The Tamale Lady be crazy
Yesterday's tamale class was educational, but somewhat disappointing. The first sign of trouble was the table laid out with gadgets and food items with prices on everything. Yikes! Would have been nice if someone had warned me this would be the culinary equivalent of a timeshare spiel.
The organizer, who I had met before and like, brought along this other lady to help with the class. This other person is apparently some sort of professional cooking teacher with a personality that grated on my nerves to no end. She's perky. That fake perky that makes you want to slap her upside the head. Complete with lightswitch perky smile with no trace of sincerity. And bossy. Way bossy.
Anyhow, on the plus side I got to see how to make a few different versions of tamales, which are steamed packets of corn dough held together by corn husks or banana leaves, and stuffed with various goodies. And I have a handout with all the tips and recipes.
We made:
Celia's grandmother's recipe: Stewed chicken with red chile sauce, potato, and green olive
Green Corn: The corn paste is mostly/all fresh corn instead of masa. Stuffed with cheese and a roasted chile (kind of like a chile relleno)
Molé: Stewed chicken or pork with molé negro (a sauce made with chiles and chocolate)
Sweet Tamale: This was stuffed with cinnamony apples. I didn't like it, but that's probably related to my philosophical rejection of sugar on grits -- it's wrong, just wrong.
I'm sure I'll end up making a batch or two, but it's pretty much an all day event if you start from scratch. At least you end up with a big pile of them, and they freeze well.