{"id":4842,"date":"2014-12-25T06:58:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-25T06:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tamales\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T22:05:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T05:05:29","slug":"tamales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tamales\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamales &#8211; COLLECTION"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the absolute best tamales in Phoenix, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thetamalestore.com\/\"><strong>The Tamale Store<\/strong><\/a> at 15842 N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85032<\/p>\n<h2>Basic Tamales<\/h2>\n<p>Enough for 24 small tamales.<\/p>\n<p><strong>INGREDIENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>200 gm lard, bacon grease, chicken fat, etc<br \/>\n&#8211; make up weight (if necessary) using butter and olive oil<\/li>\n<li>400 gm masa harina (corn meal flour) &#8211; Maseca is a popular brand<\/li>\n<li>2 tsp salt<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp baking powder<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp cumin<\/li>\n<li>1 TBL brown sugar<br \/>\n<strong>For Cajun Flavor Tamales, add the next five ingredients<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><em>2 TBL chili powder or cayenne pepper<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>1\/2 tsp black pepper<br \/>\n&#8211; Use broth to thin as described below<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Chicken broth (as needed) see notes in Step by Step<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Corn husk leaves<\/li>\n<li>Whatever filling you are planning to use &#8211; See below<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tamale.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright aiif13373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tamale.jpg\" alt=\"tamale\" width=\"183\" height=\"125\" \/><\/a>STEP BY STEP<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Pour boiling water over corn husk leaves<\/li>\n<li>Weigh down sheets using a heavy glass bowl<\/li>\n<li>Let soak 1 hour<\/li>\n<li>Prepare masa dough &#8211; Mix masa harina with the ingredients to create a crumbly texture<\/li>\n<li>Drizzle in broth or reserved liquid to make a moist play dough consistency<\/li>\n<li>Let rest about 5 minutes<\/li>\n<li>Assemble with moist hands<\/li>\n<li>1 husk . Pat dry &#8211; Smaller end toward you<\/li>\n<li>2 TBL masa on husk . Flatten with fingers<br \/>\n&#8211; Leave 1\/3 unfilled hear the pointey end<br \/>\n&#8211; Leave a small border on one side and a wide border on the other side<\/li>\n<li>Add 2 TBL meat filling<\/li>\n<li>Wrap masa around filling<\/li>\n<li>Roll and fold end to contain<\/li>\n<li>Tie with string or strip of husk<br \/>\n&#8211; I like to use red string for red meat, white string for white meat, yellow string for cheese, and green string for green chilie and veggie<\/li>\n<li>Line your basket with husks<\/li>\n<li>Lie tamales in the steamer<\/li>\n<li>Steam 2 hours &#8211; Check water level every 30 minutes<\/li>\n<li>Wrap in newspaper to keep hot<\/li>\n<li>Cool and freeze in plastic wrap to preserve<br \/>\n<strong>When ready to serve&#8230;.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Thaw and steam for 30 minutes or microwave if time is short<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>PENNY TRICK<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Add a penny to the bottom of your steamer water.<\/li>\n<li>If the water evaporates, the penny starts to rattle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Prepare your filling ahead of time.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Mix 4 oz shredded meat with 2 TBL green chilies, 2 TBL shredded cheese, 1 TBL minced garlic, 1\/4 C minced onion, and a splash of broth<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Green Chile Pork<\/li>\n<li>Poached Chicken<\/li>\n<li>Carnitas<\/li>\n<li>Prime Rib<\/li>\n<li>Green Chile and Cheese<\/li>\n<li>Turkey<\/li>\n<li>Pork and Pineapple<\/li>\n<li>Green Corn Tamale<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1>OTHER RECIPES<\/h1>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tamales-the-mexican-twist\/\">The Mexican Twist<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/delta-hot-tamales\/\">Delta Hot Tamales<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/chili-and-cheese-tamales\/\">Chili and Cheese Tamales<\/a><\/h2>\n<h1>Fillings for Tamales<\/h1>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/chicken-tamales\/\">Smoked Chicken<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/green-chile-pork\/\">Green Chili Pork<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/pork-shoulder\/\">Pork Shoulder<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/poached-chicken\/\">Poached Chicken<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/carnitas\/\">Carnitas <\/a><\/h2>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/stuffed-sweet-potato\/\">Sweet Potatoes<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>This is not for the filling though.\u00a0 Mix sweet potatoes in with the masa, then fill the tamale with refried beans<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pineapple<\/li>\n<li>Turkey<\/li>\n<li>Veggie<\/li>\n<li>Cheese and green chiles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the absolute best tamales in Phoenix, go to The Tamale Store at 15842 N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Basic Tamales Enough for 24 small tamales. INGREDIENTS 200 gm lard, bacon grease, chicken fat, etc &#8211; make up weight (if necessary) using butter and olive oil 400 gm masa harina (corn meal flour) &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/tamales\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tamales &#8211; COLLECTION&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[196,179,177,171],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collection-index","category-book-dinners","category-book-lunches","category-world-cuisine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4842"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23445,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4842\/revisions\/23445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grandpacooks.com\/recipes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}