
BBQ List
Marlene Rausch
luvsteiff4ever@worldnet.att.net

Hi everyone,  
 
(If you have questions, just email, I will be happy to help you)  Happy Holidays!
Marlene
 
Tamales

I am not sure if you can get the ingredients that I use here. Like masa, which is
ground corn and is what is spread on the ojas (corn hulks), I get that ground
fresh here and find it at a Mexican bakery and I use no packaged cornmeal or
whatever you  may have to use.  Please note there is several separate steps in
making the tamales, the masa, the meat mixture, and the red chili sauce,
preparing the ojas, etc.  I have broken each down separately for your
convenience.  Also, I cook my meat one day, and shred it, mix it with my red chile
sauce. The next day, I prepare my masa, and ojas, and start the process of
actually making the tamales. Also, once you actually are "spreading" the masa, on
the ojas, start an assembly line, with someone spreading masa, next person adds
meat and olive, next person folds tamale and wraps in the paper. Drinking during
this process does help : ).  That's how the Green Corn Tamale recipe was
developed one year. We had about 5lbs of masa (prepared) left over and didn't
want to throw it out. So we decided to try to do green corn tamales a little
differently.  They were a real hit and everyone loved them.
 
MEAT MIXTURE
 
Use about 1/3 lb of pork to 1 lb of beef.  So if you buy 10 lbs of beef to cook,
buy about 3.5 to 4 lbs of pork to cook.
 
I like to use beef brisket for my beef, beef chuck roast is fine also and I get it
cut up in pieces so it is easier to boil.
Pork, I use a boneless pork roast. I have used a pork shoulder due to the great
price.
 
In large pan, boil your pieces of beef (BEEF ONLY) in water with garlic cloves
and onions, (quartered) until beef is very tender and will shred easily.
 
Do the same for your pork but you  MUST cook it in a separate pan.
 
SAVE ALL YOUR BROTH that you have cooked your beef in, AS YOU will need it
for the masa, and to make your red chili.
 
Discard your pork broth.
 
Cool meats and then shred BY HAND, and mix your shredded pork and beef
together. Discard all fat in your meat.  Nothing is worse than biting into fat in a
tamale.
 
Mix red chile mixture with meat mixture and best to let sit overnight refrig and
taste the NEXt day to see if you want it hotter. Red Chili gets hotter the next
day!
 
RED CHILI
 
If you can get the frozen Baca Red Chili (get it)  it is much easier than boiling
dried red chili pods. Expect to use about 6-8 cartons of baca for 10-15 lbs of
meat mixture.  If using baca let it thaw out add some garlic powder, mexican
oregano, cumin, beef broth to thin it and salt to taste and  heat it until all
ingredients have blended well. Than just mix the chili sauce with your meat
mixture until the meat is wet but not soupy.
 
If you have to use dried red chili, get New Mexico Red Chili Pods (comes in hot,
med, or mild)
 
Probably you will use 3 lbs or more of this.
 
Soak red chili pods in HOT water until soft, tear off tops and clean, and rinse.
Put in large pan and boil pods until they are very very soft.
Cool, and put only a few in a food processor and grind up very fine, add some
meat (beef) broth and garlic salt , oregano, salt, cumin and some sugar ( a little
bit) to taste).  If chile is not hot enough add some off those chili peppers you get
w/ pizza, make sure they are the hot ones.  Make sauce the consistency of a  thin
gravy.
 
MASA
 
5 lbs masa  (Have the bakery grind the corn fine and put 5 lbs per package)
1  1/2 lb lard (that's one and one-half pound of lard)
1 cup beef broth (which you save the broth which your beef as boiled)
1 Tablespoon salt
1 heaping Tablespoon baking powder
red chile sauce for color
 
Beat Lard (I use my Kitchen Aid heavy duty mixer) until the consistency of
whipped cream about 5 min or more. Add masa in small pieces and mix in, add
remaining ingredients and enough red chile sauce for some color. Beat masa
forver it seems like-to test if it's ready-put a tiny piece of masa in a cup of
water, if the masa floats it's ready to spread. This beating takes a long time. 
Traditionally this process was all don't by hand, and usually the men in the family
did it as it took a lot of strength to mix the masa.  
 
OJAS
 
Clean ojas (corn hulks) taking corn silks out and separating ojas. Soak in sink with
very hot water until ojas are soft. The Ojas will be soft in about 30-60 min. Let
ojas drain on paper towels.  You use lots of paper towels as you will just keep
stacking paper towels, ojas, paper towels, ojas, right on top of each other.
 
 
Spreading the masa/ and meat
 
Place an ojas (smooth side face up) in the palm of your hand, use a rubber spatula
is good or table knife and spread some masa on ojas (the narrow end of oja is
bottom of tamale) on it leaving the bottom with no masa on it and only spread
about an inch from the top).  Take some meat and place in center of masa. Fold in
sides of oja and then bottom.  I then wrap mine in a wax paper square ( I buy
those from the butcher he uses for meat).  You can also put a black or green olive
on top of meat mixture and then fold the oja.
 * Note I now use a tortilla press to spread the masa much easier and faster.

Cooking the Tamales
 
I use a tamale pot, it is like a Large stock soup pot and but has an insert with
holes in it that steams the tamales. .  Put a small pebble (rock)  or penny in the
water so you know when you will have to add more water. Never let the water run
dry while cooking tamales.
 
Place tamales in large pot with  boiling water, with steamer inside, stand tamales
upright and pack together, the bottom of the tamale should be in the down
position. Place a damp thin kitchen towel (white please as colored towels will run
color all over your tamales) over your tamales for more steam and moisture to
them.  Steam tamales for about 2-2 1/2 hrs or so or until you can remove the
tamale from the oja cleanly, meaning masa does not stick to oja when you unwrap.
Tamales need to be cook over low heat with a constant steaming. Gas stoves are
much better to steam tamales as you can regulate the heat so much easier.
 
Other Info
 
Depends on how much meat you put in your tamales, as to how much you will
actually need.  A average amount is about 1 lb of cooked meat mixture to 1 lb
maybe more of masa.
 
Green Corn Tamales
 
Use the recipe above for masa and once it floats, mix the following:
4 cans whole kernel corn (14-16 oz size)
3 lb. shredded longhorn cheese
 
Place a tablespoon on oja, add one long strip of green chile, or if you desire you
may chop up (to taste) green chiles to stir into masa mixture.
 
Follow above directions to fold tamale, steam etc.  Pls note these tamales usually
take about one hour to steam. 
 
The green chile is the key to these tamales.  I use Green Chile that is from
Hatch, New Mexico.  They are noted for their chile.
 
The green corn tamales are GREAT!!!
 
 
 