A big welcome to Steve's Kitchen. Wow that is hot! we've just finished making
delicious Mexican Tamales. I've got that wonderful Mole we made. I'm going to go
through all the steps you need to make really really delicious tamales at home.
Now it's no wonder these are super popular around Christmas I think this is
something that the family can get involved with, let's get on and make
Mexican tamales.
So before we can make our tamales we've got to prepare a few things. Of course
I've got my lovely chocolate Oaxacan Mole I made in the last video, which
is going to be an important flavor in my tamales. YUM! In addition to that you're
going to need some dried corn husks. I have seen it done with banana leaves
that works as well but they usually come pretty dry. So what we need to do is
rehydrate these. I've got a pot full of hot water, I really think you need to
soak these overnight, at least three or four hours anyway, To get them nice and
soft. I've got some in here already soaking, what I've done is pop them in
and then I'm going to put a heavyweight or a plate on top of them and keep them
under the water until they're beautiful and supple. As I say overnight is ideal. Next
up you're going to want some meat to go with your tamales. Now I've gone for a
traditional slow-cooked pork, you could go for chicken, you could use almost any
meat or you could make this vegetarian. The Mole is going to add all the extra
flavor in there for us. The perfect cut for me is a pork butt or shoulder, it's
got lots of fat in. It's going to render down beautifully. Now rather than do this
in the oven, I'm going to be doing it in a stockpot. I'm going to be boiling it over
a period, what that's going to give us is a lovely succulent pork, that is just
perfect for tamales. It's also going to render the fat off of the pork, which
will float to the top and we'll be using that, this is sort of lard, we're using
that to make the masa, to make the dough for this and thirdly we're going to end
up with a perfect stock. So I'm not actually going to put a lot of herbs and
spices in this and there's a reason for that because at the end I'll have a
stock that I can use for other recipes that isn't tainted with the flavors of
different herbs and spices. I am going to add in some onions, celery and carrot. So
it's a sort of combination of a sort of pork and vegetable stock that we'll end
up with and we're going to simmer this on the stove. So I'm going to pop the
whole pork butt in there with the vegetables, simmer it with a little bit
of salt, for probably four to six hours, until it becomes lovely and tender and
it just falls off the bone. Now the pork has been simmering away for a good six
hours on the stove and it's literally falling apart, what I've got on the top
of the stock here is the fats, the lard. I'm going to skim that
off now with a ladle and I'm putting it into a jug because I want to use that to
make my masa. It'll get all the flavor and texture that I need and now we're
just going to gently take the pork out, it's absolutely falling apart it's so
soft and tender and we're just going to pull away the meat from the bone. A
little bit of fat in there as well. This is going to make such a good filling
for our tamales. The shredded pork is looking and smelling delicious, I've
added a lot more of the stock back in there to keep it nice and moist. Now you
can see here the fat that's come off of the stock that I scooped off there, that
is going to be used to make our masa. I've got my corn husks now they're
hydrated, the Mole is ready, I've got some masa flour, we're actually using dry
masa flour, so rather than using water to make our dough, I'm going to use this
beautiful stock and fat combination which is going to make a delicious masa.
I'm just going to warm this back up again, I can't use it solid like that, so
I'll heat it, come back in a second. So I'm going to take a couple of cups of
masa harina. Now it really is important to use masa harina for this and not some
sort of wheat flour. What really makes the flavor with tamales is the pork fat.
We want to get all of this, don't just get the stock, get all of that fat in
there it makes all the difference. So with 2 cups of flour I'm going to start
with a cup of stock and the fat off the top of the stock. So by pouring it like
that into the cup you'll get pretty much all the fat in there, add that in with
your masa. We're probably going to need a little bit more but I won't put it in
just yet. Just take a fork now and start to bind
this together, as it starts to bind get your hand in there and just start to
squeeze together until you feel whether this feels a little bit dry, which it
does at the moment. A little more stock, we're looking for a dough that
eventually feels like a very soft play-doh. Now the masa
is feeling absolutely perfect, this would make great tortillas by the way but what
I'm going to do is leave this for about 20 minutes to allow the flour to bloom
a little bit. Are you following along, are you ready to
construct your tamales. Now I've got my husks here, if you feel there's one side
that's got rough ridges on, one side thats smooth. The
smooth side is the side we're using to construct the tamales. I want you to lay
them flat out on your countertop or on a board.So we just take a scoop maybe
about a golf-ball size piece of our masa dough, just lay it down on the husk. Now I
do find a piece of plastic wrap really helps with this because it stops it
sticking to your hands. It also allows you just to sort of spread the masa
out. I'm going for a sort of oblong shape if I can, so I'm just pushing out the
corners, it's very forgiving if you've got this plastic wrap on here, just to
sort of pull the shape in. Now some people make this paper thin, I like it a
little more chunky because I think the flavor of this masa is so, so good it
doesn't matter. Take the wrap off. Now whether you decide to mix your pork with
your mole or go just with the pork itself, it's entirely up to you but just
get a pinch of your shredded pork, lay it onto your masa. Take that beautiful mole,
add it on there as well, this is where we're getting the heat and the seasoning
for our beautiful tamales. Don't put it on too thick, probably I've put that on a
little bit thicker than I should have done. Now the way I like to do this is
fold this seam over to this seam and then roll it up. So if we pull this over
now and I just touch down the seams. Pat it down a little bit and then what you
can do, you'll get a little mole sneaking out the edge, I'm just going
to wrap this round completely, pull it around so we get a beautiful traditional
tamale and then just going to fold over the back onto itself and that one's
ready .I got a bit of mole escaping out, I'm not worried about that, get another,
another piece, just check whether I've got it the right way up, pop it down
there. Again take our masa dough, a little bit on there, cover it over and then I'm
just going to ease it out close to the top, pull it back down, again we can peel
that back, take a pinch of our shredded pork, a good Mexican dollop of Mole.
Maybe I'll go a little bit lighter this time, pull,
get my little seam there and I can see the shape of the tamales starting to
form. I'm just going to fold that round again, a little bit of Mole's escaping,
I've got lots of this mole so I'm not too worried and there's the next tamale
we're ready to cook. To keep everything together we're going to take one of our
corn husks, I'm just going to pull off a strip like that, I'm just going to lay it
underneath the tamale, lift it up, tie a little knot, it's very simple to do and
that'll just hold it together while it's steaming.
Now I'm only doing a dozen of these beautiful tamales, as my channel trailer
says 'being in the kitchens getting people involved' but it's just Michele
and I around. I think a dozen will do, two for Michele, ten for me. That works out
just about right. We need to steam these now for about an hour. Now if you haven't
got a proper tamale steamer or a steamer there's an easy way around that. So put
an inch or so of water into the bottom of a pan, pop a ramekin in the center. I'm
just going to pop a plate on top of that, just to keep it off the heat and then
we're just going to lay our tamales in here. Now this isn't the traditional way
of doing it but I find it works pretty well and I'm sort of cross-hatching them
just to let a little bit of air run through between the tamales as they cook. I'm
just going to take a few extra husks, lay them over the top, just to sort of trap
the heat in. You could use a a damp tea towel, pop the lid, on pop this on the
stove, bring it up to a simmer and we want these to steam for about an hour
and they should be perfectly cooked. Our tamales have been steaming away for
about an hour now and I'm super looking forward to having a taste. I will just say now
we're going to end the Mexican series for the time being anyway, northern
Australia is calling. We've got a big trip coming up lots of fun to be had
there. There's loads of things I haven't yet done chili en nogada was one of my
favorite dishes I'd hoped to do. It's been really difficult to get hold of the
ingredients maybe if we go back to Mexico again we'll be able to do them. I
certainly hope we pick the series up again a little bit later on.
I'm pleased I managed to do the nixtamalized corn and the fresh mole, the
tortillas, the churros, don't forget the elote, the atole and of course
who could forget the dorilocos. It's been a great series, I hope you've
enjoyed it. By the way if you want to support us on the trip up north, you can
always become a Patreon on Steve's kitchen, every little helps but that's not so
important. Let's get these out now and have a try, I'll just take the husks off
at the top and I'm going to take some of the tamales out. Now if you haven't had
tamales before you'll see why they're popular at Christmas, like little parcels
they are. I'm just going to unwrap this one, just take it out of its little
parcel. Beautiful fresh hot tamales, look at the mole in there.
The lovely pork hot and steamy and if they're cooked they should hold together
pretty firm. Wow that is so hot. If you haven't had tamales before you're
missing out on something really great. Here goes I'm going to tuck in and give
this a try. I hope you've enjoyed the video, share the love as always.
Here goes, super hot! probably should have let them cool down just a little bit.
Heavenly, almost sweet chocolate, the savory, the spices hitting the back of my
throat from the mole. These are so good, the masa alone just tastes
absolutely delicious. If you haven't made tamales before you've got all the stuff
you need now from Steve's kitchen. All the different ingredients are out there
Give it a go, let me know you have some fun and some success. Share some
photographs across, share some photographs across with me on social
media and I will see you, a bit of Mole on my thumb, don't forget a big trip up
into northern Australia coming up, so if you want to see that, subscribe to the
channel. Be good and I will see you for another fun episode very shortly, take
care.