Tamales

Tamales

What You Need

5 or 6 lbs pork shoulder steaks

2 and 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

3 jalapenos chopped

1/2 to 1 pint salsa or one can of rotel

1 and 1/2 cup margarine

4 cups broth (you will make this)

4 cups Tamale instant corn mix

1 or 2 packs corn husk

                                         Tamale Recipe: Makes approximately 80 tamales

 Rinse pork steaks and put them in a large stock pot and fill with water. Add the garlic at this point and you can also add some concentrated stock or bullion cubes (personal preference). 

This is going to give you two of the ingredients you will use.

Cook on medium to low heat until they fall apart. This takes a good amount of time so I split the entire process into two days. Feel free to go at your own pace.

When the pork steaks start falling apart when you stir them they are done. Remove from heat and let cool. When they are cool enough to handle separate the meat from the broth and set the broth aside. Now you are ready to clean and prepare your meat. I use three bowls for this process. One bowl has the the meat you just removed from the broth and you will use one bowl for the unwanted fat and bones etc. And last but not least the third bowl is for the cleaned meat. When you clean the meat you will want to do this with your hands because there can be small slivers of bone/small pieces of bone that you will not want to bite into later while you are enjoying a tasty tamale. During this process remove all fat and bone and anything undesirable to you and discard. After meat is to your satisfaction place back in the broth. Now you can either reheat or refrigerate at this point. If you continue on skip next part. If you have refrigerated your meat you will take it out the next day. When you get it out of the refrigerator there will be a layer of concentrated fat on the top. Skim that off and place in a bowl and set aside, you will use that later.




You are now ready to put the corn husk in water to soak. I use a turkey roasting pan because it is large but shallow, it works perfect for this and set them aside.




Separate all of your meat from the broth at this point. Set the broth aside in a medium size bowl
 NOTE: The broth should still be cool from the refrigerator or close to room temperature if you have continued on the same day.




Put all of the meat in a large skillet and add rotel or homemade salsa and cut up peppers. I do not add salt and pepper because I feel that there is enough seasoning already. Simmer for approximately an hour. At this point you will want your meat to be moist only. Remove from heat and set aside.




Now you are ready to mix the Masa
Combine:  4 cups Masa mix
4 cups cooled broth
 (if you have skimmed the fat previously this will be part of the 4 cups broth)
 1 1/2 cups of margarine (soft not warm)
Mix completely and set aside. The consistency should be like paste.
You can always refer to directions on the Masa bag, I have tweaked this recipe.
Get your steamer started on the heat.




You are now ready to start rolling your tamales.
Place all of your ingredients in a row for easy preparation.
Get a corn husk out of the water and place on work space (do not dry).
For large tamales...
Place a large tablespoon of Masa paste onto large husk down the center the long way.
Place a large teaspoon of meat down the center firmly into Masa mix.
Take one side of the husk and fold over to the other side of the husk and push down on the other side of the meat and Masa and pull back against it then roll forward and fold small end over to close that end off. Set aside and continue till you have enough to fill the steamer.




30 fit nicely into my large steamer. Place folded end down.
 These will steam for 30-45 minutes until done. Every stove is different so always check to make sure they are done. When the Masa is done it will have risen around the meat and spring back to the touch. If it does not spring back they are not done. Once they are done set them on a cooling rack and start the rest of your tamales to steam. Always make sure you have enough water in the steamer.

Because these are large tamales I freeze 6 per bag.






Congratulations you now have the best fast food ever!!!
Was this work? Yes. Worth it? Yes!!!



Enjoy