800!?!!
OFF TOPIC discussions
DT, Does your mother-in-law ever make Tamales Dulce (Sweet Tamales) . I had a co-worker whose mom made the most mouth watering dessert type of Tamales at Christmas time. TO DIE FOR Dusty Turtle said:
No offense to my Scottish brethren, but gopher might be an improvement upon traditional goat haggis, though I should admit that I've never tasted the stuff.
A new family tradition for us is to make Honduran tamales every New Year. We all gather around the dining room table and begin assembling the tamales. My mother-in-law (yes, the one from Honduras) makes the masa, and we make our tamales with any combination of seasoned chicken, seasoned pork, carrots, potatoes, olives, onions, beans, even dates and peanuts. Although considered a heretic, I began making some vegetarian versions and some with crab meat, cheese, and green onions.And we wrap the tamales not in corn husks but in banana leaves, which are much easier to manipulate and allow for much larger tamales.Somehow I became the salsa maker, and I usually makes three or four types each year. The best versions, in my opinion, are the tomatillo salsa and the chipotle/corn salsa, in which the heat of the peppers is balanced by the sweetness of the corn. Still, my wife always prefers a standard fresh salsa with tomatoes, onions, and cilantro, the latter of which is a key ingrendient in all the salsas.The wonderful thing about this tamale tradition is that eating them is only half the fun. The other half is gathering everyone around the table while we assemble them, each one of us bragging that ours will be the best and finding subtle ways to add a signature to the way the tamale is wrapped so we can tell the difference. And tying the wrapped tamales up is the only stage that wee little hands can't do, so even the kids can make tamales that taste just as delicioso as the rest of 'em.All this writing has got me hungry. We may not wait for New Years. Maybe we'll do some tamale making this weekend in honor of our 800th member.D.T. Ken Hulme said:Yeah Mennonite tamales would be like the rest of their food - filling but bland! Actually in Alabama/Mississippi, the tamale was introduced over 70 years ago by migrant works and adopted into the local comfort food canon. Not quite Mexican, but very good.
DT - you've never had Santa Ynez Gopher & Goat Haggis???
or an utter disaster
