Being from California, Mexican food is a staple of our diet LOL. I learned how to make Tamales early on and every so often I get down on Christmas, gather everyone around, and have a Tamalada. I also make these from time to time during the year. While these may seem spicy by reading the ingredients, they’re not that bad after they cook down, the masa is added and they’re ready to eat. You can also remove the seeds from the dried peppers which will bring the spicy heat to near zero.
The peppers used in this are all very mild less than that of a Jalapeno 2500-8000
Guajillo Chiles are dried Mirasol – Guajillo have a Scoville of 2500-5000
Ancho Chiles are dried Poblano – Ancho have a Scoville of 1000-2000
California Chiles are dried Anaheim – California have a Scoville of 500-2500
If you like it hot (as I generally do) and want to spice this up, I suggest switching out something for dried Chip0tle (5000-10000), Chile de Arbol (30,000 – 50,000) or Pequeño (40,000 – 60,000)
I personally like to switch out the California and the Guajillo for all Chipotle or a mix of Chipotle and Arbol but that packs a kick.
Mix, match, do all of 1 type … MAKE IT YOURS !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ingredients
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Picnic Pork
- Masa (Corn Dough)
Instructions
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Prep Husks
- Soak corn husks in hot water with something to hold them down for a minimum of an hour. You can do this while the pork is cooking. I tend to put them in the water before I go to bed so they're ready for the next day. I put these in a 1/2 hotel pan with a couple well wrapped bricks (plastic then foil) on top so I know they're staying under. Picnic Pork
- Heat oil over medium high in a 3qt stock pot
- Add onion and cook until the onion is softened, 3 - 5 minutes depending on your dice size
- Add broth and chiles - bring to a boil. Cover, take off the heat and let sit until chiles have softened 15 minutes or so.
- Transfer this to a blender or food processor and add the salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika, and garlic. Whip is up till it's smooth
- Place this back in the stock pot with the pork. Bring it to a boil, cover, reduce the stock to just above low to keep a lightly bubbly simmer. Cook until pork is tender and sauce has a nice dark, red color ~~ about 2 hours.
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When done, you can shred the pork with 2 forks but I tend to just throw it back into my Ninja and let it tear it apart for me super quick. I do a 5 to10 second hit on crush. I'm sure you know how your blender or food processor works for something like this.
Masa
- Beat the lard, chili powder and salt until smooth. Add the flour and beat. It'll become very dry, at this point start slowly adding a little of the brother at a time. To test consistency ~ take a small (1/2 tsp) of it and drop it in a small amount of cold water, it should float. If it doesn't add a little more broth until you get that consistency. Rolling Them
- Drain your husks. I keep them on a serving platter with a damp towel over them so they don't dry out.
- Grab a husk and starting about 1/2 inch from the top spread a couple tablespoons of masa around in an even layer, staying clear of the edges.
- Place a couple tablespoons of the meat mixture in a center line down the masa.
- Coming from one side of the husk, roll it over scooping all the meat and masa under the edge and continue rolling tightly to the other side, fold the skinny end up and lay aside to continue rolling. Cooking Your Tamales
- Once everything is well wrapped, place a steamer basket with a penny on top of it in the bottom of a tall stock pot (I use a couple 6.5qt pots) and place a couple of inches of water in them. You don't want the water to come up over the basket.
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Stand the tamales open end up on top of the basket but make sure they don't cover the penny.
- Bring the water to a boil, cover, and bring the heat down a couple notches from not full blown high to just above medium so you keep a good rolling boil. The Penny ~~ should your pot start to run dry the penny will stop shaking and you'll know to add more water. So make sure it has plenty of room to jiggle, this also gives you room to add water without risking pouring water into your Tamales.
- Steam these for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and use tongs to pull from pot. After a few minutes they're grabbable from the pot by hand in my personal experience and opinion.
- Unwrap and enjoy ~~ These can be served with anything of your choosing, we just dive in as they are.