Sorry that there were so many questions about the tamales. I grew up eating these so I wasn’t thinking that someone might have no idea about them. Below are the bags . . all vacuum sealed and ready for the freezer.
Tamales
- No, you do not eat the husks! I’m not saying you couldn’t but I’ve never known anyone to do it.
- Yes, you could use other things to wrap them besides corn husks but there’s flavor in those dried husks! I’ve heard in wrapping tamales in foil but since they’re steamed, I’m not quite sure how that would work. I’ve heard of folks using coffee filters and I could see how that would work ok but as long as I can get corn husks, that’s what I’ll use.
- When steaming them, you don’t want them to sit in the water at all. The basket I use is part of a very old turkey fryer gizmo. I put that in an old canner and the bottom of the steamer basket sits about 1-1/2″ from the bottom of the pot so that’s all the water I can put in there. I have to keep adding water so the pot doesn’t boil dry. There are all kinds of pots/steamers made especially for tamales. All you have to do is steam them . . you don’t have to get fancy.
- When freezing them, my preferred method is to flash freeze them (lay them all on a cookie sheet where they aren’t touching each other and freeze them), then put them in the bags, vacuum and seal them. That prevents them from getting mashed during the vacuuming. I had put my tamales, still in the steamer basket, in a cooler with ice on the front porch last night. It was cold enough that they were close to frozen so I just stuck them in the bags, vacuumed, sealed and froze them. I put them 6 per bag because that works well for us. If I need more, I take out additional bags.
- Yes, the husks are left on t hem for freezing.
- To heat them for serving, I like to let them defrost in the fridge, then I steam them in my little electric steamer. They could be steamed in a double boiler or, add a little (as in spoonfuls) of water to them and microwave them.
Any more questions, just ask . . others probably have the same questions you do.
Brandy M. says
Thanks for the info! I’d like to try these someday. I used to buy from a woman I worked with, but that was back in ’98!! We have a lady at work who makes them, but she’s in housekeeping, and I can never figure out who the right person is, so I’ve never bought from her.
It would be so great to make ’em myself!
Have you ever used any other meat (chicken, beef, etc..)?
🙂
Toni in TN says
Judy, most of the Mexican restaurants around here have sweet tamales, aka dessert tamales, at Christmas. The masa isn’t flavored like regular tamales and the preferred filling is pineapple. My Mexican-American daughter in law from CA had never heard of such sacrilege!
Susan says
In Phoenix, there was a restaurant that made them in apple and cherry. =) My DH made some cherry ones for me one year. Pretty yummy!
Helen Koenig1 says
The recipes I have are for either the meat filled (any kind of meat will work – each kind will change the flavor slightly) or the dessert /sweet kind which can be made for caramel tamales or you can make the fruit tamales. Any way you do it – yummmmmmmmmmm!
My problem was trying to figure out what to use for a steamer basket – finally figured out my blancher basket which – like Judy’s deep fat fryer – sits about 1.5 inches from the bottom of the pot!
Toni in TN says
What a great idea!
myrna sossner says
Here in West Palm Beach, FL, we have a large population of Hispanic heritage people … I have seen a couple of individuals gathering leaves from a tree across the alley from my home. I don’t know what it is but it has very large roundish leaves. I was told by the gatherers that they use the leaves for tamales. ??? I guess that works for them…They had packed two large garbage bags with the leaves the last time they were here. I am thinking that the next time I see them, I’ll get up my nerve and offer to pay them to bring me a sampling of their tamales. 🙂
Peg H says
Oh WOW – Cherry tamales? MMMmmmm … I’m thinking cherry & cream cheese tamales, made from those tart cherries I can get here in Ohio. Looks like I’ll be picking 40-50 lbs this year with all the stuff I want to make with them …. LOL!
Here’s a great way to re-heat tamales: wet a couple of paper towels, squeeze out the excess water, wrap them around 3-4 tamales (still in the husk), place the whole shebang on a microwave-safe plate and heat on high one (1) minute at a time until they’re hot enough – two (2) is usually enough in our microwave. After the first minute I take them out & turn them over to help them heat evenly. They come out perfect! They need to be in one layer. Heating more than 4 at a time doesn’t work as well – they don’t heat as evenly. I can’t wait to get my tamales made this year, thanks to your inspiration!