you can use any meat. brisket or shredded beef is extra good
Tamales
- Thread starter Frodo
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In Colorado, there are many places where we can buy tamales. Daughter has figured out where the best places are to get them. They are one of the things that I buy for friends for funeral meals. I can call in an order to pick them up, heated, and deliver them.
Have you ever made tamales? From my inner city teaching days, I have former colleagues and students whose families do tamale making sessions, usually during the week before Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas.
There is a tamale place that I have gotten tamales from that sells around 25,000 (yes, that many) during the holidays. They have a crew that makes them, then freezes them, usually by the dozen. They are often sold out by the time Christmas day comes around. They are one place that daughter recommends.
When making tamales, one of the things that I have learned is that the masa and the filling is made up the day before the actual assembly. Tamale assembly day calls for all hands on deck: grandparents, adult children, grand children, male and female. It is a long day, but there are 100's and probably more than a 1000 made. Tamale making requires some big pots cooking on the stove.
I had an assistant who used to make tamales every the fall. She also made green chili. When the chili stands get set up and open in the fall, she would buy and make lots of pork roasts and clean at least a bushel of chilis. It was a full weekend of cleaning chilis and cooking her meat. Then she would have another full weekend of just tamale making. She told me one of her daughter's friends wanted some tamales. Her daughter wanted to give her a dozen. Assistant told her absolutely not, too much time and work, but she could have a couple. Assistant had a big freezer full of tamales and green chili. It is a seasonal intensive time, but then she is set for quick meals for the rest of the year. I love tamales and green chili, but I have never had a tamale smothered with green chili, but evidently it is a thing for some people.
Have you ever made tamales? From my inner city teaching days, I have former colleagues and students whose families do tamale making sessions, usually during the week before Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas.
There is a tamale place that I have gotten tamales from that sells around 25,000 (yes, that many) during the holidays. They have a crew that makes them, then freezes them, usually by the dozen. They are often sold out by the time Christmas day comes around. They are one place that daughter recommends.
When making tamales, one of the things that I have learned is that the masa and the filling is made up the day before the actual assembly. Tamale assembly day calls for all hands on deck: grandparents, adult children, grand children, male and female. It is a long day, but there are 100's and probably more than a 1000 made. Tamale making requires some big pots cooking on the stove.
I had an assistant who used to make tamales every the fall. She also made green chili. When the chili stands get set up and open in the fall, she would buy and make lots of pork roasts and clean at least a bushel of chilis. It was a full weekend of cleaning chilis and cooking her meat. Then she would have another full weekend of just tamale making. She told me one of her daughter's friends wanted some tamales. Her daughter wanted to give her a dozen. Assistant told her absolutely not, too much time and work, but she could have a couple. Assistant had a big freezer full of tamales and green chili. It is a seasonal intensive time, but then she is set for quick meals for the rest of the year. I love tamales and green chili, but I have never had a tamale smothered with green chili, but evidently it is a thing for some people.
Living in an area with a large population of Hispanic people there are a lot of places to get tamales. One place won a national award for their tamales and they are the best-purchased tamales I have ever had. At $18 a dozen, they are not cheap. My neighbor gave us some tamales that were unbelievably good. I have made them but it's a lot of work. Christmas time is big for tamale making gatherings.
