Hot Tamales

[Magicman]

I quite often make reference to or show pictures of Hot Tamales, so I thought a bit of history might be of interest.  There are many different versions of how Hot Tamales arrived in the Deep South and portions of all of the different versions are probably true.  I was always told that Spanish cotton field workers brought the recipes when they migrated North to work in the cotton fields along the Mississippi River.  When the American Civil War broke out, they high-tailed it back to Mexico but their Hot Tamale recipes remained.  Today, all of the Mississippi River towns have Hot Tamale vendors.

This is a web search of the origin of Hot Tamales in Mississippi:

An Introduction: Hot Tamales & The Mississippi Delta


The history of the hot tamale in the Mississippi Delta reaches back to at least the early twentieth century. Reverend Moses Mason, recording as  Red Hot Ole Mose, cut "Molly Man" in 1928. Bluesman Robert Johnson recorded "They're Red Hot" in 1936. How and when were hot tamales introduced to "the most southern place on earth"? There are as many answers to that question as there are tamale recipes. In restaurants, on street corners, and in kitchens throughout the Delta, this very old and time-consuming culinary tradition has remained, while much of the Delta has faded.
The Mississippi Delta is the flat alluvial plain that flanks the western part of the state. This leaf-shaped area is often referred to as the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, for these two powerful rivers define its borders. David L. Cohn, author of God Shakes Creation (1935) and a Greenville native, devised a geo-cultural definition of the region. In his memoir, Where I was Born and Raised (1948), he wrote, "the Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg." Within these boundaries, hot tamales flourish.
Some hypothesize that tamales made their way to the Mississippi Delta in the early twentieth century when migrant laborers from Mexico arrived to work the cotton harvest. African Americans who labored alongside Mexican migrants recognized the basic tamale ingredients: corn meal and pork.  Others maintain that the Delta history with tamales goes back to the U.S.-Mexican War one hundred years earlier, when U.S. soldiers traveled to Mexico and brought tamale recipes home with them. Others still argue that tamales date to the Mississippian culture of mound-building Native Americans.
Contemporary SFA oral history interviews with tamale makers and vendors reveal the various ways in which tamale recipes have been acquired and how they have changed. They underscore the endurance of this food in this region of the American South.

* * *

Tamale recipes vary from place to place, person to person. Pork is traditional. Some folks use beef, while others prefer turkey. Some boil their meat, while others simply brown it. Some people use masa, while most prefer the rough texture of corn meal. Most wrap in corn shucks, while a few have turned to parchment paper. Many season the meat and the meal, as well as the water used to simmer the rolled bundles. Some eat tamales straight out of the shuck, while others smother them in chili and cheese. Tamales from the Mississippi Delta are smaller than Latin-style tamales, are simmered instead of steamed, have a gritty texture from the use of corn meal instead of corn flour, have considerably more spice, and are usually served with juice that is the byproduct of simmering. Today, some cooks even fry their hot tamales. (In the Delta vernacular, the singular is, indeed, tamale, not the Spanish tamal.)
Within the Delta, the city of Greenville is a hotbed of hot tamales. In the early part of the twentieth century, river commerce drew many Sicilians to the area. It's possible that migrant Mexican laborers who came through the Delta might have shared their tamale tradition with these Italian immigrants. Delta tamales may have developed from the African American dish called cush. Lumumba Ajanaku, a tamale vendor in Yazoo City, talks about cush in his interview: "Some say [hot tamales] come from an old word that we use called cush, you know. A lot of the Africans would just take meal and season the meal...because a lot of them didn't have enough money to buy meat like they wanted, so they would take the meal and season the meal. And the meal would taste so good it tasted like meat was in it."
Whatever their origins, hot tamales have been a staple of Delta communities for generations. Tamales proved a hearty food, easily transported warm to chilly cotton fields during the fall picking season. Once the cotton harvest was complete, African American vendors exploited streetcorner economic opportunities to sell bundles of tamales from pushcarts and stands. Today, African Americans are the primary keepers of Delta tamale-making tradition.

[kantuckid]

Having traveled many miles & times in Mexico, I've seen a bunch of tamales but not so much as other foods there. Bought some round ones in Baja once. Mostly I've seen pork, either carnitas or other ways cooked, but poultry is common as is some beef and goat or sheep. I don't eat or like baa! meat.
I grew up in Topeka, KS which has had Mexicans and their foods since the railroads ran off the Chinese laborers in early Kansas. One whole end of town is mostly Mexican-Americans, annual festival, many local food places, etc.. During a brief time I worked for the SantaFe RR. in the rail yards there, I ate Mexican food the guys brought in from home to sell. They even grew peppers under the downspouts there on large shop buildings. We eat that food often at home as ours is often better than in a throw  it on a plate so-called Mexican food place here.
Some of the very best Mexican or Tex-Mex food I've had was in the USA. A place in Birmingham, AL has the best Chille Rellenos ever I've eaten, even better than my own. They also have a real street taco selection that makes it hard for me to order.
We've made tamales at home a few times , production line style but they're a lot of work.
Got a new enchilada recipe out of the NYT's recently, VG. Spinach & Cheese, we make Bill Clintons cheese enchiladas too.
I got a head cold from hell so foods a good diversion today...

[sawguy21]

I love Mexican food but other than Taco Bell's poor imitation it is scarce here and overpriced. Huevas rancheros with tortilla chips and a poor excuse for salsa?? No, no, no. Get real! The absolute best we had were in Reno and Palm Springs.

[kantuckid]

Chilles Rellenos are even more labor intensive than tamales.I made a bunch of them recently to freeze. The times is in the peeling & clean out of the peppers!

Huevos Rancheros is so easy it's only a matter of seconds to fix. Sold on the side of the road all over Hispanic world.

We make fresh salsa all summer from our garden "maters", onions and peppers plus fresh cilantro. try it in a cereal bowl with crumbled corn chips, eat with a spoon.
Anyone who thinks Mexican restaurant salsa is good hasn't had the real stuff!
We never can it, as it makes a far different flavor once cooked! Not that it's bad just way different. Home canned tastes much like store bought. In winter, common store bought Roma and Canadian or Mexican
Campari variety tomatoes make VG salsa. We do can tomatillo green sauce though. Use it on taco salads and a favorite meal here.
In today's world a great recipe is only a few keyboard clicks away.
Quesadillas we make often, stir fry some jalepenos and onions and what ever meat if you want meat, then your choice of cheese. Over the years we have switched in large part to using jalepenos as our go to pepper. The macho big ones are flavorful yet mild once the seeds and inner webbing is removed. We freeze poppers made by halving them, dip briefly in boiling water after seeding, lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet, lightly salt the open halves, then fill with a mixture of cream cheese, grated cheese, pork sausage or chorizo, onion cooked with the sausage, stir and fill the halves, freeze hard on cookie sheet, then bag for easy addition to Mexican home meals. Takes only a couple minutes in a toaster oven and much healthier than fried poppers. We put home made pepper jelly on ours-see the pectin box insert for a great recipe much better than pricey store bought.

[TimRB]

Anyone who thinks Mexican restaurant salsa is good hasn't had the real stuff!

Probably Mexican restaurants in Kentucky are different from the ones here in California. ;D  I've never been to a Mexican place that didn't make their own salsa, whatever style it was.  This being California, every cook in every restaurant (Mexican or otherwise) is Mexican so we get a lot of good Mexican food.  That said, the best salsa I've ever had was at a restaurant in Guadalajara where the waiter made it up right at the table from fresh ingredients.

Lots of restaurants around here where we're the only ones in the place (staff OR customers) who don't speak Spanish. In fact, there are times I wish I had taken Spanish in high school rather than waste my time with three years of French. 

Tim

[Ruffgear]

Kantuck, forgive me but what is baa meat? I'm assuming goat and sheep? Beef to?

[Chuck White]

Can't get good Mexican, or TexMex here, even at Taco Bell!  :  :-\

I probably got spoiled from being stationed in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi while I was in the Air Force! ;)

[millwright]

So you guys are saying that there is other hot tamales than the little red candies that they used to sell at movie theaters?  

[kantuckid]

Kantuck, forgive me but what is baa meat? I'm assuming goat and sheep? Beef to?

If it goes "baa" it's a sheep or a goat. I got on that habit when in indigenous areas where no Spanish plus the fact mine is sucky anyway. Once upon a time in the Strait of Tehuantepec, near Guatemala border, I stopped fro roadside food and after not talking food to my satisfaction I asked her if the meat was all "baa" or not? She went behind the tarp and came out with a big flat pan had a cooked sheep or goat head on it. I eat a lot of veggies in Mexico. As for comparing California to KY, are you suggesting a "different Mexican than ours? That's more than a little bit funny.
The NYT's had an article a few months ago as to Tex-Mex vs. Mexican food. I found that to laughable as there are differences in tex-Mex but reality is that it's hard to find a Mexican in mexico who either hasn't lived in the USA or has many relatives here, especially in Texas.
Where I grew up in KS many of the original Mexicans brought in to replace the Chinese we got rid of back then, were from certain areas in Mexico with regional foods of course. Now that same town has a mix of more recent Mexicans and Mexican Americans who have been there since before the Civil War. To begin guessing where this dish and that dish comes from is a tough job once people begin to mix and move!
Salsa in many Mexican places in USA is a thrown together affair using various Grocery store items from Walmart, krogers, Safeway, the food route truck, so on. it can be decent for off season salsa when "REAL" maters are to be had, but also can be very so-so, and I don't care what state your in, it varies. We have all grades of Mexican food here and the cooks can be Mexican or gringos, the quality isn't based on ethnicity IMO.
I ate at a place in WV a couple years back and it was horrible, yet all working there were 100% Hispanics. The worst chile relleno I've ever layed eyes on! It was made from a canned green chile of all things!
Pioneer Woman, the NYC but in OK TV cook had a roasted salsa on her most recent show. oven roast the tomatoes, peppers, onions, then in a blender along with spices and cilantro, etc., we are trying it real soon! We also want to make her "Chuck's Enchiladas" and have the recipe copied now. Of Mexican in country food I trend toward either street food there or a Taqueria.
Certain items Mexican don't meet my personal standard, spicy corn on a stick of a variety similar to livestock feed corn or hominy corn is an e.g. of my preference for good old USA sweet corn boiled in water then butter & salt. We grow our own, same thing with other veggies- I can assure you any foodie type of Mexican would enjoy every meal at my house!
I'm sort of OK with carnitas but prefer smked BBQ pork my style where I can taste the delicate pork flavors. I often see pork cooked for hours in heavy fats in Mexico, my heart says no on that stuff, plus the flavors are more toward spice than the meat. OTOH, I do use Mexican sausage but chorizo is not all equal either.
Best salsa is ours, simply made from homegrown veggies in the summer only. I often mix guacamole with my salsa.

[BradMarks]

I still remember eating in a hole in the wall in I believe Junction, TX in 1980.  Everything in Spanish, no English spoken, maybe 4 or 6 tables. The honky tonk "Mexican place" across the street was going full bore, this place was empty, but really really good food. Tamales to die for (3 or 4), chicken en mole (1/2 chicken, haven't had better since), beans, salsa, rice, all good. Two beers apiece, and it came to almost 8 bucks!! Even in 1980 that was a steal.  So I give the waitress(also cook, owner?) 2 dollars for a tip and she was embarrassed by the amount. We thought it was only the fair thing to do. Difference in culture showing right there. As far as locally where we live now, a great spot just around the corner, authentic with locals(fish served with head attached), few gringo's. Otherwise, the restaurants around town all serve it as "watered" down flavors. As in: where's the cumin?, for example.  We do cook a lot of "Mexican" at home.  

[kantuckid]

My favorite Mexican USA meal was when my new bride and I came through Flagstaff, AZ one night in 1972 and stopped in a place on a back street to eat supper. The meal is forgotten but was superior as was the old guy walking around the tables playing Hispanic tunes on his fiddle.
My in Mexico meals to remember have become far too challenging to pull just one out of the hat!
Places that stand out are in Oaxaca city, street food and sit downs for supper. There were two old ladies who showed up near the old cathedral in the Oaxaca zocolo about noon, brought into town by a younger man they cooked tortillas on a large stone, heated beans on a fire pit and handed you a huge burrito with whatever they decided it should have in it and damned if it wasn't perhaps a great choice for a last meal if there ever was there a choice. The line was long too. 
There's an elevated square in Oaxaca that opens at night and has family groups who offer homemade ice creams in the flavors as they make at home and bring in still in the tinned tubs. I ate there one evening with a family I'd become acquainted with at a Domino's Pizzza place in a moment of food weakness. They asked me to come along to the man's family place at the ice cream plaza. The state governor was there with his wife enjoying the evening too.
Patzcuaro on the town square is VG and a neat town. Delores Hildalgo, street food, sit down food and home made ice cream on the street. Taquerias all over Mexico often with a row of choices and many sauces too many to mention.
In the Fed District there is street food galore! Ice cream carts are mostly coconut made staright from the cow and the tree. The subway coasts like 2 cents to ride. Life could be much worse?
Like in the USA the food comes in various levels of quality. By the time I return to gringo land I'm typically very ready for some USA grub, as in a hamburger, etc..

[kantuckid]

Since tamales died on the vine- I researched Empanada recipes while my shop warmed up this a.m.. I have a couple I copied that caught my eye-
Spicy Black Bean Empanada
End of Summer...
Chorizo & Cheese w/Avocado Crema...
Mexican Chicken...
Zuchini...
Corn & Poblano ...
YUM!

[Magicman]

Marty was in Natchez today so he brought us a dozen Hot Tamales from Fat Mama's.


 
Of course PatD then cooked up a Pot-O-Grits so we had an unexpected treat for supper. 

[Eddie Southgate]

Never made any but I've ate my weight in them several times over . I agree on the salsa with the exception of one place in Huntsville Alabama that makes real salsa as well as Tamales like I bought on the street in Mexico in the mid 70's . I'm a big fan of Chili Verde as well .

 Eddie

[kantuckid]

Our tamale making event got stymied by no corn husks in any local stores. Until we get to the bigger city, Lexington, KY it's on hold. The corn flour was easy as the hoarders didn't seem to go after that one. Were making pork (home cooked BBQ pulled pork) & chicken (shredded store bought rotisserie bird). Tamales freeze well and become a part of a multi item Mexican meal, a regular at out house.
If you live near Lexington, KY the lady sells them at her Mexican store near the Sam's Club street. The key thing with a tamale is the meat as the rest is sameo, sameo, plus dressing them with sauce and queso as you like them.
I have seen them round, in husks and/or banana leaves as you go way south in or near Central America. Old guys sold them on the street when I was a kid, also at Sante Fe shops when I worked there.

[kantuckid]

Well we finally scored some corn husks at the Meijer's store in Lexington, KY-I went there to do an electrical job for my SIL.
Our chicken tamale recipe is easily found online if you search "Taste of Home" . We thought it was a tad heavy on chili powder but when you eat a tamale the outer masa corn mush like layer melds in and makes it just right. We used pulled pork for our other tamales and honestly hard to say which is best? Our "team" effort has one person running the food mixer and masa mixing/making masa balls, while the other feller does the meat filling and roll-up in a husk. They are a great compliment as a side dish to any Mexican meal. Fold up husk, place on a cookie sheet, freeze and bag.
We had ours along with another VG Mexican dish from Our Taste of Home cookbook (google it) called Chili Pork Posole which is basically a pork stew with Mexican seasoning and posole (Spanish for hominy and common in Mexican cooking)
as one of the ingredients. Good stuff!