Tamales De Puerco Shredded Pork Tamales Recipes

TAMALES DE PUERCO (RED PORK TAMALES)

Steps:

• Cut pork into 3 chunks and place in a large saucepan. Add onion, garlic, bay leaves, and salt and cover with water. Bring to a boil; skim foam from surface. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Remove pork and let cool. Strain broth and reserve.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil while pork is cooking. Add tomatoes, arbol chiles, and guajillo chiles, and boil until chiles are soft, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, reserving cooking water, and allow to cool.
• Place corn husks in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and soak for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain, place on a work surface, and cover with a clean, damp towel.
• Combine tomatoes, 1/2 cup cooking water, chiles de arbol, guajillo chiles, and cornstarch in a blender; blend until smooth. Strain tomato sauce through a fine-mesh sieve.
• Beat lard with an electric mixer in a large bowl until fluffy. Combine masa, 1 cup reserved pork broth, 1 tablespoon salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl and mix until smooth. Add masa mixture to lard and mix until it has a smooth cookie dough consistency. Test if the masa is ready by dropping a small ball of masa into a glass of cold water; if it floats, it's ready, if not, keep beating for a little longer.
• Shred cooled pork with 2 forks.
• Select 1 wide corn husk or 2 small ones. Spread about 2 tablespoons masa mixture onto the the corn husk, filling it up to 2 inches from the bottom and 1/4 inch from the top. Add 1 tablespoon of the tomato sauce and pork down the center of the masa mixture. Fold sides of husk together, 1 over the other. Fold the bottom of the husk over the seam of the 2 folded sides. Repeat with remaining husks.
• Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add tamales with the open side up and cook until filling is heated through and separates from the husk, about 1 hour. Let tamales rest for 15 minutes before serving.

MEXICAN TAMALES,TAMALES MEXICANOS DE PUERCO

Steps:

• 1. Day one cook pork shoulder in a deep pot cover with the water add the quartered onion, garlic, bay leaves, salt and cumin. For added flavor add a tsp of granulated garlic powder to the water bring to a boil skim the scum off the top reduce heat and simmer about 4 or 5 hours. Meat must be falling off the bone tender. Remove from heat and let cool. If you like refrigerate and the next day shredd meat with two forks. Do not remove the congeled fat from the cold broth. You will need this extra fat to make your tamale masa tender.
• 2. Same day Make Red Chile sauce or red tamale sauce to flavor the pork meat. Remove stems and all the seeds from the ancho chiles. In a very large tray like a cookie sheet grease with a little oil and put the dried chiles on it put into a preheated hot oven moderate heat for a few minutes such as 2 1/2 minutes then open oven and turn chiles on the other side and roast 2 1/2 minutes more. Be very careful not to scorch the chiles if they scorch they will turn bitter and you will have to start over. They scorch and burn very easy so you must watch them very closely. This roasting step brings out the deep rich chile flavor. Remove from the oven do not leave in more the 5 minutes total time. Put the roasted chiles in a pot and cover with water add a tsp of salt to the water and add the onion and garlic. Bring the chiles to a boil reduce heat and steady simmer for fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes have passed shut off heat and let cool in their water until they are reasonably able to handle. Next in a blender add half the chiles half the cooked onion, two cooked garlic cloves and process until the chile is throughly blended into a paste. Add half the tablet or disk of Mexican chocolate, half a tablspoon of the peanut butter, half the teaspoon of cumin powder and a little pork broth about a half cup and blend on high until smooth. With a rubber spatula scrape out the chile paste and proceed with the rest of the chiles. remaining onion and garlic, cloves other half chocolate disk or tablet, remaing peanut butter and the other half of cumin powder. Add a little more pork broth about half a cup and process until smooth Do all of your chiles like this you might need more disks of Mexican chocolate and peanut butter to finish all of your chiles. The chocolate and peanut butter round out and smooth the flavor of the ancho chiles.
• 3. Start with one cup of your red chile sauce and add it to you shredded meat mixture you should make sure your meat is warm you can heat it up a little in the micro wave. It will be easier to mix if the meat is warm rather then cold from the refrigerator. Mix your cup of chile paste with the meat and continue to add more chile paste until your meat is moist and saucy but"Not soupy" if your sauce is a little dry add a little more pork broth to it. then mix well and incorporate into your meat. You're meat should look like a saucy pulled pork consistency. Taste to see if it has enough salt and pepper. If You have red chile sauce left over put in small freezer bags, freeze and save for making enchilada sauce or mole. You're meat is now ready to fill the tamales. Set aside.
• 4. The Masa, Using a large roaster deep pan now take your 4.4 pound bag of Maseca or 5 lbs of ground masa if you are lucky enough to find it. Add your Maseca to or ground masa to the deep pan add the melted pork lard shoud be cool enough to handle and add the pork broth by the cupfull make sure it is very warm it should not be hot. You should be able to handle the mixing with your hands. (Note: for this recipe pork lard is what gives these tamales the rich delicious flavor. No amount of crisco or other fat will acomplish the incredible flavor the pork lard gives Mexican Tamales. With that I leave you to make your decision as to what fat to use.) I like to melt my pork fat in the microwave let it cool. Add your salt and baking powder with the pork broth Mix again I do this by hand It can be very tiresome so I get one or two of my strong grandsons to mix the masa for me as I add the broth lard salt and baking powder. If using the Maseca add cupfuls of broth one at a time until you have a nice spreadable consistency. Taste the masa to make sure it has enough salt. Your masa should have the consisteny of a thick soft creamy oat meal or better yet like a think creamy polenta. Set Masa aside and prepair the corn husks
• 5. The Corn husks. Remove corn husks one by and clean and remove any dried corn silk. Again in a very large deep pan I use another roaster I fill with hot water and put all the cleaned and seperated husks to soak. Soaking takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove a large handful and wring the water out by squeezing the husks. Lay in a tray and with a clean dish towel blot the exces water from them. Keep them covered so they do not dry out. Now you are ready for spreading the masa on the husk. Take a butter knife dip in the masa and get a nice amount and spread on the husk over the entire bottom half leaving the top triangle part of the husk bare. Spread like if you would be spreading peanut butter on bread. About a little less then 1/4 inch thick on your husk do not spread all the way to the ends of the husk leave bare a little on each side. Now take a good size tablespoon of meat mixture and lay down the center of the prepared masa husk. Fold one edge of the husk over the other to form a slender tamale. The overlaping masa will help to keep the tamale together. Next fold the top half over the tamale itselt and lay seam down do all of your tamales like this until you have enough to put and stack in a steamer pot to cook.
• 6. Cooking your tamales. If you have a tamale steamer pot you add boing water to the bottom half and stack the tamales standing up in a cicular layers with the open side up. Then on top of those another circular row always standing up the open side facing up. Pour the hot water down the side when adding more water. The tamles should never be emersed in water they cook by steaming. Cover the layers with loose tamles husks and a clean dish towel over everything and then cover. Enough water should be at them bottom to steam the tamlaes for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Some people steam only one hour but when I make tamales I have so many in the pot that I steam for one hour and a half to ensure complete cooking. Be sure you are always nearby so the water does not run out. If the water goes down add more boiling water down the side of the pot. After the time has elapsed shut off and uncover the pot let cool. You can remove with tongs as the tamales will be extreemly hot. When they have cooled you can bag and freeze Some tmes I bag 12 to or 6 to a bag. I always save some to eat the next day you can refrigerate. Always leave your tamales in the husk when freezing remove the husk only to eat. You can eat in the microwave only needs a minute or so to reheat. If you have no tamale steamer you can use a large regular steamer pot such as a crab pot or large lobster pot. Put a large bowl in the middle and some sort of preforated pie pan on top. My grandmother had two large aluminum pie tins that she had my grandfather put holes in all around. She put the pie tin over the bowl so the tamlaes would be above the water. She then would stack her tamales standing up inclining a little towards the center in a cicular position. She would put a large mug in the middle of the pie pan so the tamales could rest aganist it and work around stacking the tamales. I know this recipe will not be made by everyone but for those who have asked good luck and Enjoy.

TAMALES DE PUERCO (SHREDDED PORK TAMALES)

Steps:

• DIRECTIONS:.
• A day in advance, trim fat from meat. If not already cut into 4 strips, cut meat into 4 strips and place into a large pot.
• Add broth or water, onion, garlic, bay leaves, 1 tablespoon salt, peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoon oregano and 1/2 teaspoon cumin. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour. Drain meat, reserving about 5 cups of the broth for the tamale dough.
• With 2 forks, shred the meat and mix in 4 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon salt,.
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon dried oregano and 3 tablespoons ground cumin. If too dry, add a little broth to make it like a paste.
• Refrigerate the meat mixture and the reserved broth overnight. If you like it on the tangy side, add some chopped chilis to the meat mixture.
• You will only use about half of the meat filling mixture. The other half you can freeze for the next time you make tamales. So, the next time, you will only have to make the dough.
• The next day, soak the corn husks in hot water 1 hour to soften. Also soak a few additional husks to cover tamales. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
• Prepare the dough by mixing all the dough ingredients, except the corn husks, with warm pork broth. You will need to make 2 batches of the dough. Hold each corn husk with point towards you. Place a rounded tablespoonful of dough at large end of husk. Spread with fingers. Place 2 or 3 tablespoons of pork filling on dough. Top with another tablespoon of dough and spread to cover filling.
• Fold sides of husk over the tamale. Fold pointed end of corn husk under the seam on outside. Stand tamales on folded ends on a steaming rack over water in a large pot.
• Cover with additional layers of husks. Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and steam 1 hour, or until dough pulls away easily from husk. Makes about 32 tamales.

PORK TAMALES: TAMALES DE PUERCO

Steps:

• Slice corn off the cob. Grind in a food processor until it becomes coarse. Remove and blend with masa harina and water. Fry the pork in a little olive oil. Add onions, peppers, chile, and garlic, cook until the onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and wine. Add the pork and vegetables to the corn mixture. Season with lemon, salt, and pepper.
• Take two husks or banana leaves, and overlap them flat on the table. Put some of the corn mixture in the center of the husk. Fold the corn husks over and around the meat. Tie with string. Cook in a steamer for 45 minutes.

PULLED PORK TAMALES

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine the onion, ketchup, honey, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chile powder, garlic and 2 tablespoons each of salt and pepper and pulse until smooth. Transfer the paste to a large re-sealable plastic bag. Add the pork roast, turning to coat it with the paste; seal the bag and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325°F Set the pork in an enameled casserole and cover with the paste. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a simmer. Cover the casserole and roast the meat in the oven for 3 1/2 hours, or until meltingly tender; turn the roast occasionally and add more water if it is looking dry. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let cool. Remove the strings and pull the meat into thick shreds. Transfer to a bowl and toss with 1/2 cup of the Espresso Barbecue Sauce.
• FOR THE MASA HARINA: Put the masa harina in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups of hot water in a thin stream and beat at low speed until a dough forms. Continue beating the dough at medium low speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Add the shortening, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the baking powder and 2 teaspoons of salt. Scrape the dough into a large bowl and fold in 2 1/2 cups of the shredded pork.
• Arrange the corn husks on a large work surface. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the tamale filling into the center of each husk. Fold the ends of the husks over the filling, then roll the husks up to enclose the filling completely. Alternatively, wrap 1/4 cup of tamale filling in a rectangle of foil, forming an oval shape, and twist the ends securely. Place the tamales, seam side down, in a large steamer basket, in several layers if necessary.
• Steam the tamales until the filling is firm, about 20 minutes. Serve the tamales piping hot, with the remaining barbecue sauce on the side. Serves 6 to 8.
• NOTE: Masa harina, a flour made from corn that has been treated with lime is used to make tortillas and tamales. It is available at most supermarkets.
• MAKE AHEAD: The tamales can be prepared through Step 4 and frozen for up to 1 month in a sturdy plastic bag.
• BEER: These tamales are best suited to a full flavored beer. Try the Brooklyn Brown Ale from Brooklyn Brewery or the Red Ale from Abita Brewery in Louisiana.
• FOR THE ESPRESSO BARBECUE SAUCE: Combine One large onion, garlic, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup,espresso coffee, molasses, mustard, chile powder, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, salt and pepper, in a medium saucepan and simmer them over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced by about half, approximately 45 minutes. Let cool completely, strain, then puree in a blender until smooth.
• Serve the sauce right away or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
• MAKE AHEAD: The Espresso Barbecue Sauce can be refrigerated in a jar for up to 3 months.
• Food & Wine Magazine's Cookbook.

SHREDDED PORK TAMALES

Steps:

• Prepare Shredded Savory Pork and Chile Colorado as directed. Soak the corn husks in hot water about 30 minutes to soften.
• Meanwhile, for dough, in a large bowl, stir together masa harina and the water. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes (mixture will appear dry). In a mixing bowl, beat shortening and 1/2 teaspoon salt with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually beat in flour mixture until combined (mixture should resemble a thick, creamy paste).
• For filling, in a medium saucepan, combine Shredded Savory Pork and Chile Colorado; heat through.
• Drain corn husks well; pat dry with paper towels. For each tamale, spread about 2 tablespoons of the dough into a 5 x 4-inch rectangle on each corn husk so one of the long sides of the dough is at the long edge of the husk. (If husks are small, overlap two small husks.) Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filing lengthwise down the center of the dough. Fold the long edge of husk over the filling so dough edges meet. Roll husk around outside of filled masa mixture. Tie ends securely with strips of cornhusk or 100-percent-cotton kitchen string.
• To prepare steamer, if desired, place a cone-shape ball of foil in the center of a steamer basket. Stand tamales upright in basket (don't pack tamales too tightly, but fill the space). Place about 1-1/2 inches of water in bottom of steamer or Dutch oven. Place baskets over water. Bring water to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and steam for 40 to 45 minutes or until tamales pull away from corn husks, adding water to pan as necessary. Makes 16 tamales.
• Make-Ahead Directions: Wrap and freeze the cooked tamales in the corn husks. To serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Place the tamales in a steamer basket over gently boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes or until heated through.