Green Chili Pork and Corn Tamales

I know I've posted about tamales before and didn't put up a recipe. And now I'm doing it again, which is kind of mean. But here's the thing, I don't really have a recipe. I know I should since I was planning on posting about them, but I was cooking with my mom and we just kind of tossed things into pots while we chatted and didn't really pay too much attention. What we did was kind of riff off this recipe from Alton Brown, mostly just for technique. Since I'm such a swell fellah I'll list what I remember us using at the end of the post.

My mom made the pork, she braised it the night before, then we defatted and shredded it the next day. We added another can of green chilies, some more spices, some of the braising liquid and simmered it until we decided it was done. This decision took several tastings, fortunately there was lots. Mmm, gelatinous. The bone turns the braising liquid into stock, it's a good time. Now Mr Brown suggests using lard in the dough, but we decided that since lard is pretty much the absolute worst thing you can eat we would use the fat from the braised pork instead. You know, because it's healthier. Heh. Plus it has tons of flavor, not to mention the fact that it was already available and didn't require going to the store. Making the dough is easy, you just work the fat into the masa like you're making strussel, then add the liquid and mix. And there it is, time for to make tamales. We pretty much followed Alton Browns directions, except we made them bigger. Because we could. It took us most of the afternoon to roll them all up and since they were about twice the size as the recipe called for it took twice as long to steam them. But it was worth it, they came out awesome. Sure, there were tons of them, way more than we could conceivably eat in one sitting. So I sent her back to my brothers with about a dozen and tossed the rest in the freezer. They freeze really well, it's a good time. We did eat some, of course, served with salsa, sour cream, sharp cheddar and some green onion. Lovely, isn't it? Doesn't stay that way for long, I assure you. So, yeah, tamales. They are good, I suggest you make them. Whats more, I suggest you recruit help and make a lot.

As promised, here is the basic list of ingredients we used:

for the filling:
3 lb bone in pork shoulder (Boston butt)
chicken broth for braising
cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, garlic, onion, tomatillos, green chilies (one small can while it braised and another mixed in after shredding), fresh lime juice, cilantro, frozen corn, some of the braising liquid (reserved to mix in once the meat it shredded)

for the dough: masa, fat (from the chilled braising liquid, lard or shortening), braising liquid, baking powder, adobo seasoning, salt and pepper

Steamed Buns

So some time last year I made steamed buns with some kind of chicken filling. I know I did it not only because I remember eating them, but because I have pictures. Heh, pretty definitive proof there. What I don't have is a recipe. I know I had one, but I can't find it anywhere. Which sucks, because they were wicked good.

I googled around a bit but couldn't find anything that looked familiar. I have a general idea of what I did and I remember it taking a long time for all the various rises (which is why the last two pics are under my crappy kitchen light). What I did was this.

I made dough.Which needed a sponge, I believe, and then a second rise after kneading.
I made filling, which I recall me trying to make taste kind of like char siu since char siu bao is what got me wanting to make these. I wrapped the filling with the dough. I remember having to then let them rise again in the steamer. Then I steamed them. And they were awesome. But no, no recipe. So who out there has a good recipe for bao dough? I sure could use one.

Shredded Pork Tamales

Wow, I've been wicked bad about getting recipes for stuff up here lately, haven't I? Sorry about that kids. And I'm afraid this post is recipe free as well, I just didn't really pay much attention to proportions, it was all done by taste.

Oh, except the masa. I used the recipe here for that, but I subbed out the corn oil for shortening. Most of the recipes I saw wanted lard, but that's really hard to find. Next time I make them I want to use chicken fat, I bet that would be wicked good.

So I've been wanting to make tamales for ages, but I hadn't been able to find corn husks anywhere. I was whining about this to Girlichef when she posted about tamales and since she is such a wonderful human being she sent me some! How awesome is that? Not to mention the extra treats she sent which I didn't manage to get any pics of... heh. Thanks, Girli! There's a lesson here kids, if you complain enough people will buy you things.

What, that's not a good lesson? Hm. Well, forget it then.

Anyway, corn husks finally obtained, we call up a couple friends and make ourselves some tamales. I'm not going to go into a big how-to in this post since I'll be making them again sometime in the near future and will just do a whole series for it. But I did get a bunch of pics, so I figured I might as well do a post about it.

They came out wicked good, although I hadn't realized quite how dense they would be. Apparently that's normal, although Alton Brown adds some baking powder to his masa which would lighten up the texture a bit. They came together pretty easy, it's mostly just time consuming, not hard.

So I'll be making these again soon, I'll write stuff down and have a good recipe to post. That's the plan anyway. Heh.

Experiment: Apple Potstickers

Sorry, no measurements for this one.

wonton wrapper dough
apple
ground cinnamon
ground nutmeg
ground ginger
sugar
salt
butter
chopped nuts (optional)

Chop the apple into 1/4" thick cubes, mix with some cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, ginger and a tiny bit of salt. Let sit for at least 15 minutes, half an hour is better. Sprinkle your work surface with sugar and roll out 3-4" circles (or whatever) of dough. Place tablespoons of apple mixture into the middle of the circle (and some nuts if you're using them), pour some of the macerating liquid on there, fold them up, pinch them closed very firmly and squish them together a bit. Heat up a nonstick pan, preferably with a good cover, over medium-high heat and melt some butter in it. Place the potstickers seam side up into the pan. Let them sit until browned, 3-5 minutes, then add about a tbl of water per potsticker, cover and let steam until the water is absorbed and the dough is cooked. Eat hot.

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I know, it's kind of weird. But I was bored and didn't have a lot of stuff on hand. Plus it was wicked good. Next time I do it I'm going to make some changes though. Instead of water for steaming I'm going to use cider or apple juice. And I'm going to make a dipping sauce. I think a juice/maple syrup mix would be good or even a thinned jam. I have an idea for one that I'm going to work on and do a post about later. But it's top secret for now. Heh.

This is a pretty standard potsticker method, at least by what I've found. I had never made them before, though and the whole thing was put together on a whim. I found myself with the dough and I needed something to do with it. My girlfriend was out of town and she doesn't like potstickers, the chewy steamed dough skeeves her out. But this was just for me. I had some frozen meat, but nothing that I could get at quickly and easily. I did have an apple though. So I made these.

First, chopped apple, cinnamon, sugar, salt, nutmeg and ginger. I tossed the ginger in as a nod to the Asian method. Yeah, I've been watching Ming Tsai, it's no big deal. Heh. I didn't measure anything, but it was about a tsp of cinnamon, a tiny pinch of salt and a pinch of everything else. Then I let it macerate for about a half hour. I rolled out the dough in sugar since it's not sweet on it's own. Then I plunked about a tbl of apple mixture. Some chopped pecans are good too. Then I spooned on a bit of the maceration liquid and folded it up. You need to press the ends together quite firmly. I tried wetting the edge of the dough to help it stay together, but it didn't seem to help. So I just squeezed it hard and it worked fine. Then I kind of squished it together so it could stand seam side up. Not as pretty as the ones from a restaurant, but whatever. Now melt some butter in a nonstick pan over medium high heat. It's just got to be butter for this. Really. You want a pan that has a tight lid, preferably. But I just use tinfoil since I don't have a lid for my nonstick stirfry pan. Once it's hot I placed the potstickers into the pan and let them brown. This took about 5 minutes. Careful when you're checking them, they're slippery. Once they're browned add some liquid. I used water, but like I said next time I'm going to use juice. Or maybe wine... Anyway, I think I used about three tablespoons of water, but I'm not really sure. I'm going to make potstickers again and get more precise directions. Then I covered them till they had absorbed the water and were fully cooked. And that's it. They were wicked good, definitely something I'm going to work on since I think they can be even better.