I miss the tamale ladies.  Tamale ladies would come to my old work in Clute, Texas and take tamale orders.  And at noon you’d get your tamales.  Fresh, corn husk covered masa seasoned just right, with excellent fillings.

A couple of Saturdays back, I decided to be the tamale guero (white boy) by making my own.  This summer i discovered Maseca, the instant corn mix, and had been making chips and corn tortillas on a regs basis, but I hadn’t gotten the urge to make tamales.

A tradition during Christmas at my parents house is to have tortilla soup and tamales and only once did we make our own.  I remember it being a grueling experience for some reason. So when I looked at the recipes for making them, I realized that the grueling part would be waiting to eat them.

I roasted a large pork shoulder for 4 hours, and then on the second day began my tamale making.  No one really tells you how you should spread the masa on, or how thick/thin it should be. So my first batch was a trial and error.  On the second attempt I had it down, the chicken broth and the corn mix, plus the good fat of canola oil combined for excellent masa, and my pork was amazing.

Maybe I’ll start up a food cart in midtown with these babies…maybe.

Masa’s mixed and ready to go!

I took a cue from my dad here and plied my friend Grace with food, so she would do the dirty work for me.

Mean steam.  I had a makeshift pie pan as my steamer.  Ghetto.

End results: chicken rice, black beans and pork tamales in a tomatillo sauce with pine nuts.