Tamales and Wine

Every year, my mother, aunt, two sisters and I get together to make tamales before Christmas.  This is such a popular event with Hispano families throughout the entire world around Christmas.  We have made tamales for many years and in our region, the most familiar tamale is red chile corn masa stuffed with simmered and shredded pork shoulder marinated in more red chile (or for some, chile colorado) all wrapped together in a corn husk.  We made these and got creative with a few others.  One of which, I will be sharing its recipe.  At first, I thought I would not share it because some things should be kept within the family.  However, tamales are such a worldly food, it is really the basic elements that we keep and their ingredients continuously change.  In fact, tamales have popped up in the Mississippi Delta, so really here in NM, we are not reinventing the wheel, but I am not claiming this to discredit any cultural context of Latin American countries but instead I want to impress how strong this cultural event has influenced the entire world to embark on tamale making.

Early tamales were traced back as early as 8000 BC in Mesoamerica. The Aztecs and Mayans are believed to have used them as a food for necessity for travelers.  It was a portable, starchy, and had some kind of protein element.  Later around 1200 BC, tamales were used as a food commemorating important feasts and status—including and excluding certain members of society (LeCount 2001).  This might be why I don’t want to share the recipe. You know, keeping it within the family.  Well thousands of years later, the tamale is still a food commemorating a feast although in Mexico City, tamales are a comfort food staple for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are made with a variety of ingredients.

Our little group makes tamales by the dozens and has a great time doing it.  We have never referred to it as a tamalada, but in essence that is exactly what it is.  After we prepare them, we steam a few for us to eat and this year we had quite the selection. Of course we made the traditional and regional pork marinated in chile Colorado.  My mom also made a green chile chicken style.  My aunt made a few stuffed with calabacitas and cheese.  I made two sweet varieties:  Dark chocolate, with a coconut, almond, mocha filling and a white chocolate anise with dried fruit and walnut filling.  One of our biggest surprises is that they paired up with a red wine really well.  We had a great time sipping wine and eating tamales, kids playing peacefully, and laughing about how my stepfather has an uncanny resemblance to Foghorn Leghorn.  Until next year. Merry Christmas!!

Don't hate me because I drink box wine

References:

LeCount, Lisa J. 2001. “Like Water for Chocolate: Feasting and Political Ritual among the Late Classic Maya at Xunantunich, Belize.” American Anthropologist 103 (4) (December 1): 935-953. doi:10.1525/aa.2001.103.4.935.

and Wikipedia.

Elements for white chocolate anise tamales with dried fruit filling (I have only made this once and did not use measuring cups so all of this is approximately done by purely eyeballing it. Good Luck) As I make this, my measurements might change. Please let me know if you run into problems.

For the masa

4 cups of Maseca

1 tbls of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

2 tsp of anise seeds

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

2 cups of milk

1 cup of half and half (you could use cream, but this was all I had)

2 cones of panocha sugar (find in Mexican food stores, ½ cup brown sugar if you can’t find it)

5 star anise

3 oz of white chocolate chopped

1 tlbs vanilla extract

For the filling

1 12oz bag of dried apricots (chopped)

2 cups of toasted walnuts

6 oz of dried cranberries

1 tbls cinnamon

1 jar of apricot preserves

2 shots of whiskey (optional)

1 cup of brown sugar

1-2 bags of dried corn husks

Method

Fill sink with hot water and place husks in to soften.  Warm milk, cream, panocha sugar, and star anise over low heat. Do not boil.  When panocha is dissolved and milk is hot to touch, pour over white chocolate and mix until melted. Add vanilla and discard star anise.  Let mixture cool. Meanwhile, blend dry ingredients together.  Add butter and mix with mixer or hand.  I smoosh it around with my hand.  Add chocolate mixture and mix until it becomes pasty.  Set aside.

Combine all the ingredients for the filling until it becomes a sticky mess.

Once corn husks are softened, wipe off excess water. Spread about 1 heaping tablespoon of masa onto lower half portion corn husk. This takes practice, I use my hand, my sister has more skills and uses a spoon.  Fill it with another heaping tablespoon of filling.  Fold up husk around it.  If you cannot fold the husk, then you have put in too much filling or spread the masa too thick.  Improvise. 

Steam tamales for about 45 minutes or until firm.