Christmas is perfumed with the scent of homemade tomales
It’s December now and that means one thing
– Christmas tamales are just around the corner. As soon as the
calendar turned a couple weeks ago, my coworkers and I started
speculating on who might offer us the treasured holiday treats this
year. One coworker from out of state asked,
”
Who has tamales at Christmas?
”
Well, around here, everyone.
Christmas is perfumed with the scent of homemade tomales
It’s December now and that means one thing – Christmas tamales are just around the corner. As soon as the calendar turned a couple weeks ago, my coworkers and I started speculating on who might offer us the treasured holiday treats this year. One coworker from out of state asked, “Who has tamales at Christmas?” Well, around here, everyone.
A tasty Christmas Eve
Margaret Rebecchi’s family only makes tamales at the holidays.
“Just at Christmas,” Rebecchi said. “We eat so many and then we don’t want them anymore.”
As a child, her family did not have a Christmas tree and did not get gifts from Santa Claus.
“We looked forward to tamales on Christmas Eve,” she said. “We had a piñata, candies and tangerines.”
Rebecchi sticks closely to her mother’s recipes, which offer mild-flavored varieties. She makes sweet tamales, pork, chicken and peas, and chili cheese. Every year for as long as she can remember, she and her sisters gathered at her mother’s house on Christmas Eve to make tamales and other traditional Mexican dishes. They would eat the tamales as they came out of the steamer that day.
“My mother would always give each of us a dozen to take home,” she said.
Though Rebecchi’s mother died in April, she and her sisters are planning to carry on the tradition at Rebecchi’s home this year. She has a book with the hand-written recipes, but they are piecemeal, and she said to really understand how to make tamales someone would have to watch her.
“We get together and just laugh and make coffee,” Rebecchi said of the yearly tradition. “Last year [my mother] was there to tell me they need a little more flour or a touch of salt. But I’ve been doing this with her for 30 years.”
Rebecchi has already started passing the recipes her mother shared with her down to her daughter.
“My mother’s spirit will be with us, and her recipes,” Rebecchi said.
Christmas morning scents
Like Rebecchi’s family, my dad’s family has always made tamales just at Christmas. When I was a kid, Christmas mornings meant breakfast at my grandparents’ house. The house would fill with the smell of steaming masa and whiffs of seasoned shredded beef.
My grandparents, aunts and cousins would gather the weekend before Christmas to make the tamales – beef ones and sweet raisin and cinnamon ones.
A few years ago while in graduate school, I called up my aunts to ask them about the tamale-making tradition for a school paper. They asked me to come over during the holiday break to see what a production it is.
The core group is the same every year. One aunt is the expert on masa, the other is the expert on the sauce. The recipe – which isn’t really a recipe since we just toss in ingredients until everything tastes and feels right – is from my father’s mother, according to my aunts. My grandmother’s only rule was that we never sell the tamales, but only give them as gifts.
The first year I was invited to make tamales, my aunts started my mom and I out as hoja (cornhusk) washers. This requires soaking the cornhusks in warm water, removing the corn silks, and then drying out the husks just enough that the masa will stick to them. It also requires sorting out bad husks and tearing husks into strips to tie off the ends of the tamales. It’s a boring job and kind of a pain, but someone’s got to do it.
Lucky for me, I was quickly promoted up the assembly line to spreading masa on the husks. Too much masa and they don’t cook right, not enough and they fall apart when the husks are removed. It really is an assembly line, too, with the cornhusk washing station, the masa making and spreading station, the filling station where the meat, sauce and olives go in, and finally the tying station.
Last year, we made around 300 tamales in four hours, and I can say my friends who received them as Christmas gifts thought it was time well spent.
My parents and I have attempted to make tamales a couple times without the entire crew. We made chile and cheese tamales, as well as some sweet pineapple ones. And over the weekend, we tried our hand at beef tamales. We can make the sauce, we can make the shredded beef filling, but every time there is something not quite right with the masa. The tamales taste great, but the masa is just off enough that I can tell the difference. I guess it takes a crowd at Christmas to make great tamales.
Here are some basic tamale tips and ingredients from two local families who carry on the tradition each year.
Tamale tips:
Cornhusks
The start and finish of each tamale is the same. The cornhusks must be thoroughly cleaned and dried before they can be used. The process makes the husks flexible for folding and tying.
Filling
Tamales that have a filling need to have the masa spread on the cornhusks so that the meat, sauce and other items can be placed in them. Then the cornhusks can be folded so the masa covers the filling.
With sweet tamales, a spoonful of the dough can just be placed in the center of a cornhusk.
Tying vs. folding
Some families fold the cornhusks around the masa and filling, standing them upright for steaming. Others tie the ends off. The important thing to do is to keep the masa and filling surrounded by the husk so they don’t dry out while steaming.
Steaming
Most tamales will steam in about an hour. They should be placed in a large pot over a rack, so they are not touching the water at the bottom of the pot. In my family, we place a towel on top of the tamales under the lid of the pot to keep the steam in. Check periodically to make sure there is still water in the pot. To see if they are done, pull one tamale from the pot and open the husk. The masa should be soft, but firm.
Esperancitas Sweet Tamales
From Margaret Rebecchi
5 lbs. masa (corn tortilla flour0
50 cornhusks
4 c. lard
2 ½ tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. salt
3 ½ c. sugar
3 c. raisins
3 c. coconut
¼ c. warm water
Optional:
1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 c. chunky peanut butter
Put lard, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Mix at high speed until white and fluffy, about 5 min. Gradually mix in masa and add warm water. Mix well. Stir in coconut, raisins and optional items.
See above for filling and steaming tips.
Chicken tamales with peas
From Margaret Rebecchi
1 whole chicken
5 pasilla chile pods
3 c. chicken broth
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 small white onion, diced
1 garlic clove
¼ c. lard
2 c. frozen peas
5 lbs. masa
4 c. lard
1 ½ tbsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
½ c. chicken broth
50 cornhusks
Boil chicken until cooked. Shred chicken.
Remove seeds and stems form chilies and soak in hot water for one hour. Once softened, place in blender with chicken broth, garlic and salt. Blend well. Melt a small amount of lard, then add onions and saute. Add chile puree. Cook for 5 min. Add cumin seeds, then chicken. Add peas and cook.
For dough, mix lard, salt, and baking powder on high speed. Add masa and chicken broth.
See above for spreading and folding tips.
Pineapple tamales
From “Mexican Cooking Made Easy”
16 large cornhusks, soaked, cleaned and dried
2 c. canned crushed pineapple undrained
1 ½ c. vegetable shortening
4 c. corn tortilla flour
3 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 c. warm water
½ c. brown sugar
Beat shortening until fluffy. Mix in corn tortilla flour, baking powder, salt and water. Then mix in ½ c. pineapple juice until dough is spongy. Add 1 c. pineapple and ½ c. brown sugar.
Place dough into center of husk. Fold in ends and store under a damp towel until ready to steam.
To steam, place in a deep pot with hot water filled to the base of a rack. Stand tamales upright loosely so steam can circulate. Bring to a boil, and cover for one hour. Add hot water when needed. Cook time may vary.
Serve warm with left over pineapple on top.
