Pork Tamales

Filling

The filling can be whatever you want - beef, pork, chicken, cheese, veggies, a combination of one or more of the preceding, or anything you desire.  I made a tasty pork filling as follows:

• 1 sweet onion
• 1 whole pork loin, boston butt, or picnic shoulder
• 1 t chili powder
• 2 t kosher salt
• 1 t black pepper
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 3-4 cups water or stock
• 3 chipotle chiles

Cook 1 sweet onion over medium heat with spices until it softens and starts to caramelize.  Add a pork loin or buston butt (make thin slices across the fat to help it break down and self baste the meat), seasoned with salt and pepper, and add 3-4 cups of water to cover the meat.  Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to a simmer and cover.  Cook this for about 1.5 hours or until the pork is cooked and fork tender.  Using two forks, or your fingers, pull the pork into shreds.  If you overcook the pork or it is not fork tender, you can run it through a food processor or slicer instead of pulling it with a fork or fingers.

Masa Dough and Tamale Assembly

• 3.5 cups masa flour
• 1.5 T kosher salt (or to taste)
• 2 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/2 cup crisco
• 2-4 cups water or reserved liquid from meat preparation
• 24 corn husks

First soak the corn husks for 1 hour so that they will be flexible enough to wrap the tamales without breaking.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the masa, salt, baking powder.  Add the crisco and combine by hand or with the mixer.  Slowly add the liquid until the mixture is the consistency of play dough (it should be together and moist, but not too wet).

Setup an assembly line of masa, meat, corn husks (patted dry), and steamer setup (I use a large stock pot with a steamer basket in the bottom).  Lay each corn husk pointed end away and spoon out 1-2 T of masa dough and spread in a square about 3.5 x 3.5 inches and about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.  The spread should be closer to the wide (not pointed) end of the husk, and about 1/2 to 1 inch away from any edges.  On top of that, add about 1 T of the filling in the middle of the dough.  Fold the corn husks left and right sides over towards the middle until the two sides of the filling come together.  Wrap the corn husk sides one by one around the dough and over each other.  Pinch the bottom of the dough together and fold the pointed end of the husk up towards the top of the tamale.  Pinch the top of the dough together to seal the tamale.  You can then use a thin strip of corn husk to tie the tamale together so that it doesn't come unfolded during steaming.

Place the tamales  in the steamer basket and steam for about 1.5 hours or until the dough is done and the husks peel off the dough easily.

I like to serve the tamales with some black beans and salsa.