Recipe - New Mexico Tamales

TAMALES
4 pound Pork shoulder
6 cup Water
6 tablespoon To 8 chile powder
1/8 teaspoon Oregano (optional)
One fourth teaspoon Cumin (optional)
2 cl Garlic, chopped fine

MASA FOR TAMALES
5 pound Masa corn meal flour
1 pound Lard
Pork broth from above
48 Corn husks(dried)

Tamales: Boil meat in water until tender. Remove meat from broth, saving
broth for making dough and chile. Chop meat in One fourth inch pieces and place
in pan. Disolve chile powder in 1 One half cups of the meat broth, add to the
meat, add garlic, spices and salt, and cook until almost dry. Set aside,
while preparing dough (masa).

Masa for Tamales: Cream lard in a medium size mixing bowl, using a mixer at
medium speed. Add flour and mix. Add enough of the meat broth to make
dough spreadable with a table knife.

Assembling the Tamales: Rinse corn husks and soak in warm water until
pliable. Spread the center portion of each husk with 2 tablespoon of the masa
mixture. Top with the chile meat filling. Varied amounts of either the masa
or thee filling may be used (some like them thin, some like more of the
filling). Fold the sides of the hushs toward the center, the bottom of the
husk up the top down. Tie each tamale top and bottom with a narrow corn
husk strip.

Pour 2 inches of water in a large kettle and arrange the tamales on a rack
above water level. Steam tamales for about 40 minutes. WALT

New Mexico Magazine Dec93
Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #309

Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 09:00:37 0500

From: Walt Gray waltgray@mnsinc.com