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Tamales

Bill Clay

By Bill Clay
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Foggy Notion

Foggy Notion 1202

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My family is from the Valley so I grew up with my mom, grandma and my aunts making tamales before the holidays. When they did it, it was an all day affair and they made enough for each of them to take home dozens. It was a lot of work. 
About 20 years ago my parents moved back down to the Valley just right down the road from a Delia’s. I don’t think my mom has made tamales since then. I’ve had them shipped a couple times, but I usually pick some up when I go down to visit her. They keep well in the freezer for a couple months if you don’t eat them right away. I like serving them with holiday meals right next to the turkey. 

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RollLeft

RollLeft 5045

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If they are dry they suck.

If they have too much masa and are sparsely filled they suck.

A good tamale starts with being moist, a thinner masa ratio to meat filling.  

Great tamales reheat well and don't dry out easily.

Also if they are too sweet or too spicy or too cheesy or too some other variant than those are specialty tamales.  

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Foggy Notion

Foggy Notion 1202

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My favorite way to reheat tamales is on a comal or cast iron skillet where the edges of exposed masa get a little bit crispy. If you leave them on there until the husks get browned or even a little burned, the taste of the roasted husk infuses with the masa. It’s a subtle but nice touch you don’t get if you steam (or microwave) them to reheat. 

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miguelito

miguelito 11333

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23 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Need tamales for 20 at Xmas and they are all San Antonio natives so I will catch hell if we pass off some thick maza bullshit. Where do I go? I’m in Northern part of the City.

Mi Casa Tamales is usually pretty good, out on I10 a few miles outside 1604.

 

And I'll 2nd or 3rd Delia's in the Valley.  One of my co-workers has family in McAllen, and he has a standing order from me to bring some Delia's back when he visits down there.  Bean & cheese and spicy chicken with cheese are my favorites, but the regular pork are top notch.  Be careful with their green sauce.

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hornbri

hornbri 1427

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7 hours ago, Foggy Notion said:

My family is from the Valley so I grew up with my mom, grandma and my aunts making tamales before the holidays. When they did it, it was an all day affair and they made enough for each of them to take home dozens. It was a lot of work. 
About 20 years ago my parents moved back down to the Valley just right down the road from a Delia’s. I don’t think my mom has made tamales since then. I’ve had them shipped a couple times, but I usually pick some up when I go down to visit her. They keep well in the freezer for a couple months if you don’t eat them right away. I like serving them with holiday meals right next to the turkey. 

 Family also from valley. But this is where I order from every year. Just got 6 dozen delivered. 

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El Diablo

El Diablo 4232

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I ordered 4 dozen back before Thanksgiving from a coworker I've been getting them from for a few years now. It appears that granny has gone modern, they appear to be machine made now. Same good quality but they're missing the love. Very uniform in size and shape and they have one end clipped off so that they're only folded on one end. Super easy to peel this way but still lack the human touch. Sigh. Times change.

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HouTex

HouTex 1894

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That guy's full of shit. 

Nope. Just finished 17 dozen for family and friends. Sure, the first time is time consuming but I’ve got it down. Cook the pork and shred it one evening. Then its about 3 hours an evening for two evenings. If you enjoy cooking it’s not a big deal.
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irishtexan

irishtexan 11530

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3 minutes ago, HouTex said:


Nope. Just finished 17 dozen for family and friends. Sure, the first time is time consuming but I’ve got it down. Cook the pork and shred it one evening. Then its about 3 hours an evening for two evenings. If you enjoy cooking it’s not a big deal.

so only 6 hours of assembly along with the time needed to cook, cool, and a shred a whole pork shoulder. but other than that, it's super easy.

 

 

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HouTex

HouTex 1894

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so only 6 hours of assembly along with the time needed to cook, cool, and a shred a whole pork shoulder. but other than that, it's super easy.
 
 

Boiling the pork is a non-event. The only difficult part is spreading the masa and rolling them out. After a couple of dozen you get the hang of it. But if you don’t want to spend about an hour and half cooking the pork and a few hours for a couple of evenings doing the rest then don’t. A ton of guys don’t care to spend 12 hours straight smoking a brisket either. To each his own.
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CooterBrown

CooterBrown 18038

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36 minutes ago, BurdineBandit said:

I was wondering if that's South texas style. Been doing it forever, but social media "real" Mexicans have taken offense to it. I enjoy ketchup just as much as I do a green salsa on my tamales.

Growing up, I always saw "real" South Texas Mexicans doing the ketchup thing. 

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BurdineBandit

BurdineBandit 815

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Pretty sure whatever native group made tamales didn't put chicken and cheese in them either but that shit's delicious so we accept it. Same with Ketchup. Fight me.

Will be in RGV for christmas and definitely have plans to hit up Delia's, but first gotta see what local tia/grandma the family has bought from in the Mercedes/SantaRosa/La Feria metroplex and how the batch turned out before I make any purchasing decisions.

Edited by BurdineBandit
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Bo

Bo 139

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My favorite way to reheat tamales is on a comal or cast iron skillet where the edges of exposed masa get a little bit crispy. If you leave them on there until the husks get browned or even a little burned, the taste of the roasted husk infuses with the masa. It’s a subtle but nice touch you don’t get if you steam (or microwave) them to reheat. 


This works well on a grill too with husks on. My preference is unwrapped, then lightly fried in pan or comal. Sooooo good.

I’m originally from rgv as well and have had delias amongst many others. None compare to my moms but delias is certainly the closest. I should probably start to learn the recipe and sell them to all of you
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Foggy Notion

Foggy Notion 1202

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On 1/3/2020 at 2:31 AM, Scooter Monzingo said:

Thank you for posting that!

Right on. I hope everyone got their tamale needs met this holiday season. I’m in South Texas right now visiting my mom. Probably gonna stop at Delia’s and pick up a few dozen before I head back to Austin later today. 

And if you’ve never had them for breakfast, do yourself a favor and heat up some tamales with a couple fried eggs and hot sauce like this guy did in the Steel Shank thread...

 

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