I live in Kenya and I'm trying to make Tamales by scratch. I have no Latin Grocery around the corner and so I have been nixtamalizing my own dried corn with pickling lime i brought back from the US. My tortillas seem ok but when i make my Tamales using one of Rick Bayless's recipe (lard combined with my masa, cilantro and jalepenos) they do not turn out like the nice images in his book. They are very tasty but those depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of broiling from above. My tamales are very white. Very tasty but very white. Can anyone suggest maybe another recipe or think of what i can try differently. When the recipe says fresh masa I assume that they are referring to nixtamailxed corn that has been ground after soaking. this is what mine is. should i be nixtamalizing then drying , then grinding before mixing with the lard???
many thanks for ideas, jamie

"Karisia_Safaris" > wrote in
message ...
>
> I live in Kenya and I'm trying to make Tamales by scratch. I have no
> Latin Grocery around the corner and so I have been nixtamalizing my own
> dried corn with pickling lime i brought back from the US. My tortillas
> seem ok but when i make my Tamales using one of Rick Bayless's recipe
> (lard combined with my masa, cilantro and jalepenos) they do not turn
> out like the nice images in his book. They are very tasty but those
> depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of
> broiling from above. My tamales are very white. Very tasty but very
> white. Can anyone suggest maybe another recipe or think of what i can
> try differently. When the recipe says fresh masa I assume that they are
> referring to nixtamailxed corn that has been ground after soaking. this
> is what mine is. should i be nixtamalizing then drying , then grinding
> before mixing with the lard???
> many thanks for ideas, jamie
>
>
>
>
> --
> Karisia_Safaris


Are you using hominy corn? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy There are
many masa variants.

Here's a detailed example of one used in Guatemala.
http://www.all-about-guatemala.com/h...make-masa.html

also, there is yellow and white masa, a yellow masa would come out browner.
I've even seen some stuff on roasting the corn in the process.

Here is a Mexican variant, which is probably more similar to what Bayless
was using.
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Article...-nixtamal.aspx

I'd look around though. There are many variants.

On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 08:57:04 +0000, Karisia_Safaris
> wrote:

> They are very tasty but those
> depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of
> broiling from above. My tamales are very white. Very tasty but very
> white.

Tamales aren't particularly brown, even corn husks can't be considered
brown. If they taste good, you're doing okay considering you have to
make your own masa.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 08:57:04 +0000, Karisia_Safaris
> > wrote:
>
>> They are very tasty but those
>> depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of
>> broiling from above. My tamales are very white. Very tasty but very
>> white.
>
> Tamales aren't particularly brown, even corn husks can't be considered
> brown. If they taste good, you're doing okay considering you have to
> make your own masa.
>
> --
>
> Never trust a dog to watch your food.


Like yellow soaked with meat juices brown, not brown-brown. Like this,
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/tamales.jpg

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 23:46:23 -0800, "Doc Martian"
> wrote:

> "sf" > wrote in message
> ...
> > On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 08:57:04 +0000, Karisia_Safaris
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> They are very tasty but those
> >> depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of
> >> broiling from above. My tamales are very white. Very tasty but very
> >> white.
> >
> > Tamales aren't particularly brown, even corn husks can't be considered
> > brown. If they taste good, you're doing okay considering you have to
> > make your own masa.
> >
```````````````
>
>
> Like yellow soaked with meat juices brown, not brown-brown. Like this,
> http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/tamales.jpg

Mine aren't that dark.

--

Never trust a dog to watch your food.

Neither are my tomales. ...wait, I think; usually I eat them so quickly after cooking them I don't really have a lot of memory of what mine actually look like, they're so delicious! In all seriousness though, mine are usually more white than anything else, too. I think...

On Nov 21, 12:57*am, Karisia_Safaris <Karisia_Safaris.
> wrote:

> They are very tasty but those
> depicted in the images are nice and brown as if they have seen a bit of
> broiling from above. My tamales are very white.

No, tamales aren't broiled, the masa is cooked only by steaming.

The *color* of the steamed masa depends upon the sauce you used with
the fillings.

Chicken tamales made with green sauce won't change the color of the
masa.

But beef tamales made with a red sauce will turn *orange* as the sauce
permeates the lard mixed into the masa to flavor it.