#1,186: BBQ Pork Tamales

 Mmmm, tamales!  I love tamales but I've only attempted making them once before, and they were stuffed with chicken and cheese.  I liked them a lot but didn't love them and haven't made them since.  A few weeks ago I made shredded BBQ pork in the crockpot and had a ton leftover.  So I froze the leftovers and waited to use it up for this recipe.  This recipe makes about 23 small tamales, although I could have probably gotten at least another 6 or so if I would have had more corn husks to wrap them in. This recipe isn't hard, but it is time consuming.  It went faster for me because I had my mom helping me with the filling and my husband wrapping them up.  It still probably took about an hour with all of us working together. 

PS...this also isn't super healthy considering it has LARD in it (and quite a bit of it!)

PSS...I found the dried corn husks, masa harina and the lard in the Mexican section of our grocery store (Meijer)

We also don't have a steamer basket to use in the large pot, so we had to cut the edges off a foil pie plate, poke holes in the bottom of it, and the place rolled up aluminum foil all around the edges to keep the tamales standing up right and off the water on the bottom of the pot.  I called in my MacGyver husband to help me figure out that one!!

For the filling, I used leftover of this recipe: Lazy Man's BBQ Pork

I found a blog (Barefoot Kitchen Witch) that gave me the recipe for the tamale part as well as cooking instructions.  It worked pretty well, but you do have to let these sit so they firm up.  I ended up pulling mine out of the pot and placing in a foil lined crockpot with the lid off.  Our tamales weren't hot, so next time I'll probably put my crockpot on the warm setting so there is at least a little heat keeping them warm.  The recipe I followed says to let sit for 15 minutes to firm up, but for me, 30 minutes was better. 

Makes 24-36 tamales, depending on the size of your corn husks

Ingredients:
24-36 corn husks (If the husks are dried, you’ll need to rehydrate them: soak in a large pot of hot water for at least 2 hours, personally that wasn't long enough and next time I will do four hours! Place a plate or bowl on top of the husks to help keep them submerged in the water)

For the filling:
Roughly 2-3 cups leftover shredded pulled pork.
About 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (I omitted)

For the dough/batter:
About a cup and a quarter of lard, softened, and separated into  one cup and one quarter cup portions
6 oz chicken stock
3 1/2 cups dried masa harina
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-2 teaspoons salt, depending on how salty your stock is
Approximately 12 ounces hot water
1 1/2 cups hot chicken broth


To make the dough/batter:
Melt the 1/4 cup of lard with the 6 oz of chicken stock.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the rest of the lard until light and fluffy. Add the hot water and the melted lard mixed with chicken stock to your dried masa harina and stir until combined.  Add this mixture to your whipped lard in three stages, and follow that up with at least a cup and up to a cup and a half of warm chicken stock.

The mixture should be light and fluffy, and a little dollop of it should float in a cup of water. (Another blog says it should be the consistency of cookie dough.  Mine was probably a little too thin, still turned out good though)

Assembly:
Place a corn husk on the work surface in front of you, the long way, and with the wider end closest to you.  Place about two tablespoons (depending on the size of the husk – you’ll have to figure this out as you go) of the dough toward the wider end of the husk and flatten it slightly.

Place a couple of teaspoons of the pork filling in the center of the dough, in a bit of a straight line going the same direction of the husk.

Using your fingers or the edges of the corn husk, wrap the dough around the filling so that it’s completely hidden inside. Then fold up the corn husk, bottom first, then the sides, and the fold the top down over everything.  If you wish, you can tie the tamales closed with some string or some strips of corn husk, but it’s not absolutely necessary. (I did use corn husk strips to keep it sealed!)

Steaming:
Place a steamer insert in a large pot and add water to just below the bottom of the steamer.  Cover, and bring water to a boil.  Arrange tamales in the bottom of the steamer insert, so they’re standing up.  Don’t crowd them – steam in two batches if necessary, or, if you have a smaller insert that fits on top of the deeper one, steam in two layers. Place the lid on the pot and seal the edges with foil.

Steam the tamales over medium heat for about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.  Shut off the heat, remove the foil and lid, and let them rest for about fifteen minutes so they firm up.