Although I’m a huge fan of 30-minute meals, there are some things in life that are worth spending all day to make. Today is the second time in three days I’ve spent all day cooking one thing – first it was apple sauce and now it’s tamales.
Last Friday Kevin’s mom invited me over to try my hand at making apple sauce and canning it for the winter.
Laura is the first person I’d ever met who knows how to can things. Since moving here, I’ve discovered that everyone else in the region knows how to can too. It must be a Midwestern thing since none of my friends or acquaintances in California know anything about canning.
So, in order to become a true-blue Midwesterner, I must also learn to can.
After spending the day boiling and squishing apples, and completing the canning processes, we now have 30 jars of applesauce between the two of us. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and don’t have pictures. But the jars did look very nice all lined up on the counter. It was quite rewarding to see the fruit of our labors (literally)!
And then, today, I’ve taken it upon myself to make homemade tamales. This is really just a test run to see if I can make them for Christmas gifts (in lieu of cookies – I figure people might like to have dinner dropped off at their door instead of more sugar, although in my opinion a little more sugar never hurt anyone). [grin]
As a kid I remember our Hispanic Neighbors bringing us homemade tamales every year in December. I love this Mexican Christmas tradition! They are so yummy.
If I can figure out how to do it without totally botching it up, I’d like to invite some friends to come over in December and help me.
So, anyway, right now I have the pork loin boiling with garlic and onions and the dried corn husks are soaking on the countertop.
The Kitchen is emitting a very pleasant aroma. I can’t wait!
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6 comments:
Wow, that sounds wonderful. And what a great Christmas gift idea! I, for one, would definitely appreciate the break from the sugar. One of the best foods I ever tasted was my grandmother's plain steak and rice after a Christmas pageant with candy for all the kids.
I don't know if it is a Midwestern thing or more a "homeschool midwestern thing"
:)
I think it's a southern thing too. All my female relatives in Georgia know how to can (and some, like my great-grandma, generate more canned food than a single family could ever eat in a year). I like doing it, but it is a lot of work. ;)
I have guilt at how little interest I have in canning. My mom always canned everything--peaches, pears, applesauce, pickles. I got out of helping by reading to her as she worked. Now I am clueless.... I would love a non-sugar food item for Christmas. What a great idea! -rlr
Hey! If you manage the tamales, please pass along the recipe! Coming from S. Texas, we had friends who brought us tamales every Christmas too. I miss them! Nothing beats homemade tamales but they definitely aren't something I would try on just an average day. Just a special occassion -- like Christmas!!! =D So DO pass along the info if you have a successful day of it!
The tamales turned out pretty good, considering it was my first time. My only compaint is that they were smaller than I would have liked (I didn't realize I bought half-husks instead of full-husks) and next time I'll put less corn dough and more meat filling.
I would have given then four stars but Kevin gave rave reviews and said they deserved five stars. So, I guess they were good. :)
The recipe I used is below. I also did other reading on tamale making (browsing the internet) and I highly recommend this to the novice tamale maker.
recipe (I recommend reading the reviews, too):
http://pork.allrecipes.com/az/RlHmmdTmls.asp
also read:
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-1073.html
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