/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>5785794
I've made them once. Never again.

>>5785797
how come? just took too much work?

>>5785794
post recipe plox

I have never made tamales but we have a similar preparation to the Salvadoran version. Pasteles are wrapped with banana leaf but instead of corn we use a masa made of root vegetables (primarily yuca).

I make the masa the night before, and then wrap some or all of them the night before, because fuck spending an entire day making pasteles/tamales. In the old days the women stayed home all day preparing this stuff and the men would work, drink, play games or whatever, so I would have never made any myself anyway.

I usually boil my pasteles, although steaming would work. Preparing the fillings, though, is a lot of work. I love the end product but I rarely make these for myself. And mine are nowhere near as good as my grandmother's. I wish she hadn't taken her secrets to the grave.

>>5785794
I've been considering making some. They don't really look THAT hard to make.

>>5785853
the entire ordeal of making them or just a part of the recipe? i don't want to type out more than i have to lol..

>>5785798
Yeah. It took all day. The tamales were great, but not worth it. There's a little old lady that walks around a Costco parking lot near where I live that sells great ones for really cheap so I'm not desperate.

Holiday seasons are among us, for the mexifags that beans tamales and posole everywhere you look

>>5785870
those look awesome. what kind of filling goes in to that type?

>>5785940
I don't think it is hard, personally. The difficulty is more in the time it takes to get everything right; making tamales takes a long, long time. Not all of it is work of course, a lot of the time is due to cooking the meat slowly, and then steaming the tamales, etc.. it is a long process.

>>5785953
yeah i get it. it's a huge time sink. for some reason though, i enjoy it from time to time.

>>5785968
I think if my tamales were better than the Costco lady's (or most mexican joints) than I'd find time to do it again.

>>5785955
Have literally never ate bean tamales. That sounds like shit. Only tamales my family has made are beef, chicken, or cheese. All pretty fucking great.

>>5785794
I hve never made tamales. What takes so long?

I watched a mexican lady make them on tv and it seemed to go really quickly.

They didn't look like they needed to cook that long... I imagine the filling can take a while if you have to praise carnitas or slow roast something... But cheese, or grilled chcicken sem like they would be quick and then steaming is real fast.

Why wouldn't you just make a quick tamale batter of preground masa?

This seems like an hours worth of work to me... Tops.. But i have never done it before so maybe i have no idea what i am talking about.

I love tamales, one of my fav food are...TAMALESSSSSSSSSSSS, also MONTUCASSSSSSS it´s like cousin or somenthing like that xD but also delicious!!!

>>5786187
Because pretty much every ingredient is prepared separately before you can even start combining it and wrapping it. And then cooking the wrapped tamale.

>>5786224
>each ingredient prepped separately

Tamale batter
Filling

Uh.. What am i missing?

I feel like i'm taking crazy pills...

What do these things taste like and what kind of texture do they have?

>>5786266
have you ever tried that corn cake from el pollo loco?

>>5786252
I'm not sure what Mexicans use, but in PR style there is no "tamale/pastel batter." Maybe there are convenience foods like that for tamales, but just to prepare the masa takes forever. You have to peel the yuca, core it, grate it, strain the moisture out, season and cook your meat, simmer your vegetable fillings for an hour or more, prepare the seasoned masa, heat the banana leaves and make wrappers out of them, spread the right amount of masa on each one, add your stuffings, wrap them each individually, tie them, and then cook them for an hour or more.

We have this food cart that sets up shop in front of the bar I go to. Tried one for the first time the other night. Holy fuck it was delicious.

>>5786311
Tamales are exactly the kind of food I would get at a food cart. Something with a lot of preparation time, that they specialize in and can have the preparatory work done ahead of time, yet that I wouldn't really usually make at home.

>>5785794

They do take hours, or even a day or two depending on if you're making a sauce from scratch with dried peppers, or super slow meat cooking prep. I see it as a labor of love, and if you're lucky you can get some friends to help with rolling them in the husks.

I love tamales, but the last batch I made, by the the time I steamed them I ate just one of dozens. I was so sick of tasting while I cooked at that point, I couldn't enjoy the results. Although I'd love to try banana leaves as opposed to husk next time I make them.

>>5786323
Yeah it's pretty nice when it's late as fuck and hammered. Great drunk food.

>>5786303
Mexicans use maiz, either fresh nixtamalized grain ( raw hominy ) ground up or flour made from the same grain, dried. The former is superior.
The other is fresh corn tamales, grind freshly shucked starchy white corn and that is the masa. It is delicios. can be as is, sweetened or salted with green chile and a good farm cheese.

The idea of a tamale has never seemed appetizing to me.
Like carrots and corn wtf?

>>5786985
The idea of a burger has never seemed appetizing to me.
Like meat and bread wtf?

>>5785794
Tamales are super easy and quick to make though, I will do two or three at night and just put them in banana leaf, then tin foil and place in no pan filled 1/3rd of the way in water for a half hour

Idk its decent
>>5785870
I live in a Dominican neighborhood but dislike the Dominican food I have gotten or made, so like tell me what type of pastele I should eat or make?

>>5786989
The Dominican version is similar to ours, so I couldn't say.

Also if you hate all Dominican food I feel very sad for you. But you won't like Puerto Rican food if you dislike Dominican. Try more Central and South American cuisines, I guess? PR, Dominican, and Cuban are very similar.

I've made them quite a few times. It took me a while to really get something I liked. I started off with the sonofthesouth recipe, since it was the first hit on google. While sounding folksy and authoritative, it's pretty much crap. Way too much chili powder, too heavy and dense and no real corn flavor to speak of.

Now, I mix 2/3 masa with 1/3 corn meal (also will food process and blend in some frozen corn if I have that) for the dough, don't really spice it except the broth from the meat, make a looser filling with a touch of baking powder, and use a more cumin-heavy than chili powder-heavy spice mix for the meat.

>>5785955
Holiday seasons? What? It's not even mid September you twat... go sell your post cards somewhere else.

>>5786171
>>5786171
>Have literally never ate bean tamales. That sounds like shit. Only tamales my family has made are beef, chicken, or cheese. All pretty fucking great.

I myself did not have bean tamales until I lived with a family from Puebla. According to my family tradition we have dulce, pork, beef, queso, and nearly never chicken are the norm. With not only big helpings but also buy the minimum of 10 dozens at a time. Tamales are best reheated after a day or more .... on the comal of course.

>>5787544
SADLY i forgot my favorite tamal
>_< the incredible tamal de elote a good one is honestly nothing less than a great one.

>>5786311
>Spicy carrot
>bacon and sweet potato
Somebody deserves a beating.

>>5787289
>everyone has the same holidays

middle america detected

>>5785794
>Salvadorian style [...] wrapped in a banana leaf
Christ, that actually sounds amazing.

>>5785794
They're only time consuming if you're making a large batch and different types of fillings. You can buy either fresh masa or the masaharina where you just add liquid and fat. The fillings take a while depending what you're making. The cheese ones with green salsa shouldn't take long, the chicken and pork ones depends on how you cook them. I usually only make them during the winter when family gets vacations. I make the chicken with red chile, cheese with green salsa, pulled pork mole poblano, fried black beans, guayaba cajeta and chocolate cream cheese ones.. The mole and black bean ones are with the banana leaves rather than the corn ones since that's how they make them in the Caribbean (my aunt is from Veracruz/Oaxaca, México and I learned to make the banana leaf ones from her). With preparation it shouldn't be take too long and you can make a large batch and freeze them.

>>5788172
Give me an explanation why camote is a bad thing

>>5788236
Half-Salvadorian here. Yes, they're amazing. Imagine chicken stew (at least I think it's chicken) suspended in mushy masa. It's hard to describe, but they're insanely good. The ones I get usually have olives, which really compliment the other stuff. For some insane reason, my mom/grandma pour sugar on top of them. They insist that "that's how we eat them". Screw that.

>>5786187
There's a few reasons why it takes so long, which is why I'm sure what you watched was set up and not in real time, as cooking shows do for obvious reasons.

Making the meal from scratch is very labor intensive, though you can just buy mass on the cheap - I just enjoy making it, even though it's not efficient time wise.

I make pork tamales, and that is a long, slow cooking process. Not hard, just takes a long time.

Lastly, unless you're insane, you're making at least a few dozen. Making th, wrapping them, tying them up to look nice... The time adds up big time. If someone can make tamales in under an hour, I'll argue they came out of a can lol.

It's a labor of love, and I totally get why most people wouldn't bother making them when you can just buy them from experienced people.

>>5786985
Lol carrots? Wtf indeed... Am I missing something?

>>5786989
Sounds a lot different than what I know, wish I could try one.

>>5788246
I just do pork but I'm interested in trying a cheese type... Never had one before honestly.

>>5788424
Have you tried cheese and poblano strips? Its a pretty common tamale filling

>>5788439
Nah, just pork, slavadorian style, and a really bland beef style I'd like to forget. That sounds really good.

>>5786985
the singular of tamale is tamal

>>5785870
Looks good anon, I have never had those only the Mexican verity. I would devour that like Satan eating the souls of innocent school children, probably making the same noises as well.

>>5788403
that's exactly what I was talking about, my god they are good... I hate myself for not learning how to make them. I remember seeing olive and thinking wtf lol, but once I started eating...oh yeah.

There's been a lot of good stories and info in this thread, i am glad i made this thread...i do hope i can get an answer to this though.. :

the recipe i follow does not yield the exact same flavor my grandmother made and taught me; she did not write things down, i just had to help and watch, and i guess that is how i have missed something. her tamales would come out with a reddish oil, spicy in taste, just a little, when you unwrap a tamale...i can not replicate that and unfortunately i was the only one in the family who appreciated cooking so i can't ask anyone else, they have no idea...

any thoughts?

>>5785955
No mexican makes bean tamales. You're retarded.

>>5789076
>tamale

stop

i grew up in mexico and my grandma makes the most delicious and moist tamales ever, i have a tip that my grandma tell me, when shes making the batter for the tamales to know if its not heavy consistensy or dry se add water and then dump a little bit of batter un water if it sinks it meand it needs more water and if it floats youre good to go, and also she puts intead of already cooked meat she puts the meat raw (chicken ) with the bone, and salsa on top and the she steams the tamales for 2 or 3 hours and youre ready

>>5789255
oh fart-snizzles, did i not speak appropriate spanish?

pooh...i r retardish. darn darn darn.

>>5789317
i remember having a moist tamale made of chicken with bone-in actually, it was good...

your grandmother sounds fast, i love hearing things like that. a lifetime of experience makes me a joke in comparison lol.

>>5789247
Yeah. Black bean tamale. Its pretty popular in Chiapas.

>>5789343
bone in sounds exactly what a lazy person wants to do and excuse themself by saying it for flavor and juiciness
no-one is buying it .... salsa takes care of moistness should the masa be made correctly

Tamales are up there with pupusas as overrated food as far as hispanic food goes. I like masa to filling ratio is pretty shitty and I like to appreciate the meat/stew more than anything else. There are some exceptions though, like sweet tamales like humitas though. Nothing beats tostadas, nothing

>>5789247
he just forgot to put a comma between beans and tamales guey

>>5789396
>humitas

If you're serious about tamales I'd recommend buying a tamale spreader or just a similar tool.

I bought one after making tamales a couple times and it honestly cut down my prep time by many hours.

You may have to play around with your recipe a bit to get the masa in the right consistency but it made a huge difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHos6eKiU9E

>>5785794
If any of you can make tamales dulces the same as I had them in Guanajuato, Mexico, I will literally pay you handsomely.

Do you eat the corn husk with it or just the filling inside?

>>5789674
You just eat the filling. I tried eating the husk when I was a kid and I had my first tamale. It was awful.

>>5789678

So the husk is just a vessel for cooking and serving the tamale? Could you then make tamales without the husk? It's just cooked corn dough, isn't it?

>>5789681

I guess you could, it really seems like the husk holds it all together to me though

>>5789681
when tamles get cooked they get entirely mushy once the cool they solidify
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE

>>5789658

That looks pretty interesting... But it smears masa over the tamale entirely from right to left. Seems like when you put in the filling and then roll it and fold it you would end up with some masa inbetween a spiral of corn husk... Seems like you would want to spread the masa and leave some of the corn husk clean.

Am i thinking of this wrong, or envisioning the process wrong? Is there a different technique i am missing here?

I wish the lady in that video had shown how to spread, fill, and fold... Instead of just spreading...

>>5789735
uh...not exactly. but yeah the husk is necessary, otherwise during steaming everything would end up falling to pieces.

Best tip for Tamales - Make them in bulk. Batches of 50-100 are good because they freeze real nicely and work well when microwaved after being frozen.

They also work well for Christmas gifts. Last year I made around 250 for my various neighbors.

>>5786187
>praise carnitas

And so it was written.

>>5786311
White people once again ruining a great thing. Wow.

>>5789932
Holy shit, I remember reading this

>>5786384
In Chicago, there's a guy who makes the rounds of the bars at ~midnight-1AM with an insulated case of assorted tamales. It's amazing.

>>5792001
Ruined forever :(

>>5786311
These aren't tamales. Also, 3 fucking bucks for 1? Where in gods name do you live? I can get like a dozen for 5 bucks made by some obese mexican woman.

>>5792001
>mad that it's not as popular as his authentic dirt and bean stews

>>5792001
I agree, fellow person of ethnic descent! Let us never eat tamales again!

>>5792001

Shitskin bitching about white people yet again.
Wow

Just kill yourself loser.

>>5792001

they're overpriced as fuck and clearly not authentic but they don't sound bad, if they just called them something other than tamales would people get less asspained?

I probably wouldn't buy them unless I was starving and had no concerns about money but that's only because I don't want to pay $3 for something tiny

>>5793084

Don't you /b/tards get tired of resetting your modem all the time?

I spent 4 weeks traveling around Mexico in Dec/Jan and I've had some amazing tamales there. I tried them in different restaurants here in Canada and they're all awful, I mean actually not tasting good at all not just compared to the real stuff in Mexico.

I might have to head down to Mexico again, or just LA (which I'm going to visit at the end of November) to get my Mexican food fix again.

how do i tamales? what are good types to try? im stopping in mexico for a few days soon.

>>5788355
Because it tastes like shit and you write in spanish in the middle of an English sentence to show how multi-cultural you are for no reason.

>>5793417
> you write in spanish in the middle of an English sentence to show how multi-cultural you are for no reason.

Which post did he do this in?

Or are you just mad because dey took er jerrbs?

>>5789076
the color comes from annotto

>>5793417
>faggot whitey detected

>>5793154
If you're going to Mexico for tamales, then you're doing it wrong.

>>5793154
sounds like you have decent taste

>>5793854
Where am I supposed to go for them? Korea?

>>5794091
I don't know about that but the food in Mexico was something else. I've only been to 14 countries so far and as a food destination it was pretty much #1.

I live in London and we're just starting to get actual Mexican restaurants so I went a while ago and got chicken mole tacos and tamales and have to say that I was underwhelmed. They were nice and all but the effort for what I got really doesn't seem worth it. But yeah I would by some if a little old woman was selling them on a street corner. Did I just get some bastardised version or are they actually not that amazing?

>>5794167
Going to Mexico primarily for tamales when there's better food is just babbys first mistake. Start going to one of the better food cities in Mexico and you'll be overwhelmed by the varieties of deliciousness

>>5794878
>food cities in Mexico
Confirmed tourist!
Please keep quite while adults settle matters.

>>5797029
>quite

>>5797050
>>>/9fag/

>>5789382
actually theres many styles of tamales in each state this is popular in the mexico city area and san luis potosi its like bbq in usa its the basics but with a twist, and its not what a lazy person does its what a wise person knows and learns through the years faggot <3

>>5797064
Is this a pathetic attempt at an insult?

>>5797310
es mejor saber por diablo que por viejo

>>5785870
I'm puerto rican and my family eats these all the time, I never tried it though because it just doesn't look good to me

>>5797504
>puerto rican
hey a puerto rican who wont eat something fat n greasy
its a miracle

>>5789948
Can someone weigh in on this....

It seems like they are doing it all wrong.

>>5798325
from all my experience growing up doing this with family, we always had a little 'lip' of masa that went in to the first part of the rolling process. It's perfectly normal to me and if your masa is good, it's like a yummy preview you just bite off before digging in to the tamale itself.

of course you can make it to where that doesn't happen but, at least to me and mine, why bother.

>>5789247
My relatives from Hermosillo do.