The Art of Making Tamales: A Guideline by Fermin Núñez

As I sit here in my kitchen, surrounded by the familiar aromas and flavors of Mexican cuisine, I am reminded of why I love cooking Mexican food so much. It's not just about following a recipe or using specific ingredients, but rather understanding the techniques and guidelines that have been passed down through generations. For me, Mexican cooking is more like a set of guidelines on techniques, with the only constant being what the last person told you. Today, I'm excited to share my own guideline for making tamales, one of my favorite dishes to make during the holidays.

I've always enjoyed making tamales, and it's a tradition that has been passed down through my family for years. Growing up, I would help my mother and grandmother in the kitchen, learning the intricacies of tamale-making and the importance of using high-quality ingredients. As I grew older, I began to experiment with different recipes and techniques, but I always remained true to the traditional methods that had been taught to me.

One of the first steps in making tamales is to prepare the base, which involves braising pork in a mixture of chilies, vegetables, and herbs. To start, we need to take the tops off the chilies and remove some of the seeds. This will help to bring out the natural sweetness and flavor of the chilies. As we work, I'll also be starting to heat up some chicken stock, which we'll use to rehydrate the chilies. We have three types of chilies today: guajillo, arbol, and chili pequin. The guajillo will add a bit of color and sweetness to the dish, while the arbol will provide most of the heat. The chili pequin will add a touch of spiciness to the mix.

I'll now pour some of the hot stock over the chilies and let them steep for a few minutes. This will allow us to extract the flavors and oils from the chilies, which will be used throughout the dish. Meanwhile, I'll take out the rest of the vegetables and begin chopping an onion. Tamales are one of those dishes that always remind me of the holidays, and I love making them for special occasions. The northern-style tamales we're making today use corn husks instead of banana leaves, which is a common practice in some parts of Mexico.

As I chop the onion, I'll also be adding in some epazote, an herb that is commonly used in Mexican cooking to make beans delicious. I love using epazote in this braise because it adds such depth and complexity to the dish. If you can't find epazote, don't worry – there are plenty of other herbs and spices you can use as substitutes. Next, I'll be adding in some avocado leaves, which are a key ingredient in traditional tamale-making.

Now that we have all our ingredients ready, it's time to blend them together into a delicious liquid. We'll start by adding all the garlic to the blender – yes, you read that right, plenty of garlic! Then, I'll pour in some vinegar and blend everything together until it's smooth and well combined. Don't worry if it seems a bit loose at first – just close your eyes and open your heart and listen to the blending process.

Once we have our liquid ready, we can move on to the pork. We'll chop up the meat into small pieces and season it with salt, making sure not to over-salt it – this is a common mistake that can ruin an otherwise perfect dish. As we cook the pork, I want to emphasize the importance of using high-quality fat – it's what brings all the flavors together and makes the tamales truly special.

Now that our liquid is ready, we'll add it to the blender and blend everything together until it's smooth and well combined. This will be used as the base for our tamale dough. While we wait for the blender to finish blending, I'll take a moment to talk about the importance of tamales in my life. For me, they represent a connection to my heritage and culture – a tradition that has been passed down through generations.

Now that our blender is complete, it's time to start making the dough. We'll use the liquid from the blender as the base for our tamale dough, mixing it with some masa harina and water to create a smooth and pliable mixture. This is where the magic happens – this dough will be wrapped around the pork filling and steamed to perfection.

As I begin to assemble the tamales, I want to emphasize the importance of technique and patience. Tamales are not made in 10 minutes – it takes time and effort to get them just right. But trust me, the end result is worth it – there's nothing quite like wrapping a steaming hot tamale in corn husks and taking a bite.

The final step in making tamales is to steam them over boiling water for about an hour. This will allow the flavors to meld together and the dough to set properly. As I wait for the tamales to cook, I'll be enjoying a glass of Mexican wine – a tradition that dates back centuries.

And there you have it – my guideline for making traditional Mexican-style tamales. It's a dish that requires patience, skill, and practice, but the end result is well worth it. Whether you're making them for special occasions or just for fun, I hope you'll enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en-I think one thingthat I've enjoyed aboutcooking Mexican foodis that Mexican cooking,to me, it's more likeguidelines on techniques.The only thing that's true iswhat the last person told you.So this is going to be myguideline to making my tamales,which is one of my favoritethings to eat in the holidays.Hi. I'm Fermin Núñez from Suertein Austin, Texas,and today we're goingto be making tamales.We have to start making the baseon where we're goingto braise the pork.All right, so the first stepto working with the chiliesis we're going totake the tops off,and then we're going to removesome of the seeds.While we're doing that,I'm also going to startheating up some chicken stock,which we're going to useto rehydrate the chilies.This is guajillo.This one's going to be basicallyfor a little bitof color and sweetness.This one's going to beour arbol,which is where most of our heatis going to come from.And then this is ourchili pequin,which will bethe spiciness to it.Stock, right nowit's at a simmer.I'm just literally going topour this over the chiliesand then just let them hang out.So now we're going to takethe rest of our vegetables.We're going to take an onionand choppy-choppy.Tamales, to me,are one of those thingsthat I always enjoyedgrowing up eating,because it always reminded meof the holidays.The ones that we're making todayare more of the northern partof Mexico tamalesbecause we use corn huskas opposed to banana leaves,which you will findin some other partsin the south of Mexico.These ones, they usually havea little bit less fillingthan the onesthat have banana leaves.To me, epazote is the herbthat makes beans delicious,and I like to use itin this braise.Drop it in here.I'm also going totake avocado leaves.If you can't find this, stop,go find it,because this is the moneymaker.Now we're going to takeall these things,put them in the blender,just like in the movies,all the garlic.I'm going to dump this liquidin here to give the blendera head-start, the vinegar,and we're goingto go broom-broom.It's just like a blender.Drop it in here.You're going to feel likeit's a little loose,but don't be afraid.Close your eyes and openyour heart and listen to me,because we're going to takea little bit of that liquidand use it for the masathat we're going to makethe tamales with.So now we have the liquid ready.We have the pork.We're just literally going tochop this up so we can salt it.Not all tamalesare created equal.Think of it as, like, a vesselto carry and wrapall the delicious thingsthat you want to eat inside.It's, like, the most satisfyingto eatafter a night of drinking.In this process,I'm not removing any of the fat,because fat is going to bringa lot of flavor.Now we're going to salt.Be a little bit generouswith your salt.But one of the things you wantto keep in mindwhen you're making this is,you don't want to over-salt itbecause it's going to cookfor a minute, right?So all those flavorsare going to reduce,so if you season it to the limitright now,the end result is going to betoo salty,and your momis not going to be happy.The pan is on medium heat.I'm going to add enough oilto cover, just like a chef.I'm going to start searing.We're not going to overcrowd ourpan because we're professionals,because thenyou won't get maximum sear.Searing right now on the porkis going to allow us to havea lot of depth of flavorin the tamales.So now I'm just takingsome of the pork out,and by \"some,\" I meanall of it that I've seared.It doesn't have to be perfect.It's still going to braisein the braising liquid.I'm not going toscrape the pan.I want all that flavorto be in the tamalesso it ends up in your belly.All right, so we're very close.Most of the meathas already been seared.We're just finishing offthese piecesto get some nice color on them.Now I'm going to start addingthe rest of this meatback in the pot.This is the braising liquid.Perfect amountof liquid-to-meat ratio.Bring it to a simmer.So now we're going to putthe lid on this.The pork,it's almost done cooking.Right now, I'm going to startsoaking the corn husks --just warm water.You can boil some water,let it rest,and then dropthe husks in there.Use a little plateto kind of weigh it down.And the beautiful thingabout this is thatyou cannot soak themfor too long,so just kind of make surethey're covered in waterand then forget about it.We're going to use allthis liquid that had all the fatrise to the top,use it for the masa.Pork is super tender.Kind of just falls apartwith a fork.Mmm!I'm going to add more salt.This is, like, where youhave to add the salt,because onceit's in the tamale,you can't add saltinside the tamale.Take the meat out,put it in a bowl.Literally, that pork is alreadygoing to, like, shred.And now we smash.We're just going to, like --We've all had pulled porkin our lives.Think of, like, thatpulled-pork texture.If you have fatty pieces likethat, don't be afraid of it.Just smash it, and all thatis going to turn intojust flavor bombsof, like, deliciousness,fatty cloudsinside of your tamales.I'm going to setthis pork aside,and I'm going to start makingthe masa for the tamales.Masa is the canvasof Mexican cooking.With masa,you can make tortillas,tlayudas, tlacoyos,tostadas, and tamales.There's all kinds of masasout there in the world.Some are better than others.I encourage you to goto your local molino.If you can't go that route,there is masa powders.Masa powders are not evil.The evil onesare the cheap ones.I know you're going toend up thinking, \"Fermin,why is this different thanwhat you have in this video?\"The reason is becausethis has been driedand turned into a powder.If you are wonderinghow much liquid to add,just start with the recipethat is in the bag.Make sure that it is not so wetto where it sticksin your hands.We need to adda little bit of fat.We need to add a little bitof liquid,allow that masa to not be dry.So we're going to adda little bit of lard.Make sure the lardis room temperatureor even a little bit cold.Add a little bit of salt.We're going to pull this down,and then we're going to --nice --we're going to fluff it up.Think of it likefluffy marshmallows whenyou're making this.Let it go for about 45 secondsto a minute.So this wasn't getting tothe bottom of the bowl,so we called in some friends.Now we're going to fluff.Whoo!And now we're there.It's crazy to methis is, like, so unusual.But for most people,this is, like, the standardof whipping things.Now that my lardhas been fluffed,I'm going to start addingthe liquidthat we saved from the pork.I'm just going to slowly startto stream it in.It's important that the liquidis not hot.Room temperatureor cold is fine,because if we just addhot liquid to the fluffed lard,it's just going to kind ofbring it down.I should have stuckwith the hand mixer.We called in for help.This might get messy,but it's fine.That's the fun of tamales.This is fucking awesome.We're incorporating the liquidinto the lard.This is how you make tamales.All right, so...our lard and braising liquidhas been incorporated.We're going to haveto figure out a wayto put this in herewithout making so much mess.I was trying to be so clean,and you guys saw thatall fucking shoot.-Actually, yeah,you've been so cleanand, like, really,actually, classy.-All right, so now thatwe made a mess,we're going to take it backto the mixer.The masa we're going to addto this mixerone little chunk at a time.Now that everythingis incorporated,it looks kind of like justa very homogeneous mixture.If you've made tortillasin the past,this might feel really loose,but, actually,that's, like, the right amountof looseness that you want,because, again, we're stillgoing to cook this doughfor like 45 minutes to an hour,so think about thatwhen you're making tamales.I'm going to let it chillfor a little bit.So, when we come back,we're just going to assembleeverything and have a partyof tamale-makingbefore we steam themand we finally eat them.We're going to makean assembly line.The husk first, then the masa,and then our shredded pork.Whatever you haveon your --koozie --this is the time to open it,take a sip,and go to town, okay?Try to get the husks that aregoing to be bigger in sizes,and they're going to curve,you know, towards you.Belly to belly, that's howI think about it all the time.We're going to take our lefthand and put it at the bottom.A little bit of this masa,and we're pretty muchjust going to coverfrom this part to about here,leaving about, you know,two inches of space.Once you commit to this,it's hard to un-commit.We're going to justspread lightly.That is what you want itto look like.After this, you're going to takea little bitof your pork filling.Be generous with it.But not too generousto where you can't close it.We're going to close it.This side is going inside.This one comes over,and namaste,taking the bottomof the pointy part,pulling it to the top,and that's your first tamale.One trick to keep it closed is,you're going to takesome of the leaves,the husks that are reallysmall to make a tamale.You're going to make your ribbonthat you're going to wrap it.Take this tamale,and we're going to wrap itjust like in the movies.Tamales are kind of intenseto make,so it's one of those thingsthat you do for the holidays,because when your tiasare visitingfrom whereverthey're coming from,it's like a fun timeto celebrateand hang out with each other.If you get a little bitin your hand,it's fine, you're making food.This is also another great funpart, to get the kids to wrap.Think of it like puttingthe blanket over your tamale.That's how you do it.Make sure that when you'repinching it from the bottomyou don't have masatrapped in here.And we wrap itjust like a little treatfor your future self.If a little bit comes out,that's fine.You can do the goodold-fashioned trickof doing that.All right, so now our wateris simmering.We're creating some steamin this pot.When you're putting themin there,you want to make surethey stand up.The masa is really loose.If you put them laying flat,the masa is just going tokind of, like, go downinto the water,and you're going to havea really weird tamale soup.I'm going to put the lidon these guys,let them simmer for 45 minutes.Tamales need to rest. They'vebeen cooking for a while.They've been steaming,they've been sweatingfor 45 minutes, maybe an hour.They have to rest.The mistake that a lot of peoplemake usually isthey keep cooking thembecause they keep checking themwhen they're stillsteaming them,and they end upovercooking them.You have to letyour tamales rest.They're ready because the huskis not sticking to the masa,all right?So now let's eat one.I'm going to unwrap itlike a little present,and this tamaleis just waiting for me.You can serve this with salsa,pico de gallo, whatever it isthat you want to, like, dip in.But right now, to me, like,this is going to be the money.Mmm! The masa, it's partof the star here.The texture is very good.It's not dry.It's not too fatty.It's like the right amountof fluffiness.The pork is shredded,it is delicious,adds a little bitof that vinegar kick.You're done eating one,I can't wait to eatthe next one.For the recipe,click on the link below.If you're ever in Austin,come to Suerte. Visit me.Make these tamales, tell me howthey turn out at the restaurant,or just comeand have tortillas at Suerte.You won't regret it.The first times where I was,like, blind cookingand just prepping and stuff,sometimes I would be spendingall day with chilies.And I was like, \"I'm Mexican.I don't need to wear gloves.This is my country, and I'mgoing to use the chilies.\"Sometimes I would forgetthat I was dealing withchilies all day,and I would go to the restroom,and that was not fun.So, after making that mistakea few times,I kind of realizedthat you should wash your hands.\n"