All Things in Moderation

Hi all,

It is a tradition throughout Latin America to make tamales around Christmas. Make them, share them, compare them (yours are best, of course). Having married a Tica, we carry the tradition forwards. We use her Tia Lijia’s recipe with a few modifications.

A tamal is essentially a way to convert scraps into a meal. I want to call it a tamale too, but the singular is tamal and the plural is tamales (note, tamalays, not tamalis). We don’t have any truck with those Philistines in Mexico who use corn husks to wrap them. Costa Rican tamales are wrapped in banana leaves, which are great for steaming. The quality of the banana leaf is important. My beloved Keen does the selection and slicing of the leaves.

Here’s how you make Fallas-Baldi tamales. Take two prepared banana leaves and place them cross-wise. That’ll form a good seal for the steaming. Next, put on a generous dollop of masa. That’s the critical component and I’ll explain its preparation in a bit. Now, add the presents to your package. A couple pieces of chicken. A couple of olives. A few capers. Some sautéed, julienned carrots and bell pepper. Raisins are traditional, but we use dried, sweetened cranberries. Wrap up your tamal, put it against another one and tie up into a package. Your tamales will be steamed with others in batches. I think we make about 100 tamales each year, most of which are to be given away.

The masa is the crucial component. The first step is to make the broth. The standard approach is to boil chicken breasts in water then add spices (condimento—a Latino spice). One then removes the chicken breasts for later preparation. Spices are added to the broth and then masa harina (corn flour with lime, Maseca is a popular brand that we use). Mashed potatoes are the secret ingredient in the FB masa. It’s also important to add plenty of fat. We use Crisco, but I suspect that lard is traditional.

Here was my one and only innovation. It struck me that (a) the chicken would be over-cooked and (b) wouldn’t add enough flavor to the broth. I’m big into stock and poached chicken is lovely. It struck me that the basic method overcooked the chicken and didn’t add enough flavor to the broth. This is my one and only innovation (approved of by the tamal nazi).

I purchased 8 chickens at Costco this year. The thighs and legs were removed, skinned, and set aside for later use. The breasts were removed off the bone and set aside. The backs and wings were chopped into pieces, roasted, and used to make stock. It’s a standard stock, with the substitution for parsley with plenty of cilantro and culantro. The latter is a flat-leafed herb with a flavor similar to cilantro. Cilantro is actually called culantro in Costa Rica; culantro is called culantro coyote. It was considered something of a wild herb there and we can finally get it in the U.S. (exported from Costa Rica). We’re going to wind up with about 3 gallons of stock out of all of this.

OK. We just poached the chicken breasts in the stock. In the past, I’ve poached the chicken breasts in water and then added the bones, mirepoix, and herbs to make stock. I think I like this way better as the stock flavors the breasts and vice versa. The chicken is then cut into ~1/2 pieces. It’ll be sautéed in onions with condimento (spice blend) and achiote (which colors the chicken). The julienned bell peppers and carrots will be similarly sautéed.

For a vegetarian friend, I make a few tamales without chicken. She’s not bothered about broth, so I  like making a few tamales con camarones. One year, we made masa with a shrimp stock. Keen indulged me. We also have some pork loin in the freezer, so I’ve defrosted it and we’ll make a few pork tamales.

We’ll be busy tomorrow. Friends are coming over, drinks will be drunk and many tamales will be made.

¡Felix Navidad!