WetLeather Recipe Database - food for bikers

Name:	Tamales de Cuche	Contributor:	Melissa Carrico
Description:	Tamales de Cuche	Posted:	1998-12-15
Key words:	pork, tamale	Category:	Main Dishes
ID:	210	Updated:	2006-04-09 08:54:46
Ingredients:	25 lbs masa preparada - if there is a Mexican bakery around you this is the best source 20 lb pork haunch, bone-in (you will have some left over) 3/4 lb haujillo chilis, dried garlic - about 6 cloves cloves - whole cumin - whole lard 1 onion, quartered lots of cornhusks - Mexican market is the best source salt
Preparation:	To start: Chop pork haunch into manageable size chunks, put the chunks in salted water (should taste like sea water) and boil for approx 2 hours or until tender. When pork is done, rinse all the cornhusks in cool water and then let sit in clean water until you are ready for them. Sauce: (You will make about 3 batches) Toast chilis in a pan, over med-high heat (on a gas stove) for about a minute on each side. Let cool and pull off stems. Put 2 cloves garlic and ? tsp of each of the cumin and cloves in a regular household blender filled w/ the chilis (approx. 1/3 of what you have). Add water to the 2/3 mark and blend very well. Strain sauce, throw away solids and put aside the liquid. In a medium saucepan, heat about ? cup lard until hot. Add 1/4 of an onion, whole, to the pan and cook until it is browned. Add strained chile sauce and about a Tbsp of salt. You will have to taste the sauce, should be able to just taste the salt (warning: a little spicy also). Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Shred the pork and coat well w/ the chili sauce. Cover a large work surface (at least 2 foot square) w/ aluminum foil. Dump the masa onto the foil, make a well in the middle and add about 2 cups of the water the pork cooked in. Also add salt until you can taste it in the masa (sorry this is not more accurate, the proportions vary from time to time and taste buds). Mix well - until the masa is soft and sticks to your hands, but is not gluey. Drain the water from the cornhusks and prepare to dig in to the masa. Hold a husk in the palm of your hand w/ the widest edge toward your fingertips. Scoop up about a ? cup of the masa in your other hand and spread out to about the size of a deck of cards, approx. a 1/4" thick. Make a shallow well in the middle (from your fingertips to your wrist). Put about 2 or 3 Tbsp meat and chilis in the well (more or less depending on how much meat you like in your tamales). Fold the sides of the cornhusk over the middle, wrapping as needed, and then fold up the bottom. Put aside in a pan, standing the tamale upright, and start on the next one. Place all the tamales in the steamer, standing up and stacking as needed. Cover w/ the remaining husks and a few plastic bags to retain moisture. Cook in the large double boiler for about 1 ? hrs. The masa should be a uniform color all the way through and not taste raw. Don't worry about salt content - the masa will suck the saltiness out. Makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-100 tamales. I wasn't really counting at the time so this is a guess-timate.
Notes:	For large amounts of people - 10 to 15 hungry souls and a little bit of left overs.
Equipment:	Commercial-size double boiler/steamer