Cutler's status was uncertain up to the last moment, so this blogger felt that a family football favorite - Tamales - was necessary. Granted, they are a bit of work, but we were looking at Zero Wins. So tamales are what die hard fans do. They're also pretty darn delicious. Consider making the meat filling the day before assembling the tamales. The flavors will combine nicely and you won't have such a marathon cooking session.
So, before you begin researching your Kansas City recipe, grab a pork roast, spices, masa harina and corn husks and get cooking. Muy Deliciosa!
Meat Filling
Ingredients:
1 # pork roast
3 ancho chiles, seeded, stemmed and soaked
Spice Rub to cover the roast:
dry mustard
garlic powder
chili powder
pepper
cayenne powder
cumin
Beef broth
1 onion, chopped
Directions:
1. Rub the pork with the spices, let it sit until it's around room temperature
2. Put the ancho chiles in a sauce pan with water to cover, boil about 15 minutes
3. Remove the ancho chiles to a cutting board and remove the stem. Cut open and rinse to remove the seeds.
4. Spray crock pot with Pam
5. Put the roast, onions and chiles in the crock pot
6. Cover with beef broth
7. Set crock pot to low and cook several hours until tender and can be flaked with a fork
8. When it's nearly done, add 1/2-1 cup of salsa
9. When it's done, test to see if salt is needed
10. Drain but reserve the liquid
Tamales
Ingredients:
Corn husks, soaked for several hours
3 cups masa harina
2 cups warm water
1 cup lard
1 tsp salt
Directions:
1. Mix masa harina and water using a fork, cover and let sit for 20 minutes
2. In large bowl, beat lard and salt until fluffy (this will likely take 20 minutes)
3. Add masa mixture and beat until combined
4. For each tamale:
Choose a softened corn husk and spread about 2 TB of dough in a 5 x 3 rectangle in the center
of the corn husk
Top with 1 TB or less of the drained pork meat
Roll jelly roll style and tie each end with a strand of softened corn husk
5. Place tamales on a rack or crumpled up foil in a single layer in a steamer, electric skillet or dutch
oven. Add water just below rack level (add a bit of the reserved pork roast liquid)
6. Bring to a boil, cover and steam for about 45 minutes or until tamale pulls away from wrapper. Add water as needed checking about every 15 minutes.
Makes about 20 depending on the size of the corn husks.
