The Tamales...
The day started like any other, clear skies and a great enthusiasm filled the air. I was going to make Tamales!
This all started on Dec. 23rd, when we went to our local tamale vendor and they were out of tamales. I was shocked! They have never run out. I actually stood there with my mouth ajar looking at them with "come on...you have tamales..stop messing with me" stare.
Hubby is gently tugging on my sleeve to guide me away from the counter. We get in the car and I instantly go into "omg!! No tamales on Christmas Eve??" He looks at me and says with confidence.."Hey why don't you make them?"
I pause...make tamales? Well hhmm..it's been on my list of things to try. Can't be any harder than the wellingtons eh?
The research starts for what I like to call the perfect tamale. Now considering I have no clue how to make them, but I know what I like in flavor the choices were narrowed down pretty easily. The recipe is picked and time to hit the store.
Time: 12:30pm
By 1:30pm I have all my ingredients.
By 2:15 I've made it thru the horrendous lines and heading to my car.
By 2:30 I am home. Unpack the ingredients and get started. Let's see well we have to cook the meat. I decided to go with all chicken since my daughter will only eat chicken and fish.
Thigh meat was the cut of choice since I knew it would be more moist than chicken breast. Two large packs of thighs go into 2 large pots of water, added to this was an onion each and a few black pepper corns and some kosher salt. Now while the recipe didn't call for these addtions I felt they were necessary. You only get one opportunity to get flavor into the meat and that's during the intial cooking process.
4:30pm the meat is done and now cooling on a platter. The skin is easily removed and the meat is so tender, well it's just perfect. I add the spice mixture and it's smelling good! This is where I ended for the day as I still had gifts to wrap and I wanted these to be cooked off on Christmas Eve.
Day Two -
Still have some running around to do and figure I need my tamales all in their little wrappers by 5pm so they have time to cook. Father in law and guests would be arriving around 3. Realizing the corn husks have to soak for a an hour or more I figure I'll get them soaking by 1:30 and should be good to go.
1:30 arrives and we're pulling in the driveway. I dash in and start filling the sink with good ol h2o and get the husks in. I have to weigh them down with plates to keep them submerged. Not knowing how many were in a pack I bought 4 packs and soaked em all.
2:30 time to make the masa filling. This was so fun. I love recipes that make me use my hands to squish, pound and mix stuff. The masa should be the consistency of peanut butter. Ok..here we go. Now keep in mine I have been cooking for a couple of days now and with the cold weather, lots of hand washing, well hands tend to get chapped. And then you put them into this flour mixture that has salt, chili powder and other spices and well...pain isn't the description I would use. Searing pain would be better. Way too late to think about gloves now, my hands are slowly getting numb I'll just push thru.
3:00 Masa is done, quick review of how to fill. They have hold a husk in your hand with the narrow end towards your fingers. I can do this...now let's pull out some husks and get started. Rut oh...seems only the outside husks are soaked enough to use. The ones in the middle by being weighted down didn't get any water exposure. And who knew they would be so random in size and shape?! Where's quality control! So I pull out the ones I can start using, drain the water and fill it again with hot water. Now after all this I've forgotten how to build the darn thing. Computer has gone into stand by mode, my fingers are all wet and sticky..no time..go go nose power. It's at that moment my daughter walks in with a friend of hers. I pause with my nose on the track pad, and she doesn't miss a beat. "My mom is very creative in the kitchen as you can see" and continues on her merry way. But at least the screen is back on and I can review the recipe.
3:30 a bit of concern as I'm now behind the time curve. But hey it's the holidays everyone can just chill and relax right? This is when it dawns on me...no one is here. I mean my father in law hasn't arrived yet. He's so on time you can set your watch by him. He's also 84 years old and my stomach drops. *ring* It's him...his foot is bothering him so much he's not going to make it out. Well no matter I say, is he up for visitors cause we can come to him?
He's thrilled! I told him what time to expect us and he's so happy we're willing to do this. I figure I'll roll the tamales put them in the steamer basket and bring the whole thing out there to cook.
4:45 I'm still rolling. "Honey call your dad and tell him we're gonna be a tad bit later."
5:15 Rolling is complete, steamer is tightly packed with 3 dozen tamales and they look wonderful! Seems I also have enough meat left over to make another batch so this promptly gets frozen.
5:20 Get the catsup (men!), some salsa...oh and some sour cream out of the fridge. I gather the ingredients for the salad and throw it all into a bag. Laura grab the gifts and get into the car! Derek, get that bag I'll grab the tamales. Everyone is heading to the car...I decide to make one more check on the recipe since I'm not taking my computer with me. Ok..Yes I have this..and that...good good...and steam for 20..no.. 2 hours?!?!?!? OMG no!! I thought I read they would take 20 minutes...So THAT'S why they take all day to make! Cause up to this point I'm like "sheesh what's the big deal?"
5:30 The depression hits. What am I going to do? Hubby comes back in as he sees me pacing in the kitchen window and I quickly tell them the situation. Everyone is planning on tamales!
5:45 We're in the car to head to my father in law's, Derek is on the phone with his dad telling him the situation and I can hear the convo. He's not upset at all! Heck we'll have them next time I come out! No worries.
No worries he says..I have 3 dozen tamales in my fridge waiting to release their goodness and I'm sitting here with a bucket of KFC chicken in my lap.
**side bar** On Christmas night when we got home from my folks I cooked the tamales off and they came out fantastic!!
The day started like any other, clear skies and a great enthusiasm filled the air. I was going to make Tamales!
This all started on Dec. 23rd, when we went to our local tamale vendor and they were out of tamales. I was shocked! They have never run out. I actually stood there with my mouth ajar looking at them with "come on...you have tamales..stop messing with me" stare.
Hubby is gently tugging on my sleeve to guide me away from the counter. We get in the car and I instantly go into "omg!! No tamales on Christmas Eve??" He looks at me and says with confidence.."Hey why don't you make them?"
I pause...make tamales? Well hhmm..it's been on my list of things to try. Can't be any harder than the wellingtons eh?
The research starts for what I like to call the perfect tamale. Now considering I have no clue how to make them, but I know what I like in flavor the choices were narrowed down pretty easily. The recipe is picked and time to hit the store.
Time: 12:30pm
By 1:30pm I have all my ingredients.
By 2:15 I've made it thru the horrendous lines and heading to my car.
By 2:30 I am home. Unpack the ingredients and get started. Let's see well we have to cook the meat. I decided to go with all chicken since my daughter will only eat chicken and fish.
Thigh meat was the cut of choice since I knew it would be more moist than chicken breast. Two large packs of thighs go into 2 large pots of water, added to this was an onion each and a few black pepper corns and some kosher salt. Now while the recipe didn't call for these addtions I felt they were necessary. You only get one opportunity to get flavor into the meat and that's during the intial cooking process.
4:30pm the meat is done and now cooling on a platter. The skin is easily removed and the meat is so tender, well it's just perfect. I add the spice mixture and it's smelling good! This is where I ended for the day as I still had gifts to wrap and I wanted these to be cooked off on Christmas Eve.
Day Two -
Still have some running around to do and figure I need my tamales all in their little wrappers by 5pm so they have time to cook. Father in law and guests would be arriving around 3. Realizing the corn husks have to soak for a an hour or more I figure I'll get them soaking by 1:30 and should be good to go.
1:30 arrives and we're pulling in the driveway. I dash in and start filling the sink with good ol h2o and get the husks in. I have to weigh them down with plates to keep them submerged. Not knowing how many were in a pack I bought 4 packs and soaked em all.
2:30 time to make the masa filling. This was so fun. I love recipes that make me use my hands to squish, pound and mix stuff. The masa should be the consistency of peanut butter. Ok..here we go. Now keep in mine I have been cooking for a couple of days now and with the cold weather, lots of hand washing, well hands tend to get chapped. And then you put them into this flour mixture that has salt, chili powder and other spices and well...pain isn't the description I would use. Searing pain would be better. Way too late to think about gloves now, my hands are slowly getting numb I'll just push thru.
3:00 Masa is done, quick review of how to fill. They have hold a husk in your hand with the narrow end towards your fingers. I can do this...now let's pull out some husks and get started. Rut oh...seems only the outside husks are soaked enough to use. The ones in the middle by being weighted down didn't get any water exposure. And who knew they would be so random in size and shape?! Where's quality control! So I pull out the ones I can start using, drain the water and fill it again with hot water. Now after all this I've forgotten how to build the darn thing. Computer has gone into stand by mode, my fingers are all wet and sticky..no time..go go nose power. It's at that moment my daughter walks in with a friend of hers. I pause with my nose on the track pad, and she doesn't miss a beat. "My mom is very creative in the kitchen as you can see" and continues on her merry way. But at least the screen is back on and I can review the recipe.
3:30 a bit of concern as I'm now behind the time curve. But hey it's the holidays everyone can just chill and relax right? This is when it dawns on me...no one is here. I mean my father in law hasn't arrived yet. He's so on time you can set your watch by him. He's also 84 years old and my stomach drops. *ring* It's him...his foot is bothering him so much he's not going to make it out. Well no matter I say, is he up for visitors cause we can come to him?
He's thrilled! I told him what time to expect us and he's so happy we're willing to do this. I figure I'll roll the tamales put them in the steamer basket and bring the whole thing out there to cook.
4:45 I'm still rolling. "Honey call your dad and tell him we're gonna be a tad bit later."
5:15 Rolling is complete, steamer is tightly packed with 3 dozen tamales and they look wonderful! Seems I also have enough meat left over to make another batch so this promptly gets frozen.
5:20 Get the catsup (men!), some salsa...oh and some sour cream out of the fridge. I gather the ingredients for the salad and throw it all into a bag. Laura grab the gifts and get into the car! Derek, get that bag I'll grab the tamales. Everyone is heading to the car...I decide to make one more check on the recipe since I'm not taking my computer with me. Ok..Yes I have this..and that...good good...and steam for 20..no.. 2 hours?!?!?!? OMG no!! I thought I read they would take 20 minutes...So THAT'S why they take all day to make! Cause up to this point I'm like "sheesh what's the big deal?"
5:30 The depression hits. What am I going to do? Hubby comes back in as he sees me pacing in the kitchen window and I quickly tell them the situation. Everyone is planning on tamales!
5:45 We're in the car to head to my father in law's, Derek is on the phone with his dad telling him the situation and I can hear the convo. He's not upset at all! Heck we'll have them next time I come out! No worries.
No worries he says..I have 3 dozen tamales in my fridge waiting to release their goodness and I'm sitting here with a bucket of KFC chicken in my lap.
**side bar** On Christmas night when we got home from my folks I cooked the tamales off and they came out fantastic!!