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Pulled Pork Tamales

TexanOfTheNorth
TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
in Pork
Having done a couple of butts on the weekend, I set aside some pulled pork to use for making tamales. Tamales are one of my favorite foods and, while I have never made them before, I have eaten a lot of them in my time. Unfortunately, most of the tamales that I've eaten, either at restaurants or from the store, have not been all that good. In fact, over the years, I've only found two commercially available tamales that I would call "great". One was from a place called Babe's (now closed) in Davis, OK and the other was Ruth's Tamales. Ruth's were always available at the State Fair of Texas but, the last time I went to the Fair 3 or 4 years ago I did not see them so I don't know if she's still in business or not. In any event, I was trying to achieve something similar to those two tamales with my own efforts. I followed this recipe (I have used other recipes from the site and have always been pleased with the results). As my pork was already cooked I had to deviate a bit from the instructions for making the filling. I used a scaled down version of the ingredients and just used my judgement on how long to "cook" everything (next time I'll make a lot less broth). For the masa I added a dash of Chipotle Pepper.

The results were a near perfect match to what I was hoping to achieve. I had enough pork to make 28 tamales (which required two batches of masa). 4 were eaten last night (for testing and quality control purposes) and the other 2 dozen went into the freezer for later consumption. I will definitely be doing this again!

Corn husks and ingredients for the masa. I forgot to set the garlic powder out for the picture and only decided to add the chipotle pepper after the masa had been mixed

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This is what the masa looked like once it was mixed.

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A tamale ready to be rolled.

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Tamales ready to be steamed.

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Tamales cooling after steaming.

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This one had a little too much masa but still tasted great. I used a little less masa on all the rest.

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Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
____________________
Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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Comments

  • Griffin
    Griffin Posts: 8,200
    edited June 2013
    =D> Nicely done, Sir!! Tamales are something I'd like to try one day. Very fond memories. Down in South Texas, its a tradition to eat them on Christmas morning.

    Rowlett, Texas

    Griffin's Grub or you can find me on Facebook

    The Supreme Potentate, Sovereign Commander and Sultan of Wings

     

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  • CPARKTX
    CPARKTX Posts: 2,095
    Nicely done. How long do you steam?
    LBGE & SBGE.  Central Texas.  
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  • Furall
    Furall Posts: 124
    Looks great. I will try this one soon. Thanks for posting.
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    CPARKTX said:
    Nicely done. How long do you steam?
    @cparktx...they steamed for about 1 hour and 15-20 minutes.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    They look amazing John. Something I have never made but really love when I can get them.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • jccbone62
    jccbone62 Posts: 248
    Thanks for posting. This is a great idea and I love tamales.
    XL owner in Wichita, KS
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    jccbone62 said:
    Thanks for posting. This is a great idea and I love tamales.
    We steamed 1/2 dozen (that had been frozen) last night and had them (as a "side") with some ground brisket burgers. Both the burgers and tamales were great!
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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  • Drewdlc17
    Drewdlc17 Posts: 124
    Awesome!
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  • Wolfpack
    Wolfpack Posts: 3,552
    Looks great- been wanting to do these since cen-Tex's post awhile ago. Thanks for the reminder
    Greensboro, NC
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  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 23,132
    Nice! Great looking tamales. We do them every Christmas and a few other times throughout the year. Those look awesome


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
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  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 16,209
    I love New Mexican cooking, but tamales is one thing I haven't tried myself.  Next weekend...

    ___________

    "When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set."

    - Lin Yutang


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  • RV10Flyer
    RV10Flyer Posts: 140

    I love me some tamales although I have not made them before.  I added this link to my ever growing future cooks list.  Thanks for sharing.

    I wonder if shredded brisket would be good in a tamale;  I don't see why not.

    North Texas

    XL and Small BGE

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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    RV10Flyer said:

    I love me some tamales although I have not made them before.  I added this link to my ever growing future cooks list.  Thanks for sharing.

    I wonder if shredded brisket would be good in a tamale;  I don't see why not.

    I think brisket would work just fine.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 23,132
    TexanOfTheNorth said:
    RV10Flyer said:

    I love me some tamales although I have not made them before.  I added this link to my ever growing future cooks list.  Thanks for sharing.

    I wonder if shredded brisket would be good in a tamale;  I don't see why not.

    I think brisket would work just fine.

    yep, just use the point. It shreds like shoulder. Or use chuckie.
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,109
    man, and I thought the secret was a good properly rendered lard.  Good job!
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
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  • TexanOfTheNorth
    TexanOfTheNorth Posts: 3,951
    nolaegghead said:
    man, and I thought the secret was a good properly rendered lard.  Good job!
    I have no doubt that lard would actually make a better tamale but the corn oil did an admirable job.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Well, "spa-Peggy" is kind of like spaghetti. I'm not sure what Peggy does different, if anything. But it's the one dish she's kind of made her own.
    ____________________
    Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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  • The Cen-Tex Smoker
    The Cen-Tex Smoker Posts: 23,132
    we do render our own lard. We save all our bacon trimmings and render them down.
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
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