve never been to Australia, so I don’t know how you buy them there, but aren’t you able to buy fresh corn still in it’s husks? They’re individual bits are smaller than the ones you buy, but you can overlap them, or make tiny appetizer size tamales.
These look pretty good to me, and I’ve been eating tamales all my life. I wouldn’t use butter, though, simply because it would not taste right. But, if you’re making something just to enjoy, and I do this all the time, tasting right to someone who’s used to the traditional taste isn’t really a requirement. Just tasting good to you is enough!
As for too much filling, some of the best tamales I’ve ever had were huge, at least 3 inches across, and the masa part was only maybe 10mm thick. Sorry for the mixed formats. I know mm from jewelry making, but cm I ‘d have to calculate. Let’s see, well, I can say roughly 75mm for 3in, makes, what 7.5 cm? LOL! Pitiful.
Ruthie, thanks for your encouraging comment! I’ve just found a place to buy the corn husks, so I’ll have to try again! And I work in both mm and inches (a byproduct of both jewellery making and sewing, actually :)), so I have to problem with mixed formats! :)