Making Tamales The tamale, also known as the tamalii, is popular throughout parts of the world. The tamale gets its meaning “wrapped food” from the corn husks, which surrounds the outside of the tamale. Though nobody knows when or who invented the tamale it is said to have been traced as far back as 5000 BC and were served as battle food for the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas soldiers.
Today, tamales are often served on special occasions such as Day of the Dead, New Years,
Christmas and other holidays. The three main components of the tamale are: the carnita, masa, and hoja de maiz. Carnitas means shredded pork which is the filling inside the tamale. Masa means dough which makes the tamales. Hoja de maiz means corn husk wrappers which are husks that surround the tamale. In order to make tamales you will need to follow these directions:
Making the Carnitas (shredded pork)
This meat filling will contain the following ingredients:
• 4 to 5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, fat trimmed and meat cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 8 garlic cloves
•
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Add paprika, chili powder, salt and garlic powder to this. Mix the dry ingredients with your hands together until you end up with clumps of spices. After you have thoroughly mixed the masa flour and the dry ingredients, add the corn oil all at once. Mix the corn oil into the dry ingredients with your hands and once you have mixed it thoroughly start adding 1 cup of pork or chicken broth until your masa looks like and feels like peanut butter. You can add more masa or water if it doesn’t look like peanut butter. Do a little test on the masa by putting some of the dough into a bowl of water and sees if it floats or sink. I it floats you know it’s done and if it sinks it needs some more liquid and some more fat. You will need to cover your masa dough with plastic wrap and put it in a plastic bag until you are ready to use