My first attempt at food blogging

AKA one hot tamale (or two)...

or actually maybe five dozen.

So, I made a two and a half dozen chicken and two and a half dozen green corn tamales...

The green corn ones are my favorite.

I used Maseca (tamale flour) and made the masa according to the package because it was an "instant tamale" flour I had never used before but was all that was available... for the record, I prefer the other flour by the same company.

Once I made the dough I added a bag of thawed frozen corn, some shredded cheeses (cheddar, oaxaca, and some queso fresco), a large can of diced fire roasted green chilies, some chili powder, paprika, a bit of sugar and salt and I mixed it all together. I put the dough into neat little bundles in a dried corn husk that I had soaked until soft.

I did this because my in-laws were interested in knowing the "original" way to prepare them... they were intrigued by the process and concept and I love tamales. I prefer to make them in a social setting with a group of people laughing and having fun, possibly while some of us drink wine or some other nefarious liquid.

I was hoping to be able to break into food blogging by giving you more of an idea of what the actual recipe was, but I realized that I have made tamales to the point of it being almost automatic and the ingredients were not measured, ever.

Damn me, I almost felt like writing about how it was a secret recipe (note the picture I had taken below) but that is just not the whole truth, the truth is that I do not follow a recipe, ever (and no I did not follow the recipe for the masa dough either, but I used the one they had on the package as a base)... this trait of mine drives my husband nuts for reasons that range from "but what if your recipe is so good and you can't ever duplicate it because you don't know it" to "it just isn't original to prepare dishes that way" (what a purist he is). I just can't do that, I improvise all the time, even when I am baking (thank goodness I understand those principle enough to know what can and can't be changed or if I do change what adaptations I need to make...) so there you have it. My first attempt a food blogging and I am reduced to saying that I used these ingredients in an unknown quantity and that I can't follow recipes.

I am planning on doing another recipe soon, based on a blog comments conversation I had about sweet potatoes versus yams... and I will take better notes on what I use to make the sweet potato dish I am planning on.



Oh yeah, I used lard when I made the dough this time, though I don't usually make them with only lard... I actually vary the doughs I make and have made it with shortening or butter or oil or a combination of all of them... the ones with a mix which include butter taste the best to me though.

Tags: Food, culture