Is it common to save and re-use the corn husks that cover a tamale?

I don't think it's common.........so is it _UNHEARD_ of? Other than
the 'handling' hassle, any reason it couldn't be done?
Lee Carkenord

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Is it common to save and re-use the corn husks that cover a tamale?
>
> I don't think it's common.........so is it _UNHEARD_ of? Other than
> the 'handling' hassle, any reason it couldn't be done?
> Lee Carkenord

I don't see why not, but cleaning them up again and drying them
is hardy worth the 2 cents they cost.
Ernie

wrote:
> Is it common to save and re-use the corn husks that cover a tamale?

No, the husks are something inconvenient and messy that I want to get
rid of as quickly as possible, so I can enjoy the taste of the masa and
meat/sauce in the tamale...

The corn husk is just a natural wrapper that serves the function of
keeping the moist masa from dripping away while the tamale is being
steamed...

I was really surprised the first time I bought a home made Mexican
tamale from a lunch wagon and found that it was wrapped in a disgusting
greasy corn husk. The problem was how to unwrap the tamale and get rid
of the husk without getting grease all over my fingers and all over the
table in the employee's lunch room. I had certainly never been served a
corn husk wrapped tamale in any Mexican restaurant!

Do you live somewhere that dried corn husks are hard to get? I could
buy a bag of *hojas* at the local 99 Cents Only store for less than a
buck...

But I don't use corn husks at all, I make my tamales *en casserole* and
they wind up tasting exactly like---tamales...

"Tamale" is a Spanish word that comes from the Nahuatl "tamalli",
meaning steamed cornmeal dough...

(Local Native Americans here in California who didn't grow corn at all
still made tamales. They knew about corn and beans and squash and chili
peppers, but they just didn't need to practice agriculture, they
harvested everything that grew wild, in its own season. Salinan Indian
tamales are recorded in the diary of Don Pedro Fages, who accompanied
the Portola expedition looking for Monterey bay in 1769. Fages wrote of
the delicious tamales made from the holly leaf cherry, which grows wild
all over the Santa Lucia mountains. Other writers described the tamales
as "black". If the Indians here didn't have corn, they had no corn
husks either, but they still steamed their tamales with masa made from
the ground up seeds of the above-mentioned holly leaf cherry or masa
made from ground acorn flour. Perhaps they steamed them in a reed
basket, over rocks heated red hot in a fire and then poured water over
the rocks...)

The ancient mesoamericans in Mexico probably steamed their tamales in
an earth oven filled with hot rocks and they poured water over the
rocks to make steam and then covered the hole with leaves and dirt to
hold in the steam...

So the corn husk wrapper kept the masa from getting wet from steam and
dripping away and the corn husk wrapper kept dirt out of the tamale.
When the earth oven was opened, the tamales could be removed, eaten
immediately, or transported conveniently...

That's all so primitive...

My Mexican neighbors make dozens of tamales at Christmas and sell them
to other neighbors, or take them to work and sell them to their fellow
employees. Their home made tamales can be sold, one unit at a time...

But, if you're not doing something like that, just make your masa and
meat/sauce filling, line a microwave safe casserole dish with masa,
fill it up with meat/sauce, cover it with another layer of masa, being
careful not to make the edges too thick where the masa
top touches the masa bottom...

Then microwave the covered casserole on "high" for 15 minutes, let the
casserole sit for 45 minutes to thoroughly steam the masa, and you've
got *un tamale grande* which you can just scoop out of the casserole in
large sections and you don't have any messy corn husks to mess around
with...

"krusty kritter" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> wrote:
>> Is it common to save and re-use the corn husks that cover a tamale?
>
> No, the husks are something inconvenient and messy that I want to get
> rid of as quickly as possible, so I can enjoy the taste of the masa and
> meat/sauce in the tamale...
>
> The corn husk is just a natural wrapper that serves the function of
> keeping the moist masa from dripping away while the tamale is being
> steamed...
>
> I was really surprised the first time I bought a home made Mexican
> tamale from a lunch wagon and found that it was wrapped in a disgusting
> greasy corn husk. The problem was how to unwrap the tamale and get rid
> of the husk without getting grease all over my fingers and all over the
> table in the employee's lunch room. I had certainly never been served a
> corn husk wrapped tamale in any Mexican restaurant!
>
> Do you live somewhere that dried corn husks are hard to get? I could
> buy a bag of *hojas* at the local 99 Cents Only store for less than a
> buck...
>
> But I don't use corn husks at all, I make my tamales *en casserole* and
> they wind up tasting exactly like---tamales...
>
> "Tamale" is a Spanish word that comes from the Nahuatl "tamalli",
> meaning steamed cornmeal dough...
>
> (Local Native Americans here in California who didn't grow corn at all
> still made tamales. They knew about corn and beans and squash and chili
> peppers, but they just didn't need to practice agriculture, they
> harvested everything that grew wild, in its own season. Salinan Indian
> tamales are recorded in the diary of Don Pedro Fages, who accompanied
> the Portola expedition looking for Monterey bay in 1769. Fages wrote of
> the delicious tamales made from the holly leaf cherry, which grows wild
> all over the Santa Lucia mountains. Other writers described the tamales
> as "black". If the Indians here didn't have corn, they had no corn
> husks either, but they still steamed their tamales with masa made from
> the ground up seeds of the above-mentioned holly leaf cherry or masa
> made from ground acorn flour. Perhaps they steamed them in a reed
> basket, over rocks heated red hot in a fire and then poured water over
> the rocks...)
>
> The ancient mesoamericans in Mexico probably steamed their tamales in
> an earth oven filled with hot rocks and they poured water over the
> rocks to make steam and then covered the hole with leaves and dirt to
> hold in the steam...
>
> So the corn husk wrapper kept the masa from getting wet from steam and
> dripping away and the corn husk wrapper kept dirt out of the tamale.
> When the earth oven was opened, the tamales could be removed, eaten
> immediately, or transported conveniently...
>
> That's all so primitive...
>
> My Mexican neighbors make dozens of tamales at Christmas and sell them
> to other neighbors, or take them to work and sell them to their fellow
> employees. Their home made tamales can be sold, one unit at a time...
>
> But, if you're not doing something like that, just make your masa and
> meat/sauce filling, line a microwave safe casserole dish with masa,
> fill it up with meat/sauce, cover it with another layer of masa, being
> careful not to make the edges too thick where the masa
> top touches the masa bottom...
>
> Then microwave the covered casserole on "high" for 15 minutes, let the
> casserole sit for 45 minutes to thoroughly steam the masa, and you've
> got *un tamale grande* which you can just scoop out of the casserole in
> large sections and you don't have any messy corn husks to mess around
> with...

Hiya Krusty, that sounds delish!! and much easier!! The shape of good
food is not it's most important facet!! And this way you can make the
masa layer as thin as desired for portion & calorie control.

Carkenord, what about getting one of those inexpensive Asian bamboo
steamers? They're usually
< 10$. Or you can steam by putting the food on a high trivet over a
steaming pan of water. I use the latter for shrimp all the time.
Olde Hippee

"krusty kritter" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> wrote:
>> Is it common to save and re-use the corn husks that cover a tamale?
>
> No, the husks are something inconvenient and messy that I want to get
> rid of as quickly as possible, so I can enjoy the taste of the masa and
> meat/sauce in the tamale...
>
> The corn husk is just a natural wrapper that serves the function of
> keeping the moist masa from dripping away while the tamale is being
> steamed...
>
> I was really surprised the first time I bought a home made Mexican
> tamale from a lunch wagon and found that it was wrapped in a disgusting
> greasy corn husk. The problem was how to unwrap the tamale and get rid
> of the husk without getting grease all over my fingers and all over the
> table in the employee's lunch room. I had certainly never been served a
> corn husk wrapped tamale in any Mexican restaurant!
>
> Do you live somewhere that dried corn husks are hard to get? I could
> buy a bag of *hojas* at the local 99 Cents Only store for less than a
> buck...
>
> But I don't use corn husks at all, I make my tamales *en casserole* and
> they wind up tasting exactly like---tamales...
>
> "Tamale" is a Spanish word that comes from the Nahuatl "tamalli",
> meaning steamed cornmeal dough...
>
> (Local Native Americans here in California who didn't grow corn at all
> still made tamales. They knew about corn and beans and squash and chili
> peppers, but they just didn't need to practice agriculture, they
> harvested everything that grew wild, in its own season. Salinan Indian
> tamales are recorded in the diary of Don Pedro Fages, who accompanied
> the Portola expedition looking for Monterey bay in 1769. Fages wrote of
> the delicious tamales made from the holly leaf cherry, which grows wild
> all over the Santa Lucia mountains. Other writers described the tamales
> as "black". If the Indians here didn't have corn, they had no corn
> husks either, but they still steamed their tamales with masa made from
> the ground up seeds of the above-mentioned holly leaf cherry or masa
> made from ground acorn flour. Perhaps they steamed them in a reed
> basket, over rocks heated red hot in a fire and then poured water over
> the rocks...)
>
> The ancient mesoamericans in Mexico probably steamed their tamales in
> an earth oven filled with hot rocks and they poured water over the
> rocks to make steam and then covered the hole with leaves and dirt to
> hold in the steam...
>
> So the corn husk wrapper kept the masa from getting wet from steam and
> dripping away and the corn husk wrapper kept dirt out of the tamale.
> When the earth oven was opened, the tamales could be removed, eaten
> immediately, or transported conveniently...
>
> That's all so primitive...
>
> My Mexican neighbors make dozens of tamales at Christmas and sell them
> to other neighbors, or take them to work and sell them to their fellow
> employees. Their home made tamales can be sold, one unit at a time...
>
> But, if you're not doing something like that, just make your masa and
> meat/sauce filling, line a microwave safe casserole dish with masa,
> fill it up with meat/sauce, cover it with another layer of masa, being
> careful not to make the edges too thick where the masa
> top touches the masa bottom...
>
> Then microwave the covered casserole on "high" for 15 minutes, let the
> casserole sit for 45 minutes to thoroughly steam the masa, and you've
> got *un tamale grande* which you can just scoop out of the casserole in
> large sections and you don't have any messy corn husks to mess around
> with...

Hiya Krusty, that sounds delish!! and much easier!! The shape of good
food is not it's most important facet!! And this way you can make the
masa layer as thin as desired for portion & calorie control.

Carkenord, what about getting one of those inexpensive Asian bamboo
steamers? They're usually
< 10$. Or you can steam by putting the food on a high trivet over a
steaming pan of water. I use the latter for shrimp all the time.
Olde Hippee