August Kitchen Challenge Results: Tamales

Lesson #1: Just because a recipe is on the internet does not mean you can trust it. There’s nothing more disappointing then following a recipe from a source you THINK is trustworthy (I’m looking at you, PBS) only to discover there is clearly something missing. And I’m talking about 2-3 CUPS of liquid, not minor by any means. Needless to say, my first batch of tamales was barely edible. The dough, being more the consistency of cookie dough instead of peanut butter, was thick and pasty and none too appetizing. We ate them anyway. But we did not enjoy them.

Yvette to the rescue. I should have just started with her recipe to begin with. I tell you, the girl knows her stuff. You should totally buy her cookbook.

Making the recipe the right way involved hunting down freshly prepared masa (Nashville folk: La Hacienda grocery on Nolensville Road has big ol’ bags of it!) but it made all the difference. Fresh masa, good quality lard, a bit of chicken broth, baking powder, and seasoning… and a spoonful or two of homemade salsa verde for extra flavor (that was my addition – recipe coming soon!)

We filled our tamales with a mixture of blackened poblano peppers and cheese. But we ran out of filling part-way through the process, and, not wanting to waste the rest of the masa, did a bit of scrounging and came up with some refried black beans. And, in all honesty, we almost liked the bean-and-cheese tamales better than the poblanos.

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