Tamales
Directions
- 1Season a 4-5 pound chuck roast with kosher salt and place it in a dutch oven.
- 2Add two beef bouillon cubes, one large quartered onion, and half a dozen whole peeled cloves of garlic to the dutch oven.
- 3Add one tablespoon of oregano to the dutch oven, and enough water to almost cover the roast.
- 4Braze in a 275°F oven for 3-4 hours, flipping once or twice.
- 5Make the chili paste by de-seeding, deveining, and tearing four ancho, four pasilla, and six guajillo chiles into 1 inch pieces.
- 6Dry roast the chiles over medium heat for 1-3 minutes, until fragrant but not smoking.
- 7Quench with just enough water to cover. Add four or five cloves of garlic and half a small, roughly chopped onion.
- 8Cover, bring to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes, then puree in a high-powered blender with enough cooking liquid to make it thick but pourable.
- 9Once the beef shows no resistance when stabbed with a paring knife, retrieve it from the braising liquid.
- 10Separate the fat and meat, shred the meat and toss it with a little of the chili paste.
- 11Season with a pinch of kosher salt and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper.
- 12Butterfly two chicken breasts and bring a couple of quarts of water to a boil.
- 13Kill the heat, drop in the chicken, cover, and let the carryover heat bring the chicken to 155°F at its thickest point (12-18 minutes).
- 14Shred the chicken and let it cool.
- 15Make the salsa verde by broiling nine tomatillos, two jalapenos, and one poblano pepper for 2-5 minutes until you get some nice color.
- 16Cover with aluminum foil and allow to steam for 10 minutes so you can easily remove the skins, stems, and seeds of the peppers.
- 17Dump into your blender along with half a small, roughly chopped onion, two cloves of chopped garlic, a pinch of kosher salt, a few twists of freshly ground black pepper, and one single leaf of a fairly fine bunch of cilantro.
- 18Blend until pretty smooth, but it still has a good chunk to it.
- 19Once both it and the chicken have cooled, let them get to know each other. You can do this same day or cover and fridge overnight to really let the flavors meld.
- 20Strain the water you poached the chicken in and use it to make the masa harina dough.
- 21The recipe calls for 24 ounces of masa harina and 24-26 ounces of very hot water.
- 22Add enough water to the mixture until it forms a crumbly but shapable dough, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes.
- 23Whip 14 ounces of lard with 2 teaspoons each of kosher salt and baking powder on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl until light and fluffy.
- 24Add the crumbly masa harina dough and mix together until it forms a smooth, spreadable paste, adding more chicken water until necessary.
- 25To make the tamales, smear between a third to half a cup of tamale dough onto the center of the upper half of the husk into a rectangle about 6 by 4 inches and a quarter inch thick.
- 26Place a nice little landing strip of filling down the center of the dough and use the husk to wrap the dough up and around the filling.
- 27Make sure that the dough completely envelops the filling before folding the corn husk shut.
- 28You can squeeze the bottom a bit like a tube of toothpaste to help shape the tamale.
- 29Fold up the bottom of the husk and tie it using a length of torn husk.
- 30Stack the tamales in a steamer basket so that the fillings are facing skyward.
- 31Cover with a few of your unused soaked corn husks and a moist clean kitchen towel.
- 32Place the basket over an inch of water set in a big ol' stock pot, cover them up, and steam them for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- 33Let them rest in the pot for another 30 minutes.
- 34Smear Honduran crema on the tamales and add a scoop of salsa roja.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 4 pounds beef
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 1 large onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 4 ancho chiles
- 4 pasilla chiles
- 6 guajillo chiles
- 1 cup water
- 4 cloves garlic
- 0.5 small onion
- 24 ounces masa harina
- 24 ounces water
- 14 ounces lard
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 5 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 ounces pineapple
- 3 ounces black raisins
- 1 tsp red food coloring
- 9 tomatillos
- 2 jalapenos
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 bag corn husks
- 1 cup crema
- 1 cup salsa roja
Equipment
knifecutting boarddutch ovensaucepanblenderstand mixersteamer basketstock potkitchen towelscissors