The nice thing about living in an area with a good many Hispanics is that I can easily find ingredients for even the weirdest of Mexican dishes I might want to make. The not so good thing about living in an area with a good many Hispanics is apparently they like to make tamales for Thanksgiving and I never knew that. Next year, I will have my supplies before now! I was able to buy the corn husks at Walmart but they were completely out of pork butts and MaSeCa. Kroger had pork butts but they were also out of MaSeCa and the third place, Brookshire’s, had two bags of MaSeCa left!
In Missouri, I could get MaSeCa but our local Walmart and grocery stores rarely had corn husks.
Corn Husks
The tamale recipe I use isn’t hard but it takes a while and some planning. I will put the pork butts in crock pots today and let them cook overnight, then I’ll let them cool tomorrow, shred the meat and probably begin the tamale making on Thursday. By the time they’re flash frozen and then sealed in vacuum seal bags, it will be Friday before I’m done.
Tamales
One of my very favorite cold weather dinners is tamales, covered with chili, cheese, sour cream and black olives!
Tamale Dinner
I put them five to a bag. Vince will eat three and I’ll eat two. There’s one bag left in the freezer so it’s time to get more made!
Diana in RR,TX says
The place we like to go to when we are hungry for Mexican dishes has been taking orders for Tamales now fro several weeks. They make really good ones.
Gwen says
Pork butt gets added to deer sausage around here and can be hard to find starting in October when the hunters start stockpiling it in hopes of a good season!
Teri Jordan says
I’ve been talking about making tamales for about 3 years now, but this year I’m doing it….I just read your recipe and it sounds easy enough…..when you package for the freezer what do you wrap them in…..and what a good idea to freeze before food savering them….keeps from squishing them…..I have saved more money food savering my food…nothing gets freezer burned anymore….
JudyL says
Here’s a blog post about how I put them up. By flash freezing them, they don’t get squished in the vacuum seal bags.
https://patchworktimes.com/2013/11/24/tamale-questions-answered/
Ranch Wife says
Now you’ve made me hungry for tamales! I’ll be adding the ingredients to my list. I never make them because so many people around here DO, but I love trying new things so I’m jumping in on the tamale bandwagon!
Bridget says
Guatemalans make tamales with potatoes and wrap them in banana leaves. I will never be able to find those in my local store! LOL I settle for mexican tamales in corn husks.
Tinkerfeet says
If you ever need mexican spices try Santa Cruz chili and spice. It is in Tumacacori, Arizona. They also have a web site. We go there at least 2 times a year. I can’t go there any more than 2 times a year because as soon as I walk in and smell everything I spent to much money. Lol
Diane says
I’m headed out the door right now to buy a pork butt! I wanted to make something different for Thanksgiving, but didn’t know what it would be. Now I know! Thank you for the reminder. 🙂
I also want to try the Stuffed Pepper soup. I think I will divide the recipe to try it before I make that large of a pot since it is just the two of us. I am pretty sure it will be great, but I don’t want to waste food just in case.
Rebecca in SoCal says
Oh, yum! That looks SO good; better than what I could get at any restaurant. Since I’m not going to make tamales myself (DH is not a fan), I should check out local “joints” for some to bring home and top like that.
My mouth is watering although I’m still full from lunch.