So, for the third year in a row, we had our tamales party last night. We made the best tamales I've ever eaten, ever.
I cooked 14 lbs of chicken (boneless breasts) at a low boil for about 8 hours, yielding probably a gallon of high-quality stock. About four hours before the party, I filled our portable roaster oven with dried corn husks (mazorca) and water and steeped them at 200F so that they would be soft and ready when the time came. We melted 3 lbs. of manteca (lard) in a pot, and we mixed about 2 quarts of the stock with an entire bag of Maseca Corn Meal for Tamales, 7 tsp of baking powder, and 4 2/3 cups of melted lard. We then had to mix the masa (dough) for about 10 minutes, by hand, until a small dough ball would float in water (you have to incorporate air into the mixture).
Once the masa was ready, we shredded the chicken, mixed it with the green tomatillo/jalapeño mixture my friend made at home, formed the masa into small balls, then we pressed them, put the chicken mixture inside, put that into a corn husk, and then wrapped the whole thing up. When we had about 60-70 of them, we loaded them into my seafood steaming pot and steamed them at a high boil for about 70 minutes.
They were outstanding (we made about 140 total). For sauces, some people used Sabemas Chilero, but everyone started using, and raving about, my Salsa Lizano from Costa Rica (a kind of creamy Worcestershire). I think I ate at least 10 last night.
I also cooked 5 lbs of fried yuca (cassava root)--that all disappeared too.
I cooked 14 lbs of chicken (boneless breasts) at a low boil for about 8 hours, yielding probably a gallon of high-quality stock. About four hours before the party, I filled our portable roaster oven with dried corn husks (mazorca) and water and steeped them at 200F so that they would be soft and ready when the time came. We melted 3 lbs. of manteca (lard) in a pot, and we mixed about 2 quarts of the stock with an entire bag of Maseca Corn Meal for Tamales, 7 tsp of baking powder, and 4 2/3 cups of melted lard. We then had to mix the masa (dough) for about 10 minutes, by hand, until a small dough ball would float in water (you have to incorporate air into the mixture).
Once the masa was ready, we shredded the chicken, mixed it with the green tomatillo/jalapeño mixture my friend made at home, formed the masa into small balls, then we pressed them, put the chicken mixture inside, put that into a corn husk, and then wrapped the whole thing up. When we had about 60-70 of them, we loaded them into my seafood steaming pot and steamed them at a high boil for about 70 minutes.
They were outstanding (we made about 140 total). For sauces, some people used Sabemas Chilero, but everyone started using, and raving about, my Salsa Lizano from Costa Rica (a kind of creamy Worcestershire). I think I ate at least 10 last night.
I also cooked 5 lbs of fried yuca (cassava root)--that all disappeared too.
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