recipe
yields
8 tamales
1½ cups fresh corn kernals
¾ cup red onion, diced small
1 tablespoon garlic, puréed
1¼ cup chicken stock
2 cups masa harina
½ tablespoon salt
½ tablespoon Schezuan peppercorns
½ cup cold butter
¼ cup lard
1 cup goat cheese
½ tablespoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons salt
1½ tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1½ tablespoons ground
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 (3-4) pound pork butt (preferably bone-in )
½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves, halved
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and chopped
8 cups chicken stock
Corn husks, soaked in water until tender
For the tamale dough:
For tamale filling:
steps
Make the tamale filling:
- Combine salt, cumin, paprika, black pepper, and garlic powder and rub pork butt thoroughly with spice mix. Set aside in refrigerator for about 2 hours.
- Place butt in pressure cooker and add remaining ingredients except for corn husks. Secure lid, turn heat to high, and bring to a boil (pot will start hissing and whistling). Reduce heat to medium/low and cook for 1 hour. Turn heat off and allow the cooker to naturally release all of its pressure (this should take 5 to 10 minutes).
- Remove lid, transfer pork butt to a chopping board, and chop meat until you have about 6 cups.
While pork is cooking, make the tamale dough:
- In the bowl of a food processor, purée corn, onion, and garlic with stock until smooth.
- In a stainless steel bowl, combine masa harina, sugar, salt, and crushed peppercorns. Add cold butter and lard and cut in as you would with pie dough until the dough resembles corn meal.
- With an electric mixer, blend in corn mix until smooth. Add goat cheese and cumin and blend again until smooth. Set aside.
To assemble:
- Lay a corn husk out on a cutting board. Place 4 tablespoons of dough in center. Press dough out into a rectangle about ⅓ inch thick. Place 3 tablespoons chopped pork butt in middle of dough, running like a ridge from one end to the other. Roll tamale dough and husk around and tie each end with a strip of corn husk so tamale looks wrapped like a piece of hard candy.
- Steam tamales for 45 minutes. Remove and serve immediately. They can also be cooled, frozen, and re-heated for up to 3 months.
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- Recipe from chef John Currence of City Grocery, Oxford, Mississippi