# Tamales

A recipe for making tamales, broken down into meat, sauce, and masa components.

- Total time: 180 min
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Category: Soup
- Language: en

## Ingredients

- 5 lbs pork shoulder
- 0.5 half white onion
- 1 entire head of garlic
- 2 tablespoons noro
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 leaf bay leaf
- 6 cups water
- 20 20 chile wajillo
- 6 six or seven chilean chick
- 6 six or seven garlic cloves
- 0.5 half white onion
- 1 tablespoon nor
- 1 cup chile broth
- 1 cup lard
- 1.5 tbspoon salt
- 1.5 tbspoon baking powder
- 7 cups corn flour
- 7 cups pork broth
- a little bit reserved chili sauce

## Instructions

1. Soak corn husks in water.
2. Boil 5 lbs of pork shoulder with half of a white onion, an entire head of garlic, 2 tablespoons of noro, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of pepper, and 2 bay leaves on medium-high heat for 3 hours.
3. To make the sauce, boil 6 cups of water with 20 chile wajillo, 6-7 chilean chick, 6-7 garlic cloves, half of a white onion, and 1 tablespoon of nor.
4. Blend the vegetables from the sauce with 1 cup of the chile broth.
5. Shred the cooked pork.
6. Combine the shredded pork with the blended sauce and mix.
7. In a separate bowl, whip 1 cup of lard until it resembles frosting.
8. Add 1.5 tablespoons of salt and 1.5 tablespoons of baking powder to the whipped lard.
9. Add 7 cups of corn flour and 7 cups of pork broth to the lard mixture and mix until it forms a ball of dough.
10. Add a little bit of the reserved chili sauce to the masa for color, and mix.
11. If the masa is too dry, add a little more pork broth. If it's too wet, ensure your hands are oily.
12. Smear a portion of the masa onto a corn husk, place some of the pork mixture in the center, and roll up the husk.
13. Place a steam rack in a large pot, add about an inch of water, and arrange the tamales on the rack with the opening facing up.
14. Steam the tamales on medium heat for 45 minutes.

## Equipment

- blender
- spatula
- big pot
- steam rack

## Tips

- Tamales are broken down into three different steps: meat, sauce, and masa.
- Pork is ready when it shreds easily.
- Save the pork broth.
- Whip the lard until it looks like ice frosting.
- Add reserved chili sauce to the masa for color.
- If the masa is dry, add a little bit of the pork broth.
- If the masa is wetish, your hands should be oily.
- When assembling, smear the masa on the corn husk, add pork to the middle, and roll.
- Place tamales opening side up in the steamer.

## Source

- Original video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jVBfCMR6rXU
- Recipe page: https://www.cliprecipe.com/recipe/fe786aa1-5b70-4806-816d-bad9c6f4bf56
- Extracted: 2025-12-15

Extracted from the video by Clip Recipe (https://www.cliprecipe.com). Quantities and steps are as stated or shown in the video. Site guide for agents: https://www.cliprecipe.com/llms.txt