Tamales Rojos de Puerco (Red Pork Tamales) Are just one of 2 of the tamales I made for week 8 of our travel in my kitchen series! I could not decide between the 2 so I made both! And then just some cheese and chicken for my kiddos. Which they loved!
This will take all day, so prepare for your feet to hurt, then have some of the best food you’ve ever had in your life. This is so so worth it.
From my research and your comments, lots of Mexican families make these for Christmas and everyone in the house helps! It’s a whole family event and lots of memories come from being in the kitchen together as a family making tamales! I love this so so much and will definitely be adding this tradition on for my kids to be involved in as well!
Definitely check out and support your local Mexican grocery store when shopping for ingredients! You’ll find corn husks there and mine were in the fresh produce section. I also got the dried peppers, Lard and the Maseca there!
For the pork, you can use shoulder or butt. I used the 2lb seasoned boneless pork shoulder from aldi and cut it up to boil. Seems weird, but honestly it gave it more flavor! I used this because the price was pretty cheap. I boiled the pork in water with onion, garlic and bay leaves then shredded it. Cook how you would like and then shred. And the water it boiled in we are reserving 2 cups of it for the masa!
The corn husks need to soak for at least 6 hours in hot water but preferably over night so they get nice and soft and pliable. Rinse them first under water and get rid of any moldy ones. The ones too small for a tamale can be used when steaming. They usually put a preservative in there, so if they smell sour, that’s probably why. once they’re in the container with hot water, put something heavy on them to hold them down into the water. I used my mortar and pestle!
The Peppers: You’ll need 2 types of Chiles. New Mexico chiles (chile Nuevo Mexico) And Chile anchos. These are dried peppers and will be stored in bags. Below are the ingredients for the rest sauce! The peppers need cut open and you will scrape the seeds out of them. Just cut them open with scissors, scrap the seeds out and you’re good to go! You’ll also need a small piece of onion, a few garlic cloves and seasonings along with the 2 cups of reserved broth that the pork boiled in. Which is why we boil to cook!
I use my meat shredder to shred perfectly! You can find it HERE if you’d like one! I use it every time I make shredded meat!
You’re going to boil the dried peppers until they are soft, about 10 minutes then add all the ingredients from the plate below to the blender with the broth and blend until smooth! Make sure you use a blender that has a place for steam to escape. Blending hot things in a blender that doesn’t can cause it to explode and cause injury.
You want to simmer this for a minute and keep 1/4 cup for the masa! TRUST. this gives it great color!!
Doesn’t this look delish already?? Set this aside to cool and lets move on to the masa.
Lard: You can use lard or vegetable shortening if you’d like. I used lard and I whipped this until it was fluffy! Added in baking powder and now it’s ready for the remaining ingredients.
I seasoned the flour and then mixed 1 cup maseca and 1 cup chicken broth at a time until I used all 2.5 cups of each. Then added the reserved red sauce and mixed this with my hands for 10 minutes but you can use a stand mixer with the flat beater attachment! I need a new one, so I just used my hands and make sure there are no clumps.
Make sure to dry the corn husks when they come out of the water. On the soft side, start to spread the masa on. you don’t want it too thin or it won’t hold the filling in. layer a good amount so you can’t see the corn husk through it.
Add the filling! I added probably 2 tablespoons.
Fold one side over
Then the other side to close it.
Then fold the bottom up! And you have your first tamale! Repeat until you’re done.
Steam pot. if you don’t have a Tamalera or a steaming pot, this is what I did, I did a large piece of foil on the bottom, making a snake shape and placing it inside in a swirl. or you can do foil balls
Then I shaped another piece into circle and poked holes in it.
Add a few corn husks on the bottom and add a couple inches of water, only a couples inches, you don’t want it to touch the foil plate that we made.
Pile them in standing up and add more husks around the edges.
Layer a couple more on top
Then cover with a lid wrapped in a towel to soak up the condensation so it doesn’t drip on the tamales. Allow to steam 2 hours checking the water level and adding more when needed every 30 minutes.
2 hours later and they should be done. They are done when the tamale pulls from the corn husks easily. COOL FOR 15 MINUTES!! This is so the masa sets and won’t be too wet and come apart when opening them.
AND LOOK!! We did it! Tamales! This was my first time ever making these and eating them and I understand the hype now because WOW they are soooo yummy!!
Check out some of the other countries I have done recently!
Let’s Get into the recipe!
Below is the video I did for week 8!
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a large bowl or container, add the rinsed corn husks and fill with hot water, place something heavy to press them down into the water and allow to soak for 6-24 hours.
- You can make your shredded pork however you'd like. I took a 2lb seasoned boneless pork shoulder from aldi chopped into peices, roughly chopped onion, garlic, and bay leaves, boiled them on medium low for 3 hours then shredded it. Reserve 2 cups of the water it boiled in and set it aside.
- Cut open the dried chiles and remove the seeds and any hard stem or hard strings
- In a sauce pan, add your chiles and fill with water, boil for 10 minutes then transfer the chiles to a blender along with the onion, Garlic, oregano, cumin seeds, peppercorn, salt and the 2 cups of reserved water from the pork. Blend until smooth
- In a large skillet add oil or a little bit of lard and melt it down, pour in the red sauce and simmer for just a minute and reserve 1/4C of the sauce and set aside for the masa. Next, add the shredded pork to the skillet and simmer in the red sauce for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- In a stand mixer using a flat beater, or using a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip the lard until it is fluffy, Add the baking powder and whip again for a minute. Next, you can continue in the stand mixer or you can use your hands, Add in 1 cup of the maseca and 1 cup of chicken broth, the bouillon and salt, and mix. add another cup of each broth and maseca and mix again and repeat with the remaining 1/2 cups of each, once its mixed in, pour in the reserved red sauce and mix for 10 minutes and allow the masa to rest for 10 minutes.
- Dry the corn husks and start spreading masa on the soft side of each one about half way up, (I used a plastic bowl scrapper) With enough masa that you can't see the corn husk, add your filling to the center, then fold one side over, fold the other side over the first side like a trifold, then fold the bottom of the corn husk up. You can look up a video if it's helpful! I recommend doing so.
- In a steamer pot (Tamalera) Add the steam attachment inside, add a layer of corn husks then add the tamales standing up. layer corn husks around the sides and the top. Add a couple inches of water to the bottom and cover with a lid that has a kitchen towel wrapped around it to help prevent water from dripping on to the tamales. Steam for 2 hours checking the water level and adding more water if needed every 30 minutes. Take them out and rest for 15 minutes for the masa to set. Check out my notes above to do it without a steam attachment.
- Add the steam rack, cover bottom with water making sure none of the water touches the rack, layer 2 corn husks on the bottom, and add the tamales in standing up. cover and pressure cook for 45 minutes. Take them out and rest for 15 minutes for the masa to set.
- Make sure to rest the tamales for 15 minutes for the masa to set or they won't remove well from the corn husks. Enjoy!
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