Pulling into Home Depot in Lodi, CA, I noticed a man, SUV and large sign “TAMALES!” Okay! Paint purchased, we cruised back and bought a half dozen ($13) cheese and chili. Great first night in country dinner. While a small sack of home made sauce was included, I made more. (Chopped onion and tomato, chili powder, cumin, chicken broth simmered to a sauce, then pureed with immersion blender). Topped with Salvadorean sour cream. Very good. Sorry that only pre-plate pic was taken. Too eager to tuck into these.
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Great find!
What do you mean by
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We have Mexicans on most farms here, save for the robots, who have the best lunches. Sometimes, I get the luv. Luuuv those. I keep a bottle of homemade chile sauce in the fridge at school, just in case. They are time consuming.
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What do robot lunches consist of?
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mostly nuts?
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We are alternating about 6 days in the country with 8 days in town. I like to have a no-brainer dinner on our arrival night in the country after a 4 to 6 hour drive*. These 'steam and eat" tamales fit the bill.
*Actual drive time is around 3 1/2 hours but add a lunch stop, gas stop, multiple farm stands, Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes and you get the picture.
Screw that!!
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Well done 
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I see. I was wondering if Lodi was the country, or if perhaps you had been traveling overseas.
There’s a tamale guy out in the middle of nowhere at a 4 way stop. On our way to a different city. He advertises they take credit cards. I don’t think so.
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What do you mean? You only need cell service & an app such as Square. Very common at farmers markets, craft fairs, food trucks …
I don’t remember my parents using lard very often, other than for sausage making, but they did use Crisco. And Crisco seemed to have given baked and fried foods a richer flavor and a slightly different texture. I am not sure which foods I would even try to prepare with either lard or Crisco now, though. Since they have both passed I guess my Cousins are going to be my best source if I try to discover the “Old Ways”.
All 4 of my Grandparents families were from England or Wales so there is a whole lot of “whitebread” in our cooking style.
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It means I’m not about to hand my credit card over to a tamale guy in a pickup truck on the side of the road, out in the middle of nowhere.
The difference between Texas and Oregon.
Well, for people not familiar with that technology, the vendor DOES NOT have your full card number, name, or email. Totally secure, even in the middle of nowhere.
I’ve had customers who preferred to call me and give me their full cc info rather than using my website - I don’t know why they think that is safer, it’s not. Just a distrust of tech, I guess?
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So what is a tamale supposed to be?
I’ve made my own many times, and I pack them with the meat. But every time I’ve bought tamales from sources that my friends tell me are “super authentic” or some such, I’ve found them to be about a tiny 4-6 mm meat diameter surrounded by about 25-35 mm masa.
Is that it? Is that what a good tamale is supposed to be?
If so, I’ll keep making my own, despite how “inauthentic” they might be.
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Where do you live?
Our lady makes beef, chicken, pork, cheese, and vegetable, always with green olives.
All with a strip of pepper laid lengthwise inside.
One of the foods I almost always buy and not make. When I first started making them, I thought, what a pain. Then, when I was in a Mexican home for a grad party, and saw the women of the family like a well oiled machine. I can’t compete with that crew. Now, I just buy them. MANY of them. I noticed some from SE Mexico make much bigger ones with banana leaves. “Brazo de reina” (queen’s arm)is what they call them
Those you have look pretty dang good, though.
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That’s always been my problem with “authentic tamales” sold. Where’s the meat? I think it’s cheaper to make them with more masa and less meat.
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The photos you see are the real deal. I add more onions and pepper to the meat when I prepare it, because they can side on dry, so I want meat and the wilted veg. This is why I prefer the banana leaf variety. You can stuff a whole lot more in a banana leaf.
I should say a sauce is key. The OP’s sauce looks like the one I’ve had many times over a brazo de reina.
