Revolution in Mexico ...

I went to see the 1910:A Revolution Across Borders exhibit today at the Witte Museum ... it was great... I loved that the exhibit showcased the role of South Texas during the course of the revolution. I ran back to the online newspaper archives to read about events from Nov 1 - 30 1910 as they were reported in San Antonio ...

As this is Christmas Ben and I made tamales that were so good they made me remember being at my grandmother's at the age of 9 kissing the feet of the baby Jesus so that I could eat her tamales and drink champurrado (a mexican hot chocolate). We also made champurrado ... and 3 batches of rompope for all of the holiday parties ..my arteries will need a scrubbing out after this year ...


We used a 5 pound pork butt braised in the oven with cumin/ oregano and 3 anchos with salt and pepper (maybe I used 2 garlic cloves? )
let it cool ..or make ahead and shred




then we blenderized 2 pasillas and 2 anchos that had been soaked in hot water with some hot water and salt to make a paste




This is pasilla chile ... these are good in mole and carne guisada .. they are not usually very pica (spicy) and add a great depth of flavor



This is a chile ancho ... this is the work horse of the chile universe .. I always have some on hand in case I need to add needed depth to tomatoes or meat or stew things I might make ...

we added about 1/4 c of that to the shredded pork

Then we used Mark Bittman's masa recipe (I am chagrined that I had to turn to a New Yorker to get measurements that made sense to me .. most of the recipes on the net were way too heavy) ... maseca plus manteca plus chili paste plus water (no stock on hand)

3 1/2 cups maseca



( a quick note ... masa made from maseca tastes like home ... it may not be as authentic as fresh masa ...which can be found at La Michoacana Grocery Store and perhaps your HEB and most definitely is available at La Bandera Molina in both fina and quebrada states... but for me, it is comfort food)
2 cups manteca -- I use La Michoacana's (the Mexican grocery store ... we need more grocery stores of this size!) freshly rendered stuff .. you can render your own .. manteca is the key to great or eh tamales

2 cups stock (we used water and the blenderized chile paste referenced above)


I whipped the room temperature manteca first with the kitchenaid (I use non hydrogented manteca) and then I added the maseca and water ..like cake batter .. and then when a small pinched ball of masa could float in a glass of water it was done and ready to spread

We soaked a bag of dried corn leaves overnight in a big bowl .. we used a heavy pot lid to weigh down the leaves in the bowl so that they stayed submerged

There is a rough side and a smooth side to the husk .. pull one out of the water and run a finger across both sides figure out which is which ... with the rough side in the palm of your hand and the smooth side facing up .. with the broad end of the leaf pointed toward your wrist and the pointy end extending past your fingertips ... get a big soupspoon full of masa and spread it to about 3 or 4 inches from the broad side :



Place 1 or 2 teaspons of meat down the center with the filling running perpidicular starting at the wide edge, finally fold one side over to cover the meat and fold the other side over, its more like an third fold and less like a roll, last, fold the the tail up .. the tail should end where the tamale starts, once you have the fold done

We used the spaghetti pot .. put a stainless bowl in it ... poured in like 3 to 4 cups of water ... and then rested the french steamer on that ... we dumped in a bunch of the soaked tamale leaves to make a base ... and placed the tamales in a sort of grid .. we could only steam like 12 to 20 at a time ... covered the tamales with more hojas .. and then put the lid on

We steamed em at med flame for an hour ...

Champurrado

1/2 c maseca ... toast lightly over med heat in big pot then add

4 cups milk ... I like whole milk for this

2 disks mexican chocolate


Whisk vigorously until milk has a little foam

pour into mugs and serve with tamales after you have kissed the feet of the baby Jesus of course




Feliz Navidad, ya'll





And here is what I have to say about the health benefits of manteca ...