'Tis the Christmas season and in southern
California that means tamales. Mesoamerica's first grab-and-go treat. There's a great little
story about tamales, kind of. It comes from the Mexican revolution. In 1911 the revolutionary
Pascual Orozco ambushed some federal troops and stripped them of their uniforms. He sent the clothes
then back to Presidente Diaz with a note saying "Here are the the wrappers. Send me more tamales." And without so much violence, I second the motion. Here are the wrappers, and send me more
tamales. This time on Tasting History. So the term tamale casts a rather
wide net because in Mexico alone there are over 500 different varieties today.
And you basically double that number when you take in all of the Central American countries and
the United States. So no matter what tamale I end up making today, I was bound to disappoint someone
including my fiancé who is from Mexico, and has a rather strong opinion about what makes a tamale
a tamale. So instead of disappointing someone I decided to just disappoint everyone and instead
recreate what I would think a 500 year old Aztec tamale might be like. Now what disappoints me is
that neither the Mayans nor the Aztecs left us any recipes so we have to look to modern tamales as
well as the images of tamales before the conquest and writings like the Florentine Codex, and their
descriptions of tamales to recreate this dish. Now what I'm also going to do today is in
hindsight really quite foolish, but I am going to nixtamalize as well as grind my own corn into
masa. Now to learn more about the magical process that is nixtimalization I'm going to put a link up
here to my video on quesadillas where I really go into that amazing process but suffice it to say
uh I'm going to go through the whole rigmarole and I would suggest you don't. You can just buy
your masa pre-ground and pre-nixtamalized. It's just so much easier but if you want to be
foolhardy and do what I did what you'll need is: 4 cups or 600 grams of dried field corn, 2 teaspoons or 7 grams of calcium hydroxide . Now the Mayas and Aztecs would have used ground-up
mollusk shells to get their calcium hydroxide but you can just buy it on Amazon or else at a Mexican
supermarket. Eight to ten cups or about two liters of water, and a few pieces of tesquequite dissolved in boiling water. Now this tequesquite, which I also talked about in the quesadilla video is basically
going to act as both the salt and the baking soda that would often be added to modern tamales. It
gives a little little bit of puffiness and a little sodium as well. And you'll also need some
corn husks. Now if you know modern tamales you'll notice one crucial ingredient missing: lard. Because they did not have lard or really any fatted domesticated livestock before the Spanish
conquest. No pigs, no cows, nothing like that. So they probably didn't use any kind of fat most of
the descriptions say they just added water but if they did add any kind of fat it may have been
like corn oil or something like that but really corn already has quite a bit of oil in it so it
does hold together without it, but I'm probably gonna miss that lard. Now as far as the fillings
go again not very traditional compared to a modern tamale which is typically pork, or beef, or chicken,
they didn't have those animals but they had a wide array of fillings that they did use which
include: fish, crab, iguana, tomato, frogs, squash, beans, mushrooms, nopales, chiles, vanilla, honey, and guava. They also loved a fungus that actually grew on the corn itself called huitlacoche. And in the U.S.
we call that corn smut which I think is a great insult to shout at bad drivers. 'Learn to drive you
corn smut!' But the fillings I decided to use today come from the Florentine Codex by frey Bernardino
de Sagún who describing an Aztec festival said "They offered them fruit tamales and chili sauce, or else dog meat or turkey." No I'm not using dog meat, instead I am going for the fruit and the turkey
two different kinds of tamales today. I'm using papayas stewed until soft and then mashed, and turkey boiled until cooked through. For the chili sauce I'm using a very simple sauce made of: tomato,
guajillo chilies, and pepita or pumpkin seeds. So first add your calcium hydroxide to the water,
and then get it boiling. Then wash your corn and add it into the pot. Boil the corn for 30 minutes
or until the skins easily come away from the corn. Once that's done remove the pot from the heat
and leave the corn in the water overnight for about 8 to 12 hours. Also go ahead and rinse your
corn husks and then soak them overnight as well, it's going to make them a lot more
pliable and easy to wrap your tamales. The next day pour the corn into a colander and
rinse the calcium hydroxide water off. Then put the corn into some clean water and rub the kernels
between your hands to get the skins off. Repeat this a few times and most of the skins will easily
come off. You don't have to get every single skin off but the less skin there is on the corn the
easier it is to grind. Once the skins are off get to grinding. Now the Aztecs would have used a mano
and metate, but I don't have that unfortunately so instead I used a molcajete which is kind of
similar. At least it's made of the same material but it takes a lot longer to to grind using
this. Now at this point if you were making modern tamales you would add your lard, but we're
not using lard so I'm just adding a bit of the tequesquite water to make the masa come together to
form a paste. And now it's time to shape your tamales but what shape do we do? Because modern
tamales have actually multiple shapes depending on where you are. And in most Aztec images they're
spheres, but there is one scathing description from the Florentine Codex which says, "And their tamales were exceedingly small, exceedingly tiny... and very thin." Sick burn. Kind of reminds me
of that 90s song from the rapper Gillette. Don't want no short tamale man. So I'm going to try for the ball instead, but spoiler alert - doesn't really turn out like a ball. So lightly
dry your corn husk and then take a small scoop of the masa and spread it over the husk. Then take either a bit of the fruit or a bit of the turkey or whatever filling you use and place it in the
center of the masa. Then using the husk wrap the masa over the filling on one side and then over
on the other. And fold over the end of the husk. Now you can tie it closed with a small strip of the
corn husk but it's not absolutely necessary. Now how to cook them. There are descriptions of them
being baked, boiled, roasted, and steamed which is the most common way that it's done today so that's
the way that i'm going to do it. So add a couple inches of water into a steamer and set a few coins
in the bottom of the water. As the water boils the sound of the pennies rattling around will let you
know if you need to add more water. Then place the steaming basket into the pot and line the bottom
with some corn husks. Then place your tamales inside either horizontally or vertically with the
open side up. Then place more husks over them and put the lid on. Then bring the water to a boil and
steam for about 60 minutes. Now while I wait I'm going to make myself a lovely cup of Abuelita hot chocolate. Often enjoyed with tamales and that'll give you time to Subscribe to Tasting History and
hit that little notification bell so every Tuesday when I post, because I do, you'll be notified. Now let's look at the history of tamales. Maize or corn was the most important
crop of the Mesoamerican civilizations. In the Quiche Mayan creation
myth documented in the Popul Vuh after failing to make decent humans first out
of mud which just dissolved when it rained, then out of wood which couldn't worship
so they ended up becoming the monkeys finally on the third try the deities were
able to create worshipful human beings out of yellow and white corn. So it makes sense
that it's such a staple for the people's diet. And one of the most basic ways to eat maize was in
tamale form. Though those early tamales were likely just corn and had nothing else to you know zhuz them up. Now it's thought that tamales have likely been eaten for millennia but the first depictions
that we have come from around the 1st century AD on the Mayan mural in San Bartalo Guatemala,
and another in Calakmul Mexico which depicts a person selling tamal. There's also an image of
tamales with sauce being served alongside a drink made of cacao beans which the Aztecs called Xocolatl. A precursor to today's hot chocolate, and I think that would actually be a really cool episode
maybe a little history of chocolate, and I try to recreate that original Mayan or Aztec chocolate. So if you think that would be an interesting episode let me know in the comments. Now while the Mayans had depictions of tamales most of the good descriptions of what they were and when
they were eaten come from the 16th century codexes created by the Spanish conquistadors. Specifically
the Florentine Codex or the general history of the things of New Spain, which was written by that
same friar who talked about the exceedingly small and thin tamales. He talks a lot about the
different festivals that the Aztecs were having and almost every single one they were eating some
sort of tamale. "Atamalqualiztli (the eating of water tamales) came to be observed every eight years... For seven days all fasted. Only water tamales soaked in water were eaten, without chili, without salt, with
neither saltpeter, nor lime... And when the feast arrives it was said: ashes are put on faces and
they are bedight with sea shells... birds flesh tamales formed garlands. And before them was the maize bin
filled with fruit tamales." Now anyone who watched last week's video on Christmas pudding knows that I'm trying to bring back the word bedight into our lexicon so that quote was kind of perfect. Also
those tamales sound really gross. They're not nixtamalized, they don't have any salt or any kind
of fillings. They're just dipped in water but not as disgusting as another festival where they were
eaten which was sort of an Aztec Fear Factor. "Thus was done by those who swallowed serpents... while
they were quite alive, holding them only in their mouths cutting them to pieces with their teeth
that they might swallow them. And when they had swallowed them... they were offered gifts,... and water
tamales were eaten. And thus they swallowed frogs likewise alive." So I'm glad that I chose a tamale
that doesn't come with a frog chaser. Now there are "better" tamales mentioned throughout the codex and usually those were during festivals where people would offer them to gods. "Then appeared the boys, and the priests offered each one a tamal stuffed with greens... They laid them before the image of
Xiuhtecutli... and the sauce of the tamales stuffed with greens was a sauce of crabs... and the tamales
stuffed with greens were very hot and gleaming; and they ate them hot so that even their nose
is steamed. But I think my favorite tamale story from the Florentine Codex serves as a warning
to would-be tamale thieves or else those who might show up late to a tamale eating festival. "Beginning with the first-comers he... served them as many tamales as they could take in on hand. He gave them tamales made of maize treated with lime; or else made with fruit; some he gave tamales of
maize blossoms or sweetened with honey... and none might deceive in taking tamales. Any whom they saw
trying to take tamales dishonestly, they punished, striking him, leaving bloody welts, with a cord made
of reeds. What had been given him they took from him; they took all his tamales . And those, after the
food supply ended, all wept. They said what shall we who are ill-fated? Evilly hath the feast day come! To what vain end is our ill fortune? Unhappy are our little ones!" Then he talks about how
these latecomers who missed out would go around begging for tamales only to be greeted with
violent blows raining down on their heads. Mwahahaha! 3:) Just like dinner at the Miller household. I cannot abide tardiness. Now while the Aztecs were enjoy their tamales during festivals, and weddings and births and other festive occasions the Spanish were eating them out of necessity.
There's a story, likely apocryphal, but still really good where after realizing
Hernán Cortés was not a priest sent by the god Quetzalcoatl, the Aztecs stopped giving him and his
men food naturally. But there was a native woman who had been given to him as a slave and
interpreter named Malinche and she actually ended up bearing his child later on, but she
plotted with Cortés to get the Aztec's tamales. One night he and his men stormed the
city gates and Malinche and her friends pelt them with tamales trying to get them to go
away. In fact feeding them all of her own people's tamales. Now again the story is probably not true,
almost definitely not true but there are true stories about her helping him out in other ways
including warning him of an impending Aztec attack. She's often seen as a traitor to her own
people and is one of the most villainized women in Latin culture just after Yolanda Saldivar.
(RIP Saint Selena) But while the Spanish did likely eat tamales in those years following the conquest it wasn't long before
tamales ended up becoming associated with the poor i.e not the Spanish invaders. And the stigma stuck
for centuries though in his wonderful book on Mexican food history called "Que Vivan los tamales!"
Jeffrey Pilcher says that they ended up becoming sort of a guilty pleasure for the wealthier
classes, kind of a a way to slum it I guess you could say. In 1910 an English tourist upon seeing
the wealthy people eating these tamales said, "To my horror I saw these educated people lapping
up dreadful little mixtures offered them on leaves, made with Heaven knows what ingredients." And in Carlos Peña's 1915 novel 'La Fuga de la Chimera' which tells the story of a young aristocratic
woman who falls into an illicit affair ending in her untimely death. Her descent into moral decay
begins with tamales. Her husband Don Miguel Bringas takes her to a market and entices her with
tamales but she shuns them saying "No I what if somebody saw me eating these, somebody that I
knew my reputation", but he wheedled and needled at her until finally he put a plate of tamales
in front of her and then sat, sat and watched as she "...dispatched, with gluttonous face and lingering
bites, the tamales of San Juan del Rio. Chewing with satisfaction, her lips glossy with grease, she was filled with secret vanity knowing that her husband had solicited this caprice." Tragic but luckily
this stigma did not follow tamales to the parts of Mexico that are now the United States. In fact in the 19th century several American authors including Jack London spoke of tamales as treats
meant for special occasions. Then in 1893 tamales were catapulted into the limelight of American culture when they were featured at the Chicago World's Colombian Exposition. That said the Californians who visited the exposition were less than impressed. "None of these effete towns can hope to rival California. We ate some tamales at the World's Fair in Chicago, and they would have made a dog sick." Now I'm not sure why that's my California accent from the 19th century
kind of sounds like a mediocre John Wayne but regardless of the quality of the tamales served
they took off and in just a few years tamale men could be heard in every major city around the
country shouting "red hots for sale." There was even a hit song called "Red Hot" by Robert Johnson which said "Hot tamales and they're red hot. Yeah, she got 'em for sale." It was actually covered later by Eric
Clapton and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and all three versions are worth giving a listen to. It's a
really short song, it wouldn't take any time at all. But as with any territorial industry the
tamale men of america ended up butting heads over turf and that eventually escalated into what
many newspapers of the day termed 'The Tamale Wars.' One of the most shocking incidents took place
in Omaha, Nebraska in 1921. "Weston and Lewis were members of two competitive 'hot tamale rings',... on the fateful night the rival peddlers of the two factions had declared a truce for the party but
during the evening the truce was broken by someone who sank an axe several times into the head of
Lewis." Luckily the tamale craze eventually faded and today in the United States most tamales are
made by abuelas hosting tamaladas, or tamale making parties in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Now
neither am I an abuela or am I hosting a tamalada but I sure am curious what my Aztec tamales are
going to taste like. So after an hour remove one of the tamales from the pot, and check that it's done
by seeing if the corn husk easily comes away from the tamale. If it does that means they're done. And here we are, our Aztec tamales. Now unfortunately I forgot to mark these in any way so i don't know
which ones are fruit and which are turkey so I'm going to just take a little bit of the chili
sauce with pepitas and put it on there and just find out when I when I break into it. I'll cut
it kind of here in the middle it is the turkey! [fanfare] So I'm actually kind of surprised at how
well it's holding together. I really thought that this was going to absolutely fall
apart because the masa isn't as fine as as what you would get in a store but it's
holding together pretty well, let's try it. Mhm. As I suspected. The flavor is nice, it's the texture.
It does hold together but it's very dense and that's because there is no lard. In modern tamales
you would kind of whip the lard up before mixing it in with the masa and it creates this nice
fluffy light tamale. These are a little dense so yeah, they're good I'm glad I did it.
It's a lot of work. But a cool new experience that said I missed the lard. I definitely
prefer my mother-in-law's tamale she's from Mexico so she knows what she's doing. They're not bland because of the sauce, but you know it's not pork, it's not lard. So unlike the kids in
Gary Soto's book "Too Many Tamales" I will not be stuffing myself with all of these,
but I do look forward to eating more tamales, modern tamales, throughout the Christmas season. And I think that you should too whether you make your own, though maybe use a modern recipe
or if you buy them. If you can't you can probably get them online, I think they freeze
really well and can ship pretty much anywhere. Anyway make sure to like this video and I
will see you next time on Tasting History.
