My Grandmother's Tamale Recipe, Plus the Tools That Make Them Easy to Make — MBG Home — Modern Brown Girl | Amplifying Brown Voices, One Story at a Time (2024)

FAQs

What does baking soda do to tamale masa? ›

The decrease in pork lard causes a significant increase in Mexican tamales chewiness. Baking powder prevents the tamales chewiness rise caused by a decrease in fat content. At a high fat content, baking powder does not cause major changes in tamales texture.

Masa for tamales can be made with or without baking powder. It helps the dough rise and it gives tamales a lighter texture.

The main potential nutritional drawback of tamales is that they're a source of saturated fat, which can increase cholesterol levels, per the American Heart Association.

To make sure there is sufficient water in the bottom of your steamer pot when cooking the tamales, put a penny in the water. The penny should rattle the entire time that the tamales are steaming– if the penny stops rattling, you know that you need to add more water.

Ingredients and ratio:

The masa and lard will make the base of the tamale dough, in a ratio of 5 pounds masa to 1 pound lard. The beef will make the filling, and should weigh 5 pounds before it gets cooked to every 5 pounds masa.

Drop a small ball of corn masa in a cup of water. If it floats, the masa is ready. If it sinks, add more lard! Watch our archived mobile broadcast making Green Chile #tamales Colorado style with three generations of the Sanchez family!

Vegetable shortening is a meat-free and dairy-free substitute for lard, allowing you to serve tamales to meat eaters and vegans alike. That said, there are other substitutes for lard that will work well in tamale recipes as well, like refined coconut oil, butter, and avocado oil.

Making the best tamales

You need a masa that is not dry and crumbly, making you sip after every bite. But the masa should be set, not mushy or runny. It should also be light, not heavy and dense. And of course, you need a delicious filling.

“It will really clog up your arteries, it will add a lot of visceral fat, that clogs up your heart and your liver so a better option for you instead of that animal lard that animal fat would be canola oil and chicken broth for that Latin flavor,” said TK Fitness trainer Kai Malachi.

“If you know you have high blood pressure or diabetes, you probably shouldn't eat traditional tamales,” Pascoe says. “Instead, I would recommend preparing a dozen or so healthy tamales, which use all of our healthy substitutions.”

What is a common mistake when making tamales? ›

One of the biggest mistakes is not mixing the masa dough long enough; this causes the tamales to fall apart.

Cherokee tamales, also known as bean bread or "broadswords", were made with hominy (in the case of the Cherokee, the masa was made from corn boiled in water treated with wood ashes instead of lime) and beans, and wrapped in green corn leaves or large tree leaves and boiled, similar to the meatless pre-Columbian bean ...

For best results you want to make the masa right when you plan to make and cook your tamales so the dough doesn't dry out, though if necessary you can form them one day and cook them the next. Lard makes tastier and fluffier tamales than other fats do.

All-purpose flour and baking powder guarantee masa that's light and tender, not tough and dense.

And if it floats, that means that it is ready. It means that it's light and airy, so that means moist and fluffy tamales. And if it doesn't float, just add a little bit more water and continue mixing.

When you start, the masa is going to be really sticky, like a wet bread dough. That's where lard (or oil) comes in. Lard adds amazing flavor and prevents the cooked tamale from sticking to the husk. If lard is not your jam, then just use vegetable oil or melted shortening.

Lard makes tastier and fluffier tamales than other fats do. You can replace the lard with solid fats, like duck fat or shortening, to obtain a similar texture; butter and liquid oils work but will make a denser masa.