Hi everyone, what are the best Tamales you ever ate?
I lived in Cottonwood Arizona in 1940 and was 10 years old. At noon a
Mexican man went up and down the street selling Tamales for ten cents each.
A dime was a lot of money in those days. It was an hours pay for working in
my father's grocery store (Harrison's Market). It could get me into the
movies or buy a bowl of Chile beans.
The tamales were big fat ones and as you peeled away the corn husks and
ate down to the meat in the center the aroma was tantalizing. I don't know
if they were beef or pork. The man's wife made them. She served Mexican
dinner family style under an arbor in the back yard. You had to order a day
in advance.
I will never forget her tamales.
Ernie Harrison

In article ,
says...
Hi everyone, what are the best Tamales you ever ate?
I lived in Cottonwood Arizona in 1940 and was 10 years old. At noon a
Mexican man went up and down the street selling Tamales for ten cents each.
A dime was a lot of money in those days. It was an hours pay for working in
my father's grocery store (Harrison's Market). It could get me into the
movies or buy a bowl of Chile beans.
The tamales were big fat ones and as you peeled away the corn husks and
ate down to the meat in the center the aroma was tantalizing. I don't know
if they were beef or pork. The man's wife made them. She served Mexican
dinner family style under an arbor in the back yard. You had to order a day
in advance.
I will never forget her tamales.
Ernie Harrison


El Indio in San Diego.
--
Bob
(remove ZZ to email)

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:52:12 GMT, "Ernie"
wrote:

Hi everyone, what are the best Tamales you ever ate?

Hey, Ernie,

I think my favorites were the turkey tamales that my then-wife and I
made our first year in Illinois, after having moved there from
Arizona. We were friends with another grad student couple, from New
Mexico, and we had a fine time making them.

I also remember making tamales with my parents and their friends
sometime in the early '50s. It was javelins meat, but I don't remember
the details.

I lived in Cottonwood Arizona in 1940 and was 10 years old.

I did a search for Cottonwood, Arizona, and found three of them. Which
was yours?

Thanks for the good story.

David

yetanotherBob wrote:

In article ,
says...

Hi everyone, what are the best Tamales you ever ate?
I lived in Cottonwood Arizona in 1940 and was 10 years old. At noon a
Mexican man went up and down the street selling Tamales for ten cents each.
A dime was a lot of money in those days. It was an hours pay for working in
my father's grocery store (Harrison's Market). It could get me into the
movies or buy a bowl of Chile beans.
The tamales were big fat ones and as you peeled away the corn husks and
ate down to the meat in the center the aroma was tantalizing. I don't know
if they were beef or pork. The man's wife made them. She served Mexican
dinner family style under an arbor in the back yard. You had to order a day
in advance.
I will never forget her tamales.
Ernie Harrison



El Indio in San Diego.


I would have said this, but that was before a cart started selling
tamales wrapped in banana leafs near Horton Plaza and before finding the
little cart at 25th and C in Golden hill. El Indio's offering wouldn't
cast a shadow compared to these.

There's a specific tamale place on El Cajon Blvd, just east of the 805
that I have yet to try, although it looks like the offerings may have
diversified.


jim

From: "Ernie"

Hi everyone, what are the best Tamales you ever ate?

I've been eating tamales for about 50 years now, starting with the excellent
tamales and enchiladas made by a man named Leo, who operated a Mexican
restaurant out of an old adobe house in San Buenaventura...

San Buenaventura was founded by the Spanish missionary Junipero Serra in 1782,
but the name was too long for railroad timetables, so it was shortened to just
"Ventura" when the Anglos began developing the area after the war with
Mexico...

And our neighbors were Mexicans, so they shared their authentic tamales with us
at Christmas. Their daughter thought I would be good boyfriend material when I
was 10 years old, but she was just too tall for me...

A lady across the street was Mexican, too, and my mom would provide the
ingredients and she would cook up a bunch of pinto beans with ham hocks and
home made flour tortillas and that tasted great...

So far as commercially prepared tamales go, there's a taco stand on the corner
of La Brea and Pico in Los Angeles. It's called Lucy's, and their beef tamales
are wonderful. I've been eating Lucy's tamales for almost 30 years now...

The most disappointing tamales are the chicken tamales made by the Los Burritos
chain in Los Angeles. They are just too spicy and give me heartburn...



# * 0 * #
^

From: "Ernie"

Hi everyone, what are the best Tamales you ever ate?

I've been eating tamales for about 50 years now, starting with the excellent
tamales and enchiladas made by a man named Leo, who operated a Mexican
restaurant out of an old adobe house in San Buenaventura...

San Buenaventura was founded by the Spanish missionary Junipero Serra in 1782,
but the name was too long for railroad timetables, so it was shortened to just
"Ventura" when the Anglos began developing the area after the war with
Mexico...

And our neighbors were Mexicans, so they shared their authentic tamales with us
at Christmas. Their daughter thought I would be good boyfriend material when I
was 10 years old, but she was just too tall for me...

A lady across the street was Mexican, too, and my mom would provide the
ingredients and she would cook up a bunch of pinto beans with ham hocks and
home made flour tortillas and that tasted great...

So far as commercially prepared tamales go, there's a taco stand on the corner
of La Brea and Pico in Los Angeles. It's called Lucy's, and their beef tamales
are wonderful. I've been eating Lucy's tamales for almost 30 years now...

The most disappointing tamales are the chicken tamales made by the Los Burritos
chain in Los Angeles. They are just too spicy and give me heartburn...



# * 0 * #
^

Hi David,
Your turkey and Javalina pig tamales sound interesting. As for Cottonwood,
it is located in the geographic center of Arizona, north of Prescot and
south of Sedona. It was a great place for growing up. I have never made
tamales but I am going to
try this New Years. I think it would be a great get together activity for
the family and friends.
Ernie

Hey, Ernie,
I think my favorites were the turkey tamales that my then-wife and I
made
snip
I also remember making tamales with my parents and their friends
sometime in the early '50s. It was javelins meat, but I don't remember
the details.
I did a search for Cottonwood, Arizona, and found three of them. Which
was yours?
Thanks for the good story.
David

Hi David,
Your turkey and Javalina pig tamales sound interesting. As for Cottonwood,
it is located in the geographic center of Arizona, north of Prescot and
south of Sedona. It was a great place for growing up. I have never made
tamales but I am going to
try this New Years. I think it would be a great get together activity for
the family and friends.
Ernie

Hey, Ernie,
I think my favorites were the turkey tamales that my then-wife and I
made
snip
I also remember making tamales with my parents and their friends
sometime in the early '50s. It was javelins meat, but I don't remember
the details.
I did a search for Cottonwood, Arizona, and found three of them. Which
was yours?
Thanks for the good story.
David

Thanks, Bob, Jim & Krusty for sharing,
Ernie

Thanks, Bob, Jim & Krusty for sharing,
Ernie

From: "Ernie"

I have never made tamales but I am going to try this New Years. I think it
would be a great get together activity for the family and friends.

It shouldn't be hard to make your own holiday tamales, as the dry corn husks
and ready-made masa are easily found in big stores like Food4Less. All you have
to do to the masa is mix a bunch of lard with it...

Lard is what makes the bland cornmeal taste so good, but use it sparingly, if
you want the flavor of pig fat...

A Mexican girl who was apartment-sitting for my neighbor made a bunch of
tamales that were nicely-seasoned, but
she went overboard on the lard and it was dripping out of the masa...

I have read that tamales might not be a Mexican culinary invention at all, in
spite of the fact that tamale seems to be a Nahuatl word for "steamed corn meal
dough"...

Maybe the supposedly Nahuatl word entered the language from the French. The
royal family of Spain was French, from the time of Napoleon...

The criollos in Mexican who were of Spanish/French descent may have been
reminded of a French dish called "timbale", where a creamy mixture meat and
vegetables was baked in a mold shaped like a kettle drum or timbale, or
sometimes the mixture was baked in a pastry shell, like a beef or chicken pot
pie or a Cornish pasty...

Cornish pasties can be very greasy, too, resulting in heart burn for me...

But the idea of a Mexican-style timbale cooked in a pastry shell sounds
intriguing. I suppose that an empanada might me similar though...





# * 0 * #
^

"Ernie" wrote in message
om...
Hi David,
Your turkey and Javalina pig

Javalinas (or better, peccaries), are not pigs. They are in the family:
Tayassuidae. All pigs (swine) are in the family: Suidae. They are both of
the order: Artiodactyla along with the hippopatamuses. Hippos are in the
family: Hippopotamidae BTW.

Charlie

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 20:29:06 GMT, "Charles Gifford"
wrote:


"Ernie" wrote in message
. com...
Hi David,
Your turkey and Javalina pig

Javalinas (or better, peccaries), are not pigs. They are in the family:
Tayassuidae. All pigs (swine) are in the family: Suidae. They are both of
the order: Artiodactyla along with the hippopatamuses. Hippos are in the
family: Hippopotamidae BTW.

Charlie

Well, whatever. I have a Ph.D. in mammalogy, but I don't fuss about
such things when it comes to eating. What was your point, Charlie?

David

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 20:29:06 GMT, "Charles Gifford"
wrote:


"Ernie" wrote in message
. com...
Hi David,
Your turkey and Javalina pig

Javalinas (or better, peccaries), are not pigs. They are in the family:
Tayassuidae. All pigs (swine) are in the family: Suidae. They are both of
the order: Artiodactyla along with the hippopatamuses. Hippos are in the
family: Hippopotamidae BTW.

Charlie

Well, whatever. I have a Ph.D. in mammalogy, but I don't fuss about
such things when it comes to eating. What was your point, Charlie?

David

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 03:59:09 GMT, "Ernie"
wrote:

Hi David,
Your turkey and Javalina pig tamales sound interesting.

Yep, they still sound good to me, and I still make turkey tamales.

As for Cottonwood,
it is located in the geographic center of Arizona, north of Prescot and
south of Sedona. It was a great place for growing up.

Now I know where you grew up, not far from the Verde River. One of my
best friends in grad school, from Flagstaff, did his research along
that river.

I have never made
tamales but I am going to
try this New Years. I think it would be a great get together activity for
the family and friends.

You are certainly right about that. It's a great family-and-friends
thing to do. Have fun, but give yourselves plenty of time to do the
job.

David