Tamales Norteños (Northern Mexico/South Texas Style Tamales)

The classic question when it comes to making tamales is “Do you have a recipe?” Even though I am sharing my personal recipe here, I have to say that making tamales is like riding a bike for the first time. It’s scary, but after a huge leap of faith and a lot of practice, you will be a pro. 

How I make Tamales

I learned how to make tamales by teaching myself. I read a few recipes, asked a lot of questions, and had some years where I couldn’t believe how things went so incredibly wrong in terms of the quantities I prepared. In fact, even this year, I waay over purchased meat. But no matter: the excess will be made into enchiladas, or worked into some other holiday feast when the boys come home. Nothing will go to waste. 

The trickiest part will be how to assemble the masa, which is a tactile skill that I explain in another recipe. Small mom and pop shops that make fresh nixtamal are few and far between anymore, even here on the Mexican border. I have been buying fresh masa at the grocery store now. It has a bit of preservatives added to it so it doesn’t ferment the way tortilla shop masa would. The quality of fresh masa from the supermarket is very good.

Use the Best Ingredients for Making Tamales

Farm raised pork is always my choice, but again, if you can’t find it, use the best quality pork you can find. You can try differect meat combinations, but keep the quantities close to what I have listed below. 

So, If you are wondering why there are no precise recipes for making tamales, it has to do with the amount of liquids that you add to your ground chiles, or your stewed meat fillings, or even your masa. You may even run out of husks, as the husks can run in different sizes. If you have other people helping you, they may make their tamales in different sizes that yours…so many variables to account for.

Learn by doing

But as a word of encouragement,  I never made a batch that were inedible. Tamales are very forgiving, and if something looks or feels wrong, you can usually fix it…a little dry masa can absorb a prepared masa that has too much liquid and is too thin; a bit more chile puree can season a meat filling that is too dry; Less salt in your filling can balance out too much salt in the masa, etc. The only way you can ruin tamales is if you allow your steamer to run out of water when you are steam cooking the tamales. Just keep an eye on that, and you should be fine. 

Feel free to message me for pointers. Good luck!