Tamales Part I

Mexican food is one of my favorites, but we don't go out for Mexican around here because I have not found a good place to dine at yet. Actually, if we aren't in Tijuana with YWAM then I won't be going out for Mexican food anytime soon. We love the tacos at Tacos El Gordo located not far from Avenida Revelucion...

Fresh tortillas...oh my...

Besides carne asada I love tamales. It must be the masa because it's pretty rockin' stuff! After a couple of trips to Tijuana and watching the ladies making the tortillas I decided that it really couldn't be that difficult - turns out they are not that difficult and I have made tortillas quite often. Since those days I have been wanting to try to make Tamales. I have yet to find a decent tamale and really any old tamale will do in a pinch, but a really good one is hard to find. The closest I have gotten is at the Vancouver Farmer's Market, even then it was a little bland, no sauce, but really good flavor...it has to be the masa...I love the masa!

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a couple of books on Tamales and have been "studying" the instructions to get familiar with them. There are lots of good recipes, but I'm going to stick with a traditional pork with red sauce tamale to begin with. Since our vacation is coming up in a week I decided that would be a perfect time to make them as they are labor intensive and can be an all day project. I will make them into a project that spans over a few days just to get it kind of right.

I have already begun the process by cooking the pork a couple of days ago and today I will actually make the meat mixture and get it ready to go and perhaps try freezing it to see how that works out. I'll actually form them and wrap them in the corn husks next week - more on tamales later!