Aunt Eloisa's Tamales

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Aunt Eloisa's Tamales

These are the tamales my Grandma & Mom & Aunts used to make. They would gather in our kitchen and work and visit. It was surprising how many neighbors just "happened" to drop in while the tamales were cooking. My grandma would use a portable electric oven to cook the tamales. About a 1/2 inch of water was put in the bottom of the oven, then a rack. The tamales were stood up on their folded edge, leaning toward the center, and cooked with the steam. For smaller batches, a pot with a rack and lid would do. My mother always said the tamales kept better in the freezer if they were frozen before cooking. Of course, in those days, no one had a good freezer, so we would eat tamales until they were gone.

I should mention this was considered, in our family, to be my Aunt Eloisa's recipe. But, she got it from her aunts who were from San Angelo, TX. Their parents, who were my great- grandparents, were from Chihuahua, Mexico.

Aunt Eloisa’s Tamales

MASA

10 pounds freshly ground masa

2 ¾ pounds lard

salt to taste

7 teaspoons baking powder

Knead until a chunk floats in cold water.

SAUCE

1 pound California Chiles (dry red chiles)

whole cumino (cumin) seed

8 to 10 garlic cloves

Boil California red chiles in water until tender. Remove stems, squeeze peppers with hands, and run through sieve.

Brown flour in lard. Add chile mixture to which cold pork roast broth has been added. Add cumino and garlic to chile. Add powdered or dried New Mexico chiles to taste (for hotness) while boiling.

MEAT

Boil 6 pound pork roast with 3 garlic cloves in water until tender. Cool. Tear apart pork roast with fingers and add to chile mixture.

CORN SHUCKS

Soak 1 ½ pounds corn shucks in warm water for one hour. Take apart and wash.

ASSEMBLY

Spread masa on corn shuck in a thin layer. Place spoonful of chile on masa. Fold sides in then the bottom up.

Stand tamales up in roaster that has been lined with shucks –

Stand one tamale up in the middle. Lean other tamales against the center tamale and away from sides. Put ¾ inch of water in bottom of roaster and place lid on roaster. Cook one hour at 375 degrees.

If you wish to freeze tamales, freeze them uncooked.

Keywords: Intermediate, Pork, Mexican, Hot and Spicy

( RG1857 )