I made these tamales after having a lot of leftovers from Pulled Pork Sandwiches. Slow roasted pulled pork is shredded and mixed with spices and sauce. Making tamales is not as difficult as you may think. It takes longer to steam them than to assemble them. The masa dough starts with lard. There is no substitute for the flavor and authenticity it adds. The lard is whipped to incorporate air and make it light and fluffy which results in better dough. How to make tamales – step-by-step Use a hand mixer or whisk to whip the lard. Add the masa harina, baking powder, salt and mix. Add chicken stock and whisk until the dough is well mixed and moist. First tip, moist masa works best Make sure that your dough is adequately moist, if not, the tamales will turn out dry and sandy. To test the dough, you can drop a little ball into a little water. If it floats, it’s fine, if it sinks add more liquid. Soak the corn husks in hot water for a few minutes to soften. Lay the corn husk with the smooth side facing up and the thin end facing you. Spread the masa dough in an even layer starting halfway up and spread to cover the entire top half of the husk, out to the sides. You can see this done in the video. Add about 2 tablespoons of pulled pork and put into the center of the masa dough leaving a border of dough around the meat so when it is folded, the dough covers the meat. Fold the sides over the meat so they husk slightly overlaps, then take the thin end and fold up to halfway to complete the package. Secure with a string of corn husk tied into a knot (optional). How to steam the tamales If you don’t have a proper steamer (which I don’t), you don’t need one. If you have a tall pan (8 quart is what I use) and a steaming basket, this is all you need. You will need to elevate the basket on something heat-proof, I use 3 ramekins. Add enough water to it won’t evaporate during the steaming, but not too much that it touches the tamales. Cover and steam for 1 hour. Serving Suggestion My favorite side to serve with these tamales is my quick & easy corn salsa because it’s perfect corn season and green salsa too. What you get is a perfectly sweet complement to the tamales to offset the richness of the pulled pork. If you’ve tried these Pulled Pork Tamales or any other recipe on the blog, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know it turned out in the comments below. I love to hear from my readers! Pulled pork recipe
