In article >,
Melba's Jammin' > wrote:

> Woo-hoo! My new best friend Soccorro The Tamale Empress said she'd
> bring my tamales to the Y this morning -- something about 8:00 to sign
> up for a yoga class. Ugh. I don't usually go until a bit later in the
> morning but this morning went to be there at 8:00. She wasn't there.
>
> Came home and found a voice message indicating that she would be there
> around 10:00, which is when I usually see her anyway. So I went back, a
> couple jars in a bag for her, at 10:00. She gave me a half dozen cooked
> tamales! She also brought a little container of salsa verde to
> accompany them. Hoo-yah!
>
> I toted them around with me for a few hours as I met a friend for lunch
> and improved the local economy somewhat at the Lands' End Inlet store.
> We had them for supper. With nothing but a green tossed salad and some
> of that salsa verde. They were so freakin' good! Then I saw a recipe
> on, I think, sonofsouth.com (I'd done a search for tamale recipes and
> this site has nice pictures.) that looks wicked. Something about adding
> two CUPS of oil to the masa! Eeeek!!!
>
> Couple questions for the panel: What kind of pork roast is used
> effectively for the filling? What else goes on the plate when tamales
> are on the menu? What I picture is a combination plate from El Loro
> Restaurante -- frijoles, arroz, an enchilada or something. Is is a
> *bad* thing to eat them unaccompanied? I don't know these things and am
> curious.

Real tamales are made using whole cooked pig head meat.
They sell frozen pig heads in our markets here around the holidays and
put the packages of masa right next to them. ;-)

I like them straight sometimes, or other times I'll peel several, lay
them on a plate and pour pace picante sauce over them, layer some
shredded jack cheese over that, then nuke it.

Both ways are good, just depends on the mood I'm in.

Enjoy!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson