Ranchos - Tamales al Vapor, part 2 (masa, assembly, and finale), a Pinedo recipe

In the previous post (click here to see it), guest cook NH and I made the sauce and filling (stew) for Miss Pinedo's Tamales al Vapor, Steamed Tamales.  In this post, we make the masa and assemble the tamale.  Finally, we cook and taste it.

We returned to this recipe for beef tamales to get instruction on making the masa.

My translation

We focused on the instructions:

The corn paste is whipped with the meat broth, adding more fat, salt and one or two tablespoons of yeast powder if you like.

The paste must be beaten well before making the tamales.

Yeast powder is baking powder, and I chose not to use it.

In other recipes, Miss Pinedo notes that beating the masa a long time, "until it blisters" or has bubbles pop on the surface, makes a more tender masa.  The goal is to have a very smooth mixture that is not sticky or greasy.

The bag of masa or finely ground nixtamalized corn that I purchased suggested the ratios to work with.  We used 

4 cups masa flour

3 cups broth the chicken meat was parboiled in

about 1/2 cup melted vegetable shortening

about 1/2 teaspoon salt

First the flour and broth were put in the mixer.  The broth was splashed in and mixed a little at a time, turning the mixer on and off as needed to mix without kicking the flour out of the bowl.  Once the flour was moist enough to start holding together, the mixer was left on.  The shortening was melted and the salt was added to it.  This was beaten into the flour mixture in small amounts.  I stopped adding it when the whole mixture came together and felt smooth and not sticky.

Note:  I think the salt should have been added to the flour mixture before the shortening was added.  The bag said to put it into the melted fat but since salt doesn't dissolve in fat, it was hard to get it out of the pan.

Then I left the mixer running for another 5 minutes or so.  I didn't see blisters but the masa looked fluffy.

(Later note:  I made more masa, used about 3/4 cup shortening, and got a better result when I steamed the tamales.  More shortening seemed to hold more air in the mixture and the longer beating helped get that air into it.)

Now we were ready to use the main recipe on page 163:  The Latest Novelty!

My translation

Not everyone has a pudding mold on hand in their kitchen.  Not even me!  This is what one looks like:

Antique pudding mold with lid.  Note the hole in the pan's center.

Assembled and ready for cooking.

The idea is that you fill the mold with your pudding, twist the lid on tightly, and place in a larger pan with hot water.  The larger pan is covered and put over heat, surrounding the mold with steam for a few hours.  This cooks the pudding.  The lid keeps the steam from contacting the pudding directly so it doesn't get soggy.

My modern adaptation was to use a tube pan, although a Bundt pan would also work.  

It doesn't have a lid but I can make one using foil.

Following the instructions, I buttered the pan, then covered the inside with a layer of masa.

I tried to keep the thickness fairly uniform and not too thick.  

Next I put in the stew.

Then I put a layer of masa over the top, making sure to seal the edges where it met the sides of the pan and the tube.  It helped to get my hands a little wet to smooth over the surface.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but I should have used a little extra masa or foil to plug the hole in the tube.

I used a cloth to cover the surface and then foil over the top of that, and placed the whole assembly into the Dutch oven.  There was a small rack below the mold so water could circulate around it.  The water (already heated) came about halfway up the side.  I had extra water heating in the tea kettle just in case I need to replenish.

I used the foil to help hold the cloth up out of the water.

The lid went on the Dutch oven and I turned the heat up until steam was coming out from under the lid.  I turned the heat down so that the water was simmering and just a little steam came out.  

I checked it every 30 minutes but never needed to replenish the water.

After 2 hours, I noticed a lovely corn scent in the steam.  I turned the heat off and let it sit for another 20 minutes or so while I got ready to take it out. 

Here is how it looked when the foil and cloth came off:

This is when I realized I should have plugged the hole.

First we lifted the mold out of the hot water.  Then we put a big plate over the top and worked together to invert it.  Fortunately that all went well and the mold popped off easily.

Right out of the mold!

We were both very happy with the way it looked.  It held together and only had one small crack on the side.

The steamed tamale was served with a tossed green salad and some mild, red salsa on the side.

The Verdict

Four of us gave it a try.  We used a very sharp blade to cut through the masa. 

The pieces were wedge-shaped.  I was pleased the stew was firm enough that it didn't flow out of the crust when the tamale was cut.  It stayed in place.  

It was well received.  The masa was firm, not as tender as I had hoped but certainly acceptable.  It added a nice corn flavor and acted as a background for the stew.  The stew was flavorful with all the complexities of the ingredients:  chicken, olives, nuts, raisins, onions, chiles.  NH noted that the chicken was wonderfully tender.  It was all balanced and tasty.

I liked it both by itself and with a little salsa mixed in.  

We thought it would be improved with more spices in the stew:  more oregano, garlic, and vinegar to spice it "higher", although no one thought it lacking.  What was surprising was that it was not hot from the chiles -- we all expected it.  Perhaps using different chiles would do the trick.  Those of us who are not used to the fire chiles bring to a dish were fine with it as it was.

If I were to do this again, I would probably start with a canned red chile sauce, just to save time.  It took the good part of a day to make this from scratch.  Cutting out several hours to make the sauce would be fine and still make a good dish.

In 1898, this was the latest novelty!  I can see how it would be impressive to dinner guests (as it was to mine.)

Ranchos - Tamales al Vapor, part 1 (sauce and filling), a Pinedo recipe

On page 263 of Miss Pinedo's book El cocinero español, she lists "Tamales al vapor" or Steamed Tamales.  Underneath she adds that it is the "latest novelty."  It is a tamale made in a pudding mold and is steamed.  I see the advantage:  instead of wrapping individual tamale servings, you made the whole thing at once to serve a crowd.

I wanted to make it as she might have, starting with dried chiles to make the sauce and working my way through the entire process.

Note that I scheduled an entire day to get it made!  The best part was I had a guest cook, NH, helping me along the way.  

There are a variety of recipes Miss Pinedo offers to use as guides.  I chose this recipe on page 248 for the sauce:

My translation

My Notes

I put a lot of water into my stovetop tea kettle and started heating it.

I used 12 chiles:  6 each of California and Guajillo.  To "decrown" is to remove the stem end; then I split them down a side and removed the seeds (saving some for the sauce) and any loose veins that tore out easily.

Straight out of the bag

Decrowning

Seeds and veins removed.

They went into a 250 degree F oven.  I took them out after 15 minutes because they had puffed and darkened.  

They went into a bowl of ice water for just a few minutes and then the water was drained off.  I put them in a saucepan and poured the hot water from the tea kettle over them, just enough to cover the chiles.  The lid went onto the saucepan and the chiles soaked for two hours.

Beginning of the soaking

After soaking

The water was drained off and the chiles went into the blender.  I added enough water allow the blending to proceed smoothly and I processed them until there were no big pieces but I could see tiny bits of skin.  

NH used the back of a ladle to push the pureed chiles through a coarse sieve, occasionally stopping along the way to remove the bits that didn't go through.  At first it was too thick to push through, so she added enough water to make it workable. What she ended up with was about 1 1/4 cups of chile puree.

Smooth!  No bits.

We then added 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon dried and crumbled oregano, two tablespoons olive oil, and two tablespoons white wine vinegar.

This was the sauce.  Next we worked on the filling, which Miss Pinedo calls the stew.

I used this recipe on page 262 as our guide:

My translation

I had a big bag of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, so NH cut them into bite-sized pieces.  While she was doing that, I heated up a pan of water with 1 teaspoon salt in it.  

To parboil the chicken pieces, I put a handful in the hot water and stirred it to separate the pieces.  They stayed in the water (with an occasional stir) until the exterior was no longer pink (about 5 minutes per batch).  Then they were removed and drained.  We used about 2 pounds of meat, total.  As each batch finished draining, they went into the chile sauce, which was over a very low heat.

This looked like a good meat-to-sauce ratio.

Next we turned to page 261 and the recipe for beef tamales to continue making the stew.

My translation

We also referenced pages 263 and 264 on Mexican style tamales for more ideas on what to go into the filling.

My translation

We focused on the beef tamale instructions that said:

On the other hand, a lot of onion is chopped and fried in good fat; when it begins to brown, add a tablespoon of dry flour and stir and turn the sauce to prevent the flour from sticking or browning too much. Immediately, a good thick red chile sauce is added; seasoning it with salt, oregano, and some toasted and ground red chile seeds, and olives from Spain. Then place the meat in the sauce, letting it simmer over a slow and prolonged heat until it is well seasoned.

A large onion was diced and fried in olive oil, adding 1 heaping tablespoon of flour once the onions started to brown.  This was stirred a lot until the whole thing looked thick.

Meanwhile, I took the few (2 to 3) tablespoons of chile seeds I had saved and toasted them in dry, hot skillet.  It is important to keep the seeds moving while toasting to avoid scorching.

The time to stop toasting is when many or most are browner and you can smell a toasted scent.

Then they were ground in the little coffee grinder that is used just for spices.

We tasted them.  Surprisingly, they weren't really spicy.  We decided to use them because they might add a toasted flavor and possibly thicken the sauce a little.

The inspiration from the Mexican style recipe was to add garlic (1 tablespoon, chopped), black olives (about 15, chopped), almonds and walnuts (about 1/2 cup total, chopped), and raisins (1 1/2 handfuls).

Once everything was in the sauce, we tasted to adjust the seasoning.  We added another 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt.  That tasted just right.  We also added some of the broth the chicken was parboiled in to make it moister.

Then we put the stew over a very low heat, covered the pan, and let it cook for an hour or so.  

Done cooking.

This is the end of part one.  Part two is posted next.  This is making the masa and assembling the entire dish.

Summary of what we used for the sauce and filling:

12 chiles

2 lb chicken thigh meat 

olive oil

1 large onion

1 heaping tablespoon flour

15 olives

1/2 cup total chopped almonds and walnuts

1 1/2 handful raisins

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

2 - 3 tablespoons chile seeds

4 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons salt + 1 more teaspoon for the parboiling water

1 teaspoon dried oregano