How to Make Tamales: Step-by-step Tutorial for Beginners

• Prep the corn husks:
• Place tamale husks in a large bowl. Pour hot or boiling water over the husks. Let sit in the hot water until you are ready to use them (can leave them overnight).
  36 Corn husks

Directions to make the shredded pork:

• In a dutch oven (or large pot), cover pork with water and add all remaining ingredients for the pork (onion & spices & water). Cook for 4-8 hours over low heat, 4 hours minimum.

  **Alternatively, add all pork ingredients to an instantpot and cook for 2 hours.
  4.5 lb Pork butt, 1 onion, 6-8 garlic cloves, 1 1/2 Teaspoons kosher salt, 1 tsp whole black peppercorns, 4 dried bay leaves, 2-3 sprigs thyme, water to cover
• After meat is cooked (long enough that it falls apart and shreds easily), remove from pot, set aside to cool . When cooled, shred meat finely with two forks or bear claws. This can be covered and stored in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the tamales.

Directions for the red chile sauce

• Heat 1 1/2 Tbsp lard in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add chopped onion and saute until beginning to brown; add minced garlic for last minute and saute.
  2 Tablespoons leaf lard, 1 onion, 5 Cloves garlic
• Add 3 Tbsp enchilada blend and tomato paste to the onion mixture in the skillet and stir together until combined. Add pork broth and then lower heat to medium low. Simmer over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes or until reduced to your desired thicknes, stirring occasionally. (Add the optional masa if you want more thickness).
  3-4 Tablespoons Enchilada spice blend, 3 Tablespoons tomato paste, 2 cups pork broth, 1 tbsp masa harina, kosher salt
• Cool the sauce a little and puree in the blender. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate if not ready to assemble tamales. The sauce may be made up to 2 days ahead; keep refrigerated until ready to assemble tamales.

Directions to make the masa (dough)

• In a deep bowl, combine the masa, baking powder, and salt. Pour the broth into the masa a little at a time, working it all in with your fingers.
  4 cups masa harina, 2 Teaspoons baking powder, 2 Teaspoons Salt, 2 2/3 cups pork broth
• In a mixer or small bowl (I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), whip the leaf lard 1 to 2 minutes on medium-high speed until fluffy.
  1 1/3 Cups Lard
• Add the fluffy, beaten lard to the masa and combine together until the dough has a spongy texture (it will be light and fairly wet – you would not be able to roll it out like pastry dough).   I used my hands to mix the lard and masa together.
• If you want to get technical, you can test the masa by taking a small piece and dropping it into a cup of cold water.  It should float.  If it does not float, whip the masa for a few more minutes and test again. Sometimes adding a bit more broth during this second mixing will help.
• I added a little sauce (about 1/2 cup) to the tamale dough to flavor the dough and add color. Now remove the sauce and the shredded pork from the refrigerator and combine together. You may want to heat the mixture up a bit to make it easier to combine. This mixture is your tamale filling.

Directions to assemble the tamales

• On clean surface, lay out soaked and drained corn husks, the bowl of masa mixture, the bowl of pork filling, a spoon or spatula (I used the spatula that comes with a rice cooker – just the right size). You can also purchase a tamale press like this one, but it's not necessary.
• Place husk smooth side up on work surface.  Put about 2-3 Tablespoons masa in center of husk and use spatula to spread it over 2/3 of the husk, leaving a 1/2 inch border at each edge.
• Put about 2 Tbsp of pork filling down the center of the masa, to about 1/2 inch from wide end.
• Fold pointed end of husk over about an inch in over the filling. Bring sides of husks toward center until masa edges meet.  Seal masa at center seam, and bring husks back down flat.
• Fold pointed end of husk in to cover top of masa.  Fold sides of husks in, overlapping each other and flip the tamale seam side down onto the counter or a plate.  Repeat with rest of tamales.
• Twist open end of tamales and close with a tie if desired (either use pieces of husk torn lengthwise or use raffia), and tie tamale loosely to seal.  It does not need to be perfectly folded to get excellent tamales, and it gets faster with practice. Enjoy the process!
• Watch the youtube video tutorial for detailed folding process. Sometimes it’s easier to watch someone do it rather than read about it.

Instructions for steaming tamales

• Add water to bottom of a steamer pot so that it will fill just below the steamer insert. Place a penny in the bottom of the pot and bring to a boil. While steaming, if the penny stops jingling, add more water.
• Arrange tamales in the steamer basket so all tamales are standing mostly upright. Place lid on top of basket. Lower heat so that the penny continues to jingle- water will be a soft boil or simmer.
• Place steamer insert in pot. Allow to steam for 60 to 90 minutes.
• To test if the tamales are done, remove a tamale and replace the lid on the pot. Put the tamale on counter for a few minutes and then unwrap it.  If it is ready, the masa will be set and will pull away from the corn husk easily.
• Let tamales rest for 5-10 minutes out of the pot, covered with a cloth before serving to allow masa to firm up.
• Serve tamales in their wrappers with extra sauce passed around the table.