A Christmas Tradition

My bride grew up in South Texas.  Corpus Christi, to be specific.  In her family, they had a Christmas tradition - making tamales.  One of the first times I visited, we made them.  Everyone lined up in the kitchen with a job to do.  I didn't know a thing about tamales other than how to eat them, but I'm always anxious to learn.

Although we don't make them every single year, we try to make them as often as possible.  This afternoon, as a family (Tricia, me, Russ & Benjamin) spent the afternoon making them.  Laura Lee wasn't here, but I assume she'll be involved in helping us eat them.  I'll show you what we did.

First, Tricia mixed up the masa with spices and broth and stirred it all together.  It smells really good!  That's a lot of masa - 10 cups.

For the meat, we used beef (a chuck roast, shredded) and chicken (thighs, deboned and shredded).  The meat was heavily seasoned and then broth poured in to keep it from drying out.

The corn husks are put into a sink full of warm water to soften them up a bit.  They need to be soft in order to roll up the tamales.

Normally in the past, to spread the masa on the corn husk, we'd use a butter knife or a big, flat spoon.  This year, we were trying out a new tool - a Masa spreader, made in Corpus Christi.  You simply scoop up roughly half a cup of masa on the edge...

And the nifty gadget smoothly and evenly spreads the masa onto the corn husk.

Tricia's assessment is that it makes the task of making tamales go by quicker.  I was spreading masa and she was adding the meat and rolling them and stacking, and she said she couldn't keep up with me.  As you can see, you add roughly a tablespoon of meat to the center of the corn husk.

Then you roll them up and bend the end of the corn husk over.  Then we stack the tamales in dozens.

When we were done, we had made 13 dozen!  We put a bunch in the freezer to freeze and we'll be cooking and eating some this week.

The masa spreader is going to take some practice.  I was probably putting the masa on too thin, so our meat ran out before the masa did.  Not to fear.  We devised a way to use up the extra masa.  We made some "refried bean and cheese" tamales!  A vegetarian option, I guess, even though we aren't even remotely vegetarians.

We had a good time together, laughing and visiting while we worked.  We'll have a good time together eating them, too!  It's a nice tradition.

Tamale Time! New Year's 2022

During the Christmas holidays, it was a family tradition in Tricia's household growing up to make tamales.  It was a family thing with all hands on deck.  Everyone had a job to do.  The kitchen was filled with energy as the Garcia family assembled to make tamales.  Indeed a family assembly line was formed up in the kitchen.  Not only a fun family event, but one that would yield an abundance of deliciousness that all would enjoy.

We've continued that.  Tricia taught me the intricacies of tamale-making.  I am far from knowing what I'm doing.  In fact, I'm still a novice, but there's an old saying about an old dog and new tricks...  It is New Year's and not Christmas, but we still made it happen.  Let's make some tamales!

It all starts with masa.  Tricia poured some organic corn masa in a big stainless steel bowl.

In the background, Tricia was cooking the meat for the tamales and made some broth and saved that to pour into the masa.

Once that was mixed in, salt, garlic, and chili powder were added and combined along with fats.  Tricia used beef tallow, coconut oil, and butter.  All this was stirred together.  The aroma of spices filled the air.

It was time to get the corn husks ready.

The corn husks were taken from the bag and soaked in warm water for 30 minutes.  This softens them up and makes them easy to work with.

Meanwhile, Tricia used dried whole peppers to make spices for the meat.  The peppers are cut, seeds removed and boiled in water for 5 minutes to reconstitute.

The peppers are then blended in a blender with lots of garlic.  Look at the beautiful color!

This pepper/spice mixture is poured into the meat along with black pepper and cumin.  The meat is a 2.5 pound beef roast and a 5 pound chicken.  It rendered 3.5 pounds of de-boned, cooked meat.

Stir it all in, taste it, and adjust spices.

Then it is time to start making the tamales!  Using a spoon or a butter knife, we spread masa on the softened corn husks - about halfway up.  This is a tricky task.  You don't want it too thick, but not too thin, either.

The next person on the assembly line adds a tablespoon of meat to the center.

Then the tamale is rolled up and folded over.  This process is repeated many, many times!

At the end of the evening, we had a big mess in the kitchen, but also 10 DOZEN tamales!  10 cups of dry masa produced 10 dozen tamales.  These are stacked by the dozen and are now ready to be cooked.

Now we cook them by stacking them atop a steamer in a bucket with water in the bottom and steam them for about two hours.  The tamales aren't sitting in the water.  They are above it.  As they steam, the kitchen fills with a wonderful aroma and everyone watches the clock until we can eat!

We covered the bucket (Rosie's old milking bucket!) with a lid with a weight on top.  Tricia used a molcajete turned upside down as the weight because that's how her mom did it.  A molcajete is a stone pestle and mortar used to grind fresh spices.

Now, you're not going to believe this, but I don't have photos of the finished product, because we were so busy eating, we forgot to take pictures.  Ain't that a shame.  We put tomato sauce or salsa or hot sauce on top and eat a bunch of them!  It was New Year's Eve and Russ' birthday, so we shared a toast of some Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider.

Happy New Year's, Everyone.  Oh, yeah, tamales freeze very nicely, so we have some put up in the freezer for future feasting!

Making Tamales - A Christmas Tradition

My bride is from Corpus Christi, Texas and while my heritage is Cajun, hers is Mexican-American.  A family tradition that she opened my eyes to was making homemade tamales around Christmas-time.  It was something that she grew up doing and she taught us to do.  (She didn't need to teach me to eat them.  I was pretty good at that already!)

Tricia grew up making pork/venison tamales.  This year she decided to make beef/chicken tamales.  She seasoned and cooked a Chuck roast and then sliced it up until it was pretty much shredded.

And she did the same with a chicken. Then she added broth to moisten and added chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper to season it up.  That will sit for a while as we put everything else together.

Corn husks are an essential in the tamale-making process.  Fortunately, we were able to get all the ingredients locally.  We soaked the corn husks in water to make them pliable.  Tricia mixed up some masa with broth to get the consistency right and added to that coconut oil, tallow and butter as the fat.  To season, she added chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to the masa.

Once the masa is the right consistency for spreading, it is time to begin putting the tamales together.  You need a butter knife.  Simply get a knife-ful and spread it evenly on about half of the corn husk.

There is a 'front' and a 'back' to the corn husk.  The back has ridges.  The front is smooth.  Spread the masa on the front side.  

Benjamin and I got into the action.  Once you get a few helpers, you can train them in the process and get an assembly line of sorts going.

Once we get a bunch of the corn husks with masa spread on them, we begin putting the meat on them, adding a tablespoon of the meat mixture on the tamales.

Folding the tamales up is the next step.  Tricia is a pro at this and she quickly folds them all up into neat, little packages of deliciousness.

In just a little while we have Nine and a half dozen of them put together and ready for cooking.

Tricia tied them up into bundles of six tamales and stood them up in a pot for cooking.  The tamales are steamed for 2 1/2 hours until done.

Now is the time to test them out.  We take them out of the corn husks, place on a plate and spoon a little tomato sauce on top.

DELICIOUS!  We'll eat them and then share these with family and friends.  The nice thing about tamales is that they freeze so well.  We can pop a dozen out to thaw as we have a tamale craving and can enjoy homemade tamales.

Reviving a Christmas Tradition - Making Tamales at the Garcia's

Back in THIS POST FROM 2016 we made tamales.  If you click on that post it will show the recipe.  The post this year is not to capture the recipe or the "how to" of making tamales, but hopefully will capture the sense of family togetherness and working together to accomplish a common goal.  It is about working hard, having fun, and enjoying each other's company - "Family!"

Tricia thought it would be a great idea to bring all of the ingredients to Corpus Christi to make Christmas tamales.  Tricia and her four brothers and her mom and dad made tamales growing up and have fond memories and Tricia wanted to get everyone involved again.

I like this first photo as it shows Tricia and her mom (my mother-in-law) working hard, putting the masa in a big bowl and then slicing garlic to season the tamale meat.

Mrs. Garcia is soaking the corn husks and trimming them just right - you don't want too much husk, but they can't be too small either, or there won't be enough husk to roll the tamale.

Tricia is working the masa after mixing in tallow and beef broth.  This job requires a lot of mixing and working to ensure the consistency of the masa if right.

After testing the masa, it is ALMOST right.  She'll add some more tallow and broth and then the process can begin!

Tricia's oldest brother, Orlando started the process by spreading the masa on the husk.  When Tricia was growing up, Tricia's dad would monitor the process to make sure there wasn't too much masa or too much meat on the tamales.  Portion control is important to make perfect tamales.  It takes a lot of practice to get good at making them. 

My job on Saturday was adding the meat.  I was using a tablespoon to measure out the tamale meat, putting it in a line in the center of the corn husk that was spread with masa.  You don't want to put it too close to the end.

Then you fold it over twice, pinch the end closed and fold over the other end.  Tricia was very good at doing this.

As you can see, it is a long assembly line of busy people, talking, laughing, and reminiscing about old times of making tamales in the past.  At different times, other family members join in the fun, cutting corn husks, soaking them, spreading masa, carrying the masa-spread husks to the end of the line, filling with meat, folding and placing on trays, and separating them by dozens.

It is important that all the grandchildren learn to do this so that they can keep the tamale-making tradition alive for generations to come.

Behold the Garcia-Sonnier tamale kitchen - a true staff of professionals

Before we knew it, we had 11 dozen tamales finished.  We let them 'rest' in the fridge and they'll be cooked on Christmas Eve. 

Unfortunately, I had to come back to Louisiana to go to work on Monday, but Tricia PROMISED me she'd bring me home one or two.  I can't wait!  I know they'll be delicious.  Apart from the anticipation of eating some delicious homemade tamales, we ALL had a great time making them ~ a great tradition of family togetherness!

Making Tamales

We have been wanting to make homemade tamales for a long time now and finally on Saturday, we did it!  Tricia is of Mexican heritage and she grew up making tamales.  In addition to being able to enjoy eating delicious tamales, it was a nice family tradition.  Everyone had a job to do.  We decided to incorporate this family tradition in our family.  Tricia called her mom and got some tips from the expert and then we got started.

We had a 9 pound (Bone-in) chuck roast from the steer that we butchered and we cooked it for four to six hours with onion, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper.  It yielded 3 1/2 pounds meat once we shredded it, removing the bone, reserving the broth and 1 pound (or 2 cups) fat.  We didn't throw away the fat, though. The fat or tallow is an important ingredient in making tamales.

That is a big chuck roast!

Tricia shredded the beef roast up real good, chopping it with a knife.

She moistened the meat with some of the broth and added chili powder, garlic, cumin and salt.

Then she began moistening her corn husks while we worked on other tasks.  The husks were weighted down so that they would get wet, making them easier to work with when we started rolling them.

She poured 8 cups of dry masa harina in a big bowl.  This is some non-GMO masa that she purchased from Azure Standard Co-op.

To the masa she poured 2 cups of warmed beef tallow, 6 cups of warmed beef broth, 4 teaspoons salt and chili powder.

Then she mixed it all up, kneading it with her hands until the consistency became just right.  She had to add a little warm water until the masa was perfectly workable.

Now here is where the fun part came.  To set the mood, we put some salsa and mariachi music playing in the background sung by Selena (who was from Corpus Christi where Tricia is from). Then the assembly line started. Tricia cut the corn husks after drying them and using a butter knife, we spread the masa onto the husks - not too thick and not too thin, enough to cover the husk.

Russ took one rounded teaspoon of meat and lined it a little to the right of center on the masa.

Then you simply roll it up, pinching the bottom and folding over the top of the corn husk.

It started off kind of slow, but Tricia told me that this old gringo (me) got pretty fast at it.  We stacked them in dozens off to the side.

When all was said and done, we had enough masa to make 7 1/2 dozen tamales. Our meat would have made about 8 1/2 dozen tamales had we not run out of masa. Now that we have our quantities figured, next time we'll make 10 dozen tamales and that should need 4 1/2 pounds meat, 11 cups of dry masa and 2 eight ounce bags of corn husks.

Of the 7 1/2 dozen we made, we decided to eat 2 dozen of them for supper.  We stood them up to steam them, adding water in the bottom and we allowed them to steam for 45 minutes.

Then, it was time to eat!  I kind of tore these up getting them out of the husk, so it is not a great picture, but you'll have to excuse me.  I was more ready to eat than I was at executing a really good picture.  We added some homemade salsa on top.  There wasn't much talking around the table as we were busy eating.  They were really good!  I think Tricia was pleased with the outcome.  I know we were.

Tamales freeze well, so we froze the remaining 5 1/2 dozen in the deep freeze. Tricia will bag these up in Zip Loc bags and we'll be able to thaw them, steam them and enjoy them again sometime soon.

Homemade tamales - a new tradition in our family.  Good to eat and a lot of fun to make!