One hot tamale!

I made a big batch of tamales for the second time in my life last week. The first time was an utter failure, but this time I did my homework. They came out pretty good and my boys managed to devour five dozen of them within a week!

They're pretty easy to make IF you make it into a two day process!

First, I made a trip to the Mexican market. I got some pre-made masa and a bag of dried ancho chilies. The chilies were still pretty fresh and I had no trouble splitting them open and removing their seeds:

After de-seeding the whole bag, I placed them in a large pot and covered with water (or you could use beef stock). I added a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, cumin, and onion powder and brought it to a slow steady boil. Cook the peppers until tender. Transfer peppers and some of the juice to your food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
You now have a beautiful mole sauce!
Store overnight in the fridge (it really helps the flavors to blend).
Then I put some pork shoulder into the crock pot with some onion, garlic, and other spices to cook overnight.

The next morning, I put my corn husks on to soak in hot water (at least one hour if not two!)
I shredded the pork and mixed it with the mole sauce. Then I strained the meat juices and mixed some in with the masa. The masa should be the consistency of smooth peanut butter.

I set up shop at the kitchen table with everything in reach.
Take a corn husk and spread on the masa in about a 4x4 inch square. The first couple of tamales I did with my fingers and it was too thick! I soon learned to spread it with a spatula to be thin:

Next, place the shredded pork/mole mixture down the center of the masa:

Roll the tamale up and over the meat mixture:

Fold up the long end of your corn husk:

And roll the rest up into a perfect little package:

Place tamales standing up in your tamale steamer and steam for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Whatever you do DO NOT let the water dry up!
Place some pennies in the bottom of the pot to signal when the water levels get low!

Like I said, the boys devoured all five dozen of these within a week!
These were also very economical to make. Here's a cost breakdown:

10 lbs pre-made masa = $6.00 (I only used half and saved the other for another future batch)
5 lbs. pork shoulder = $10.00 (I also only used half of the meat mixture and froze the rest!)
1 bag of ancho chilies = $5.00

_____________
Total = $21.oo for five dozen
(and actually the number is closer to TEN dozen because I still have enough ingredients to make more!)
Tamales sell around here for $7.00 a dozen. Which means if I bought them I would have spent $35.oo! I made a savings of $14!

Next weekend I'll try my hand a green tomatillo and chicken tamales!