Fly Fishing In Yellowstone, Southern Montana, and Around

Santa called yesterday.

He was checking to make sure that we were making our traditional Christmas Eve tamales this year.  He’s enjoyed the several we’ve left out for him over the past few years, though he likes the traditional recipe better than the ‘fusion’ tamales that’ve been popping up here and there.

Sounds like Santa is planning on leaving a little early and spending a few extra hours in the neighborhood next week, so I told him we’d be glad to oblige him and are installing the landing lights on the roof to make sure he can find us easily – snow is forecast for Christmas Eve.

He’s thinking about coming in early enough to do a little nymphing on the Gallatin below Big Sky (effluent from the water treatment plant cuts down on the shore ice) before we eat and he hits the road again.

He handles a rod pretty well but doesn’t fit easily into waders.  ‘Nuff said.

We’ve been making tamales every Christmas since 1993 at our place – here’s the recipe we keep coming back to year after year.   Note – this is a recipe handed to us by a family friend in San Antonio; her family has been making this recipe for two generations now and it’s a bit ‘old fashioned’.

Old fashioned means you do everything from scratch and there’s lard in the masa.  Trust me – the lard really does add to the overall authenticity of the tamale; if you’re squeamish about it – use solid vegetable shortening.  Santa prefers lard.

This is a great family project – get your team lined up in assembly line fashion as you put ‘em together.  You’ll need at least one and preferably 3 other elves to help you when it’s time to put your tamales together.

• 4 lb. boned pork shoulder or butt, most fat trimmed
• 3 ounces dried California chiles
• 3 ounces dried New Mexico chiles
• 1.5 ounces dried Pasilla chiles
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 3 large cloves garlic
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• 2 tsp cumin seed
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1 cup chopped onion
• ½ cup finely chopped green pepper
• 1 cup finely chopped (seeded) fresh Anaheim chiles
• 3 cups lard or solid vegetable shortening
• 2 tbs instant beef bouillon
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• ¾ cup finely chopped cilantro sprigs
• ¾ cup finely chopped green onions
• 8 cups dehydrated masa flour
• 5 and ¼ cups warm water
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbs salt
• 4 cups roasted corn (roast frozen corn in the oven)
• 1 lb dried corn husks
• Pimento stuff green olives, halved longways if large
• 2 cans sliced pickled jalapenos

Start the pork filling – place the pork in a large pan with a lid, add 3 quarts water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmered covered to 2 hours or so – meat should be tender when poked with a fork.  Skim the fat, drain and reserve the liquid, cool the meat and then shred it.  Discard all visible fat.

Make the chile puree –  (while the pork is cooking).  Stem and seed all the dried chiles, rinse well, and place in 4 quart pan with a quart or so of water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer, cover, and stir now and then until the chiles are soft – about 30 minutes.  Cool and then drain, reserving 2 cups of the liquid.  When cool, blend the chiles and reserved liquid, set it aside.

Soak the husks – separate and rinse the husks; soak in hot tap water until soft and pliable.  When soft, tear about 10 of the husks into long thin strips to tie the tamales together when assembled.

Finish the filling – in a small pan over medium heat, stir the flour until a deep tan color; remove immediately from the heat.  Stir in ½ cup of the reserved broth and scrape into the shredded meat.  Blend together the garlic, coriander, oregano, cumin and 1 and ½ cups of the pork broth; strain into the meat pan.

To the meat add 1 and ½ cups of the chile puree, the tomato, yellow onion, bell pepper, Anaheims, ¼ cup lard, bouillon and garlic salt.  Mix very well and heat over medium heat for 15 minutes or so to blend the flavors.  Remove from the heat and mix in the green onions and cilantro.  Set aside to cool.

Make the Masa – mix the masa flour with 5 and ¼ cups warm water until smooth in a large bowl.  Melt the lard or shortening and mix in along with the backing powder, salt, remaining chile puree and the roasted corn.  It’s best to use your hands to mix well.  Take half of the mixture and place in a heavy duty mixer bowl and beat at a low speed until very smooth.  You can do it by hand as well.

Assemble the tamales – line up your ingredients starting with husks, Masa, filling, olives, jalapenos, anything else you want to put in, and the strips to tie with.

Take a large husk, lay it flat with the smooth side up, and spoon roughly ¼ cup of Masa onto the husk; using a spoon or spatula, smooth the Masa to within an inch of the top and bottom of the husk (the long edges).

Spread 3 tbs (more or less) of the meat filling about an inch from one long edge of the Masa; add 2 or 3 olives and jalapeno slices (and whatever else you want).  Roll / fold the Masa line husk around the filling – you can add another husk and a Masa ‘patch’ if you need to.

Tie the tamales tightly at each end with a strip of husk; you’ll probably need to add a tie around the middle as well.

Cook your tamales – Tamales are steamed; use your pasta pot or place a rack in a large pot so it’s an inch or more above the bottom of the pot; fill the pot with an inch or so of water or broth.  Place the tamales on the rack (alternating tamale direction 90 degrees every layer); heat the water to boiling and then reduce to a simmer.  Cover and steam for an hour if fresh and 1.5 hours if frozen.

The tamales freeze really well; we typically make a double or triple recipe and give them to friends.  A single recipe should put about 4 dozen tamales in your larder.

It sounds like a production, but the assembly goes fast with a team effort, and the results are incredible.

Make Santa happy.  Tamales for Christmas.

Enjoy.

Tagged as: Friday Feast

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