Hot Tamale!

Every year the women in my family (and sometimes a fella or two) get together to make Christmas Tamales.  This tradition comes from the Perez side of the family and we have been doing it for as far back as I can remember.


We gather volunteers, set a date and make as many tamales as we can until we are tired or the ingredients run out.  But it's usually just us 4 girls: Mom, Grandma, Jamie and myself.  Over the years we have adjusted the recipe, tried different versions, different meats, and even sweet tamales.  But it seems that we have come back to the tried and true favorites: chicken in a red chili sauce, pork in a similar sauce and cheese/jalapeno.  Every time we make them they taste better, so all of our tinkering has made improvements over the years.

Since it's only a once-a-year event, so we always forget how to assemble them, but a few minutes in to the process we all remember.   We get into the groove of things; Jamie washes the corn husks, we spread masa on the rough side of the husk (an annual argument; rough or smooth side?), Grandma likes to spread the masa and pile up those corn husks for us to fill with meat, pile the made tamales in groups together, olive with pork, tie a string around the cheese ones (or was it chicken - ha!).  We gab and eat lunch.  We talk Christmas presents and what's happening on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.


Like all traditions, it's much more than just making tamales - it's bonding, it's 3 generations of women coming together to keep a family custom alive, to remember family that is no longer around to partake in the days events, to look towards future Christmases teaching another generation how to make a delicious tamale.  And to me that's the best thing about Christmas Tamales.


Let's eat!