Traditional Tamales (Pork)

Prep Time: 2 hrs

Total Time: 6 hrs

Yield: 50Tamales

About This Recipe

“This tamale recipe is about as traditional as you can get, although I use a roast instead of the whole pig head that many Mexican women use. I have also used beef, but they just do not taste quite the same. These take about all day to make and are a lot of work, but they are so worth the time and the effort. Not for the faint-hearted cook for sure. They are a huge hit here in the West. For added flavor, top with either some of the red sauce used to prepare this recipe, or with my favorite, green chili sauce with pork, Chile Verde Con Cerdo (Green Chili With Pork). Serve with sides of Spanish rice, refried beans topped with cheese and frosty margaritas for a delicious authentic Mexican meal. For an online tamale-making tutorial, including pictures, please see https://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=188623 posted in the Mexican cooking forum.”

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs pork shoulder or 3 1/2 lbspork butt, trimmed of fat and cut up

10cupswater

1mediumonion, quartered

3garlic cloves, minced

3 1/2 teaspoonssalt

4cupsred chili sauce( see recipe #15301 for red chili sauce)

3/4 cupshortening

6cupsmasa harina

1 1/2 teaspoonsbaking powder

50dried corn husks( about 8 inches long)

Directions

In a 5 qt Dutch oven, bring pork, water, onion, garlic and 1 1/2 salt to boil.

Simmer covered, about 2 1/2 hours or until meat is very tender.

Remove meat from broth and allow both meat and broth to cool. (Chilling the broth will allow you to easily remove the fat if you desire to do so).

Shred the meat using 2 forks, discarding fat.

Strain the broth and reserve 6 cups.

In a large sauce pan, heat the red chili sauce and add meat; simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

To make masa beat shortening on medium speed in a large bowl for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, stir together masa harina, baking powder and 2 teaspoons salt.

Alternately add masa harina mixture and broth to shortening, beating well after each addition. (Add just enough broth to make a thick, creamy paste).

In the mean time, soak corn husks in warm water for at least 20 minutes; rinse to remove any corn silk and drain well.

To assemble each tamale, spread 2 tablespoons of the masa mixture on the center of the corn husk (each husk should be 8 inches long and 6 inches wide at the top. If husks are small, overlap 2 small ones to form one. If it is large, tear a strip from the side).

Place about 1 tablespoon meat and sauce mixture in the middle of the masa.

Fold in sides of husk and fold up the bottom.

Place a mound of extra husks or a foil ball in the center of a steamer basket placed in a Dutch oven.

Lean the tamales in the basket, open side up.

Add water to Dutch oven just below the basket.

Bring water to boil and reduce heat.

Cover and steam 40 minutes, adding water when necessary.

To freeze these for future meals, leave them in the husks and place them in freezer bags.To reheat, thaw and wrap in a wet paper towel and reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes for one or two or re-steam them just until hot.

Reviews

“These are so good and well while the time they take to prepare.If you steam on top of your stove use medium heat & watch closely.Next time I’m going to make an extra cup of the Red Chili Sauce to top each tamale with a tsp or so before serving.These were so good and Karen, thanks for all the help!!”

“Delicious! These are a lot of work, but the end result is sooooo good! I froze them individually in foil, and then packaged them in freezer bags so that I can take them out as needed and microwave them. I did not change the recipe at all, as this is the first time I’ve made tamales. Thanks for a great recipe, Karen! :o)”

“My daughter and her boyfriend came to our house last sunday. We spent the afternoon making tamales (150). We had a great time. The tamales were excellent! Best I have ever had. We made half of them with chicken and the other half pork.I used Thai peppers grown by a freind of mine (quite spicy) they were excellent. I didnt understand the direction of using 15 large peppers. How big is a large pepper? So I used 30 Thais per batch. Thank you for a great recipe and a lovely afternoon.”

“This is Excellent! I’ve made beef tamales before but never pork. I really thought these are wonderful!Thank You So Much!”

“I made these tamales along with chicken and beef before Christmas and these were our favorite. Thanks Karen, good basic recipe I will use again and again. As others have said, a lot work but what tamales aren’t.”

“Wow! This one is WORTH the work!Thanks”

“Karen, have your ears been buring today?!I got so many compliments on these and I kept telling everyone about this lady in CO named Karen whose recipe they were enjoying.Great tamales.I didn’t get quite 50 out of the masa harina mixture, but I do have the filling left over so I will make more.Also, my bag of husks said to soak for a minimum of 2 hours, so I soaked mine longer than the recipe suggested.I used my pasta insert in my stock pot for a steamer and it worked great! I will make these again.”

“I have been looking for a tamale recipe just like my grandpa used to make. This is IT! Thanks so much for posting it.I can’t wait to try it.”

“I have been making tamales for years with my Tamale machine(tio carlos tamale king of Ft. Worth).A little hint to make steaming your tamales a breeze:Stack 6 tamales on a square sheet of aluminum foil(3-2-1)laying all 6 in the same direction.Roll up both sides of foil and fold down to the tamales and then fold ends.Remember to fold one end a different direction(either out or in) than the other to mark which end has the open top of the tamales.Lay in steamer with tops up in the foil and fill steamer.This technique keeps the tamales intact and dry during steaming, plus they are ready for the fridge or freezer.”

“I’ve made this recipe twice and both times the tamales have turned out AMAZING!The first time, I followed the directions exactly and used the recommended tamale sauce, and it was really good.I ended up freezing a bunch of tamales and steamed them again to make a quick dinner.I used canned enchilada sauce each time I did this.The second time, I didn’t want to take the time to make the tamale sauce, so I used 2 10oz cans of mild enchilada sauce and 1 10z can of hot enchilada sauce.Turned out very good! I love these tamales and the recipe is pretty easy, especially the second time!”

“Just made this recipe yesterday. It is great, authenic, delicious.
I have been looking for a good recipe for years but now that search is over. I made it exactly like the recipe here. I may play with it someday but for now it is by far the best I have ever had. I have eaten many tamales and these are number 1 in my book. Oh I used the sauce recommended too. I made it just like the recipe called for and it was wonderful. Actually it makes the whole recipe without that sauce you don’t have much so use that too.”

“These were very good. I made the meat in a slow cooker the day before and finished them the next afternoon. It was a bit of work to wrap so many, but it is worth the effort. My family says I have to make these again.”

“I had never made tamales before.These were absolutely fabulous…well worth the time and effort!Thanks for sharing what will now be a staple in our house!”

“My husband and I decided that we would make tamales for something different to do on date night…wow! We actually impressed ourselves with these!! I thought we would share all of the extras since the batch was so big, but they are too good not to eat ourselves!!”

“Fabulous. Tastes just like the ones I get (when I’m lucky) from a neighbor family from Mexico. I’m not a master by any means, but all my work was worth it. Thanks, Karen.”

“My husband and I bought some really bland tamales. So I decided we should give tamale making a try. We will NEVER buy tamales again. These are so delicious! His mom has been in the tamalebusiness for 20 years and these he says are way better. Thank you so much for sharing! I recommend making the meat and chili sauce one day and masa and rolling tamales the next.UMMMM! UMMMMM! GOOD!!”

“This was our first try at tamales and they were fantastic. There was some trial and error: they take 60 mins not 40 to steam. Set your timer and add water to the steaming pot or suffer the dry pot. We ended up making more corn mix to finish off our pork. But so so so delish. The time is in the steaming. Plan ahead. We served them with slow-cooked pintos (cook the pintos in the leftover broth), and homemade New Mexican stew. Ridonk. Yum.”

“I’m going to say it…. are you ready? THIS IS THE BEST RECIPE ON ZAAR!!!!! I am so darn happy to have made tamales and the fact that they are melt in your mouth delicious is a total bonus. The Hutchinson family now has a new tradition–homemade tamales just like we get in Costa Rica for Christmas! I used every drop of masa and meat and made 38 tamales. THANK YOU!!!”

“I have always liked traditional mexican tamales until I tried tamales from El Salvador.The biggest difference if that they wrap their tamales in banana leaves, and they cook the masa first before assembling the tamales.First you mix the broth and the masa (no shortening)then you add 4 tablespoons margarine, 1/3 cup corn oil and cook it over high heat stirring constantly and vigerously until the masa fluffs up and no longer has a gritty texture.They are the most delicious and moist tamales I have ever had.If interested message me and I will email my sister in law’s recipe for salvadorean tamales as it is too long to post on here, maybe one day I will post.This is a great recipe however if you like traditional mexican tamales!”

“These came out wonderful! I enjoyed the class in the forums too! I followed Muffin Goddess’ advise and used ice-cream scoops to measure out the masa. Everyone loved these”