Rhonda wrote:
> Now I know what to do with those wonderful tamales I have learned
> to make. Oh, I don't sell my leftovers at Walmart, they freeze well and
> make great snacks for me and the children far beyond Christmas. I just
> put them in a zip lock bag and pull them out and reheat them as needed.
> The corn husks wrapped around the tamales seems to prevent them from
> freezer burn, since they last for many months.

Yes, tamales can be eaten cold, or heated and eaten in any season. If
you want to eat them out of hand like a candy bar, that's perfectly OK,
the traditional homemade steamed tamale is inherently portable.

Or you can eat it off a plate with other antojitos and you can drizzle
your favorite mole over the tamale to give it a lot more zest.

Americans, having grown accustomed to taquerias masquerading as
ristorantes have come to expect brown mole on their tamales.

The majority of Americans, if they know what a "mole" is, tend to think
that there are chicken moles and pork moles, but that's a total
misconcept.

A mole is a thick chile sauce with chiles and garlic and cilantro and
sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds or whatever "secret" ingredients grandma
used to add to make an "heirloom" recipe mole.

The secret ingredients generally add *texture* to the mole.

There are at least eight different traditional moles made in the
Mexican state of Oaxaca, and they are defined by their *color*, not by
the meat or fowl that is covered by the mole.

One of the better known moles is Mole Poblano, which is the traditional
brown mole of Pueblo. It has chocolate and sesame seeds in it for
crunchiness.

Americans who have vaguely heard of Mole Poblano tend to think that it
is only made with turkey and eaten only at Christmas, but you can eat
it anytime you want, and you can apply the mole to whatever meat or
fowl you desire.

The color of the mole is determined by whatever vegetable is added to
the chiles. Tomatos make a red mole, tomatillos make a brown mole.
Green vegetables make a green mole, yellow vegetables make a yellow
mole.

I suppose you could make an orange mole out of carrots if you wanted.

When you get some store bought moles (like Dona Maria) in a jar,
they're concentrated and a little goes a long way. You have to add
water.

Other commercial moles (like Knorr's) aren't concentrated, and you can
just pour them over your meat or fowl after it's cooked.

Or you can stew your meat or fowl in the mole.

Or you can seal the juices in by searing the meat or fowl and then
*finish* the crispy morsels in the packaged mole.

Pan fried chicken pieces with Knorr's chipotle mole poured over them
are satisfyingly juicy and crunchy.