Rancho Gordo logo
This site has limited support for your browser. We recommend switching to Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

For orders or assistance: 1-800-599-8323

Noche Mexicana Tour: Making Tamales


Print

I don't think you can take too many classes on tamal making. Each teacher has a slightly different trick or technique and it's always fun to get together and make them.

IMG_3090-1 '

After a very full day, the guests on the tour made their way to the tamal workshop.

IMG_3097-1

It's always odd that so many of us think nothing of making fresh pasta, or pad thai and yet these key Mexican techniques are so foreign to us and we share a border. I aim to fix that. A good tamal is thing of beauty and worthy of your attention!

IMG_3099

Tamal is singular. Tamales are plural. In Spanish, there is no word tamale. I think it's accepted English now, however, and there are much bigger battles to be fought.

IMG_3102

Another key reason to take a class is get to know the dough and how wet it should be and what texture. It's really a place where cookbooks can only be so much help.

IMG_3108

IMG_3122

IMG_3123

When it came time to mix the fat in with the masa, Chabela insists it's better by hand and she would never use a mixer. Time for the big guns and Gabriel came in and impressed all with his mixing skills.

IMG_3130

IMG_3132

Once all the tamales were made and taken to the kitchen for steaming, we all enjoyed a well-deserved bowl of Mole de Olla, a local vegetable and beef stew with the addition of the sour prickly pears, xoconostle. It was pretty grand, proving once again the basis for a good soup or stew is often an incredible broth. It's something you just can't replicate with a store-bought product.

IMG_3138

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

Cart

No more products available for purchase