Homemade Tamales

8-10 lbs Pork (Boston Butt)

Boil meat in two pots until tender. Salt water lightly add spices (we added about a T of Chili powder, cumin and garlic powder, a tsp of salt and cayenne pepper), 3 carrots & 3 celery stalks for one pork butt. Retain broth to add to chopped meat, and masa mixture. Chop meat in food processor. Cut meat into 2x2 squares to chop in food processor.

In a large pot add the chopped meat, some broth and the following spices and cook; stir frequently to keep from sticking:

1 c. chili powder

1/3 c cumin
1/4 c. minced garlic
scant 1/4 c salt
1 T cayenne pepper

Place large pot of meat into refrigerator and remove 4 or 5 cups at a time. Divide into smaller pots if refrigerator room is a problem. Because it takes a while to make try to keep meat refrigerated, do not let meat set out all day while making tamales.

Edited for 0ne pork butt:

One bag of Masa (4.4) lbs

5 cups of lard (melted)

We melted the lard and added the spices below:

1/3 c chili powder

1T cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1-2 T salt

Soak corn husks in water for at least 2 hours. Remove from water to drain.

We mixed the lard into the masa in batches using the mixer. It was still to dry. So we started adding broth and returned the masa to the mixer in batches adding broth, 5 cups. Since we were preparing the masa in advance with plans to make the tamales the next day we stopped here and put all the masa/lard/broth mixture back into a large covered container and put it in the refrigerator. The next morning we took the masa mixture out of the refrigerator (not early enough as the lard had hardened up). We heated up an additional 5 cups of broth (in 2 and 1 cup batches) adding it to the masa mixture by hand until we got the consistency we wanted for spreading.

Making the tamales - pat the corn husks dry on the smooth side. Spread an even amount of the masa onto the corn husks towards the wider end, from side to side and all the way to what will be the open end. Try to make this the same for all the tamales - quality control. We added a rounded tablespoon of pork then folded one side over the other and folded up the end. Sit them aside in a pan.

We bundled them into groups of 6 with cooking twine.

Results - Tamales cooked for about 2.5-3 hours because we used a canning pot with a pizza pan in the bottom not allowing steam to flow through the center of the tamales.

It made 6.5 doz. (so far - we ran out of the corn husks)

Flavor was good but the masa was a little dry. Some youtube videos we watch all added either baking powder or baking powder and baking soda to make the masa fluffier. Some also whipped the lard before mixing it with the masa. It seems to me you would mix all the dry spices in with the masa flour before adding the lard and other wet ingredients.

Will try again to improve the masa part of this recipe.