The following is from a member of a discussion group to which I belonged several years ago. I have treasured it, as it not only provides us a flavor of other people's taste in food but, their family heritage as well. Following the recipe for tamales is a brief note on how a friend from Panama described their preparation of the Christmas turkey (or hen or whatever). Now on to the tamales.
"Really, really authentically ethnic tamale filling uses a pig's head. This is how my mother-in-law makes tamales. I wrote this up a few years back.
We spent the Thanksgiving weekend at my Mother-in-law's house in Lockhart, Tx. and I observed her Tamale making process on Saturday. This is more of a story than a recipe but if you follow it and use some common sense you'll end up with some real hogs-head tamales.
Basically, a tamale consists of 3 things: corn husk, masa (dough), and meat filling.
The corn husks were the easiest part to prepare. We went to the store and bought several bags full of dry husks. Each bag contained about 50 husks. The husks were removed from the bags and placed in a bucket of water to soak. They ended up soaking for about 6 hours.
To prepare the meat filling the ingredients were:
1 12-15 lb. hog's head , 3 oz. chili powder, 10 cloves of garlic, crushed; 1-2 tbsp ground comino (cumin) 1-2 tbsp salt
The hog's head was placed in a very large pot and water was added to fill the pot about 2/3 of the way. The pig's snout was sticking up out of the water. The pot was heated to a boil, covered, and reduced to a simmer. It took 5 hours for the head to cook. When the meat can be easily torn off the skull with a fork, it's done. The head was removed from the pot and allowed to cool. The pig stock was saved and used later on. The meat was removed from the head, finely chopped, and placed in a large pan. The eyes and brain were not used. The tongue was used but the skin was removed from it before chopping it up. The chili powder, garlic, comino, and salt were added to the meat. She did this a little at a time stirring it into the meat and then tasting it. The quantities listed above are estimates of the total amount used. Once the seasonings were in and the taste was right, some pig stock (about 1-2 cups) was added to moisten the meat. The pan full of meat was put on the stove over low heat and brought to a simmer. It simmered about 20-30 minutes and then the heat was turned off and it was allowed to cool. This will be the meat filling for the tamales. It should be very moist and juicy without being soupy.
The masa dough consisted of: 2 3.5 lb packages of ready-made dough. ~ 1 oz. chili powder, 1 tbsp salt, 1/2 - 1 cup manteca (lard), 1-2 cups pig stock We went to the store and bought the basic dough consisting of corn, water, and lime (Note.by jsw: lime is calcium oxide not the lemon relative. It makes the dough very basic and causes the starch in the corn to become plastic.) It was about the consistancy of play dough and came in 3-5 lb packages. I believe the lime is used when the corn is processed prior to grinding it into masa flour. The dough was put in a large pan and the salt, chili powder, lard, and stock were kneaded into it. She tasted the dough several times to see if it had enough salt and chili powder. She kneaded it for a long time, at least 30 minutes.
Final assembly: At this point, we've got the three basic parts ready (meat filling, masa, and corn husks) and it's time to start putting them together. It's lots of work and is normally done by a group of people. The first step is to spread the masa on the corn husks. The husks are roughly triangular and the masa should cover about 2/3 of the husk, leaving the "small end" of the triangle with no masa. The husks have a smooth side and a rough side. The masa should always be spread on the smooth side.
It will look something like this:
^^^^^^^^ /------------\ /--------------\ /----------------\ /------------------\ /--------------------\ no masa at this end (Note by jsw: The drawing is to indicate the separate leaves of the corn husk (Remember what fresh corn looks like in the market? The husk are from mature corn and are golden brown and about a hand's width across at the middle). The pointed ends of the leaves are what are drawn above.) -
/----------------------\ /------------------------\ /--------------------------\ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ masa at this end.
We made up a bunch of these before putting any meat filling in them. They were stacked up all over the table. Also, some husks are not wide enough to make a tamale using only one so you use the masa to "glue" two of them together, side by side. The same pot used to boil the hog's head was used to steam the tamales. The stock was discarded. Then an inverted bowl was placed in the bottom of the pot and a layer of corn husks were placed on top of and around the bowl. This creates a "rack" which will keep the tamales out of the water. Next the tamales were filled with meat. Using a spoon, meat is placed roughly in a line down the center of the husk on the part that has the masa. The tamale is rolled and the small end (with no masa) is folded over. The tamales were stacked in the large pot with the folded ends pointed down. You must use your own common sense when stacking them, keeping in mind that you want the open end to point up so nothing falls out.
Once the pot was full of tamales, they were covered by a layer of corn husks. Enough water was added so that there was about 1 inch in the bottom of the pot. The tamales shouldn't be in the water; you want to steam them. The pot was put on the stove and medium heat applied. It took about 2-3 hours to steam them. You can tell if they are done by taking one out, letting it cool enough so that it doesn't burn your fingers to touch it, and unrolling it. If the masa sticks to the corn husk, it's not done. Once they're done, the tamale should come out of the husk easily and in one piece when you unroll it. These tamales are not considered "hot tamales" and are intended for the whole family to eat. Hot sauce and fresh hot peppers were available on the side. They were very, very good. I ate a dozen of them along with the hot peppers and plenty of cold beer. It's possible to make tamales using fresh pork shoulder, roast, or even chops. My Mother-in-law said if you don't use a head, you should add some lard to the meat filling or it will be too dry. (Note by jsw: The brains are mostly fat and when prepared this way the fat permeates the meat, pot-liquor, &c.)
My wife and I paid extra attention this year because we are about to make them on our own for the first time this Christmas. Due to recent interest in tamales I've tried to describe this to the best of my ability. Hopefully, in this age of microwave dinners and fast food, we won't lose our ability to prepare traditional foods like this. Note: I wrote this up about 7 years ago and we've made tamales a number of times since then. We've only made them from a hogs head twice, though. I think the best ones I've made that WEREN'T from a hogs head were from a combination of country-style ribs and Boston butt roast."
*** Juan Jose Gutteriez from Panama provided the following description of how a festive bird is prepared for the holidays:
Take a large bird and place it in a pen where it can be carefully observed. Feed it only garlic for a couple of days. Either small cloves or cut larger cloves so that the bird will be able to eat them. It is important that no other food be available. On the day before the bird is to be killed, remove all water from the pen, and in its place put a good red wine. As the appointed time nears, take a tube and pour the remaining wine down the birds throat until it is quite full. The bird will at this time probably be either intoxicated or maybe even dead, it doesn't matter. Now do nothing for a couple of hours. The wine will permeate the entire intestinal track of the bird and the garlic essence will be transported by the alcohol.
The bird then is dressed in the usual manner with removal of feathers, intestines, etc. And baked in an oven to the desired degree of readiness. He indicated that some do not open the body cavity until after the bird is cooked, and only then are the crop, gizzard, liver, stomach, large and small intestine removed.
Juan insist that the flavor of the bird is unmatched by any he has ever tasted.
****
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