Growing up, we ate tamales only at Christmas and New Years. We made our own and I think that’s why we only had them during the Christmas season. If you’ve ever made them or seen them made, you know it is labor intensive. My dad used to make them; my mom never learned how. I watched my dad carefully and when I was in college, I made them for the dorm.
Making them got me so many compliments that it became “my thing” to do. I made tamales for Christmas in the dorm. Later, when I married, I made them at Christmas for our family. And still later, after my divorce, I became very active in the Stanford Chicano Alumni Association and I made tamales for our holiday party.
Now it’s a holiday tradition. Even though there is no longer a group to make them for, my kids have become accustomed to not only eating them but the whole “tamale making event.” It has become our tradition. I make them every year. Two years ago, my son brought his girlfriend home to help us make them. It’s great sharing our customs with them and for me, it’s wonderful to share how I make things.
This year my daughter brought the latest boyfriend to make tamales. That’s what we’ve been doing tonight. I went out earlier and got all the supplies, came home and cooked the meat and prepared the dough and the chile. Then I showed her boyfriend how to make them. The first batch is on the stove steaming as I type this.
This year we made pork and I will be making a batch of chicken ones and sometime between now and next week I will be making vegetarian ones for my daughter before she arrives for Christmas.
I remember that when I was growing up it was a huge thing to make them. Everyone would be involved. My parents, my six siblings and I, and my aunts and uncles, and family friends would all show up, usually on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. There would be music and laughing and dancing and drinking and TV movies. The dining room table would be dragged into the kitchen and bowls of meat and dough would be placed on the table along with platters of corn husks. Every tablespoon in the house was brought out and we’d start to spread (embarrar) the masa on the ojas or the dough on the corn husks. My dad would fill the steamer with tamales and put them on the burner to steam while the rest of us would keep spreading, filling, and rolling more tamales. Ours were always pork. (I often joke that it is a mortal sin for Mexicans to eat tamales filled with anything but pork.) Once they were steamed, we’d take a break to eat some of the freshly steamed tamales which were always 100 times better than any you could ever buy at a restaurant!
I’m glad my kids have learned to appreciate making tamales as part of their Christmas tradition and I hope that someday they pass it on to their kids. It’s an art and a tradition that should not die out.
Gotta go! My tamales are ready to taste!
Now you’ve gone and made me hungry for tamales.
I learned to make them a few years ago, but only do when the weather is cool and I have a whole day to burn.
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That sounds like a yummy tradition. My family didn’t have any traditions that were passed down. I hadn’t really missed what I never had but now that I am thinking about it, it would have been nice to have something.
Hope you have a wonderful visit with your daughter and a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy those tamales!
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Oh, I can taste the tamales. Tamales on Christmas Eve in Texas was our family tradition, too. A friend of my father always brought over a steaming package of fresh tamales his wife had made. There will never be any that taste as good as those. I think they were pork.
My husband is Armenian, so once in a great while (like Thanksgiving 07) my daughter and I spend a day or two making lamajoon. The operation is probably very similiar — food makings spread all over the kitchen, and in this case flour everywhere, but it is all worth it.
Have a tamale for me. I am so jealous.
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This sounds like a wonderful tradition. 🙂
I’ve never made tamales. When I lived in Chicago I had a friend who made them every year around Christmas time, and she always shared some with us.
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When we lived in Houston we used to buy them at the side of the road — I don’t know if it passed the health department, but boy those things were good! We like the beef and pork ones a lot.
Now I want tamales too — and I want to make them!
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I should give tamale making classes!
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I have been desperately trying to find someone to teach me to make tamales. Could you do that? WOULD you do that? I do love to cook and really want to make excellent tamales.
Thanks,
Ann
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Yes you should!
I think this is a tradition that sticks with many families I know. I just wish I could make them!
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i am fortunate enough to have four wonderful Mexican friends at work that also make tamales for the holidays,,, and guess what there are always a couple left over for me!!
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I had no idea that you were a tamale maker! I just made the season’s batch with my mom and sister yesterday. In fact, I took photos and plan to do a post about it. I’ll be sure to link to yours.
Where are you from originally? I guess I never knew you were gente. 8)
Also, have you ever had tamale pie? My mom made me one because she ran out of ojas (or is it hojas?). So she used the leftover masa and meat to make two tamale pies, one for me and one for my sister-in-law. It was OK, but the masa is much better steamed. More moist. We ate tamale pie last night and today for lunch. Yum.
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p.s., are you a Freddy Fender fan? My mom used to listen to him all the time when I was growing up.
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Yes, I am gente! I was born and raised in San Jose, California. My dad is from Chihuahua and my mom from Texas (her family having come from Monterrey).
I call mine tamale casserole and that’s exactly how I came to make it, by running out of ojas!
Freddy Fender was one of my favorites, along with Little Joe. I actually wrote a post on You-Tube and how I discovered all my favorites, including Freddy. You can probably find it if you search for it. I think it was called Do You-Tube?
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Cool, I’ll have to check that out. And any hints on how to cook the tamale casserole so the masa doesn’t dry out? Do you microwave instead of by oven?
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I just cook it in the oven but I moisten the masa with chile and mix it up well. Oven temp is kept very low.
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I love tamales, but being from a German family, it was something that I’ve never learned to prepare. I was fortunate enough this morning to share in the tamale making tradition with someone in our community. He showed me step by step how to make them. I worked right along side him as we made pork tamales and green sauce. I can’t wait to try it on my own.
Happy Holidays
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[…] Nixatamal, Pozole by gourmetsleuth.com A Thumbnail History of Mexican Food by Mexican Mercados Making Tamales, by fellow blogger Corina of Wasted Days and Wasted […]
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I made a batch of tamales on christmas but I left them on the stove too long. Some of them are kind of dry. I was thinking maybe I can dress them up by making tamale pie, but I don’t have a recipe. Can anyone help me?
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Kololia, depending on how dry they are, you might be able to rescue them by putting them in a ziploc type bag with a little bit of water (maybe 1/8 cup). Let them sit in the fridge and make sure the water reaches all of them, like a marinade. Then heat them up but not in the microwave. Try steaming them once again, maybe in a double broiler. If they aren’t too dry, it should work. Good luck!
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Thanks Corina, I’m going to try that! Happy New Year to all! 🙂
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My suegrita made the best tamales ever. She made them of beef and port with raisins and spanish olives.
Not long after she died, the parents of the school I was working at served tamales for faculty and staff. They were by far the most flavorless, saddest excuse for tamales I have ever had the misfortune of trying. It made me miss her so much, that I couldn’t stop crying.
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