Christmas Meals dilemma

[PS Have just ordered some Masa and will be making tamales of our own. The Daughter is getting the recipe from the Mexican mom of a friend of hers back in the States. I really like beef tamales.   ]

Nan, if you’re making homemade shredded beef tamales.......I’ll marry you! Omg how I miss them! A wonderful little Mexican lady used to come by and sell them. I generally bought all she had! Heaven!!!

Please explain tamales and their Christmas association?  I think I've had a tamale, but I honestly don't know.  I looked at that site and I'm not sure.  If I did have one, I don't think I liked it if I remember correctly.

There are several different varieties. The basic premise is that there is a thin corn-flour dough (masa) outside, and a filling inside. It can be meat (pork, beef, chicken) or veg, cheese, or seafood, or sweet things like pork and raisins or pineapple. The tamal is wrapped in a cornhusk and steamed to cook it. There's usually some variety of sauce on the side, when served. (Depends on what part of Mexico it came from and/or where in the USA as to what's in it and the spices, but the package is generally the same.)

Tamales are a Christmas tradition in New Mexico and parts of Texas. Not sure where it started, but it was always a "thing". You'd want to have a bucket of tamales available for when guests came over on Christmas Eve . Or, for that matter, when going to a football game. Or having people over for a bonfire (AKA, the regional attempt to empty the local liquor store of beer).   


https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/dining/where-christmas-means-tamales.html

Nan, if you’re making homemade shredded beef tamales.......I’ll marry you! Omg how I miss them! A wonderful little Mexican lady used to come by and sell them. I generally bought all she had! Heaven!!!

When I get the recipe I'll post it. But yeah, it'll be shredded beef.  If the recipe doesn't arrive, I'll just use what passes for chili in this house (shredded stewed beef).

I just paid way too much for four pounds of masa harina. The alternative was inexpensive Bob's Red Mill masa that I'd have to pay to have shipped from the USA (which kind of negated the savings). Everywhere I looked for the "right" kind (translate that to "the kind I'm used to" - Maseca Masa Harina) online here in the UK it was sold out! [The recipe is on the side of the Maseca bag.]  EDIT - I found it! Tamal masa. Cancelled the original order just in time. Still paid too much for it, though.

http://www.texascooking.com/features/dec2000pam.htm

Yeah, that's what I was trying to convey, from my experience ...sorry if I wasn't clear.  I don't think you will find anything round your way that's not festive .  To find something non-festive,  you will need to go further afield, which you won't do if it's a taxi job.  However, you guys are willing to walk much further than I ever would, so you might well find something.  Dumpling Monkey is a good idea to try!

No probs!  There's another place down on Dumbarton, near to Byres Road. Nam Tuk (sp?) which is pretty tasty, too.  Yeah, taxis on Christmas - I could just take out a small bank loan.... 

I do Christmas Eve tamales now as it’s the only time I can get them here. 

And she does gluten free and even dairy free tamales.  Perfect for my family and we all yum them up.

Sound intriguing. Do you eat them warm? 

Sound intriguing. Do you eat them warm? 

Yes.  Either in a steamer or the microwave.

I did make my own tamales a few years back. I'm usually pretty skillful with most things in the kitchen and willing to give most recipes a go... My tamales came out okay. One problem I had was that I don't have a stand mixer, just a handheld one, and I couldn't get the dough beat up enough full of air to make a ball of it float. My arm was getting tired and the motor on the mixer was not happy after some time.

In the end, I was covered in masa dough from hands to elbows, all over my apron, mess all over the kitchen, the fillings, the soaked corn husks, sticky dough paste everywhere, me swearing trying to get the little effers tied up... The husband had to come and help me tie them. It was a PROJECT.

I wished for a proper tamalada - a tamale making party where many people (traditionally women) gather to make tamales assembly line style. And I needed a Mexican abuela to help me figure it out. And a bigger kitchen. A Mexican friend who lives in south Texas laughed at me, and said she buys hers in.

So I'm glad I tried. After that, I order them in from the tamale lady too. You don't need many (for two people) - they are filling & assuming you have other things on the side. I over-ordered last time, and so I froze some. We had tamales on and off throughout last January.

We don't have a steamer. I think once I did a slow cooker hack (takes longer) and another time I reheated in the oven.

Sound intriguing. Do you eat them warm?

I do. I've also eaten them cold, but if serving to guests they are warm.

I did make my own tamales a few years back. I'm usually pretty skillful with most things in the kitchen and willing to give most recipes a go... My tamales came out okay. One problem I had was that I don't have a stand mixer, just a handheld one, and I couldn't get the dough beat up enough full of air to make a ball of it float. My arm was getting tired and the motor on the mixer was not happy after some time.

In the end, I was covered in masa dough from hands to elbows, all over my apron, mess all over the kitchen, the fillings, the soaked corn husks, sticky dough paste everywhere, me swearing trying to get the little effers tied up... The husband had to come and help me tie them. It was a PROJECT.

I wished for a proper tamalada - a tamale making party where many people (traditionally women) gather to make tamales assembly line style. And I needed a Mexican abuela to help me figure it out. And a bigger kitchen. A Mexican friend who lives in south Texas laughed at me, and said she buys hers in.

So I'm glad I tried. After that, I order them in from the tamale lady too. You don't need many (for two people) - they are filling & assuming you have other things on the side. I over-ordered last time, and so I froze some. We had tamales on and off throughout last January.

We don't have a steamer. I think once I did a slow cooker hack (takes longer) and another time I reheated in the oven.

My half-Mexican friend doesn't get on with her mother at all, but she would suffer through a day of mother-daughter time to make tamales about once  a year.  They'd make a massive batch of them, split the result down the middle, and my friend would fill her freezer.  I always wanted to attend one of these days, but I lived in a different state and we could never coordinate it.  (I think I was invited as a buffer so her mother wouldn't be too focused on my friend!  But tamales, so whatever!)

My masa is out for delivery now!

Hmmm. It has recipes for making the tamale, and the filling. Which is good. But it's quickly approaching its "best by" date (Dec 1). Fortunately, next week is going to see one day with my kitchen churning out tamales all day so it will be gone by Dec 1. 

But I think I would be careful about ordering from Purple Pantry on Amazon again, given I've only got a couple of weeks before the stuff goes out-of-date.