Never heard of anything like this. And I’ve eaten “literally” thousands of tamales. But I see the staple.
Were they good? Spicy? That’s just one, right?
ETA: After posting the pic I can read it better. I see the label notes to keep frozen, and that it’s wrapped in polenta. Italian tamale? How’s it usually prepared? Steamed? In the wrapper?
There’s just so much I don’t know. 
Sorry for the drift but this is important stuff!
yay for frozen sfogliatella, directions were bake until crispy which took about an hour @350F rather than 35-40 minutes as stated in the directions . Eaten while still hot, crispy, a tad too sweet but delicious. I did find the crust a little oily, my wife thought letting them cool would have helped with that issue.
best,
Sounds like just a description of masa harina for white people.
Yeah. That’s pretty much a west coast white people’s tamale, so…
I’m still curious as to how it’s seasoned. Is it supposed to represent some sort of Mexican tamale, with chiles and comino, or is it something else entirely?
Would you happen to know?
That’s them. I don’t recall the polenta coating, I always thought it was masa. They were considered ‘hearty’. Lots of masa, very little meat in spicy/sweet chili peppered sauce, originally wrapped in husks then later in ‘heat proof’ plastic, the paper wrapping and stapled at the end. We almost always steamed them for like an hour. We’d unroll them onto a bed of lettuce and then would douse in hot sauce and top with a glob of sour cream. Quite filling and they weighed a ton when frozen. Dropping it on your foot may have broken a digit or so. One idiot roomate thought he’d be cool and defrost, then cook one in the quad microwave. Snap, crackle, pop and kaboom. Dinner found elsewhere.
Tuesdays was Red’s Tamales Day. A multigerational family outfit in Oakland, CA. They were fresh and just okay. I used to buy small ‘cocktail’ tamales at the Piedmont Avenue Grocery for years. They were hand crafted and very tasty.
YAY-ish: Unexpected Cheddar and Hatch Chile spread. Only -ish because I would have liked more Hatch chile flavor, but it’s still pretty tasty.
Yay, except that (at least at my TJ’s) it appears to be gone. Hopefully that’s temporary, as I like it a lot.
Holiday items displace so many of the standard stuff. Look again in January.
Is it a new item, or has it been around a while? I noticed it for the first time the other day.
I’ve always had to bake the frozen baguettes much longer than the instructions say to. Like close to twice as long.
a big YAY for the squiggly cut noodles!!! i know a lot
of people didnt like them, my advice is to not overcook the noodles and add a dollop of lan ga ma chile crisp to the sauced noodles.
now that you mention it, yeah kinda slimy. Reminds me of the corn relish we had growing up – I liked it but IIRC kinda slimy.
DH put it on his burger last night. Seemed to work well.
They are mini ! We heated 3 last night per instructions vi convection oven. Not too bad, crunchy outside and chewy inside, a slight yeast taste. Would toss them in the freezer for back up bread, croutons etc.
NAY for Truffle Ranch salad dressing. I really thought I’d like it, will return, pricey, about $6-7.
Chowhounders!
I expect to be visiting the closest TJ’s (5hrs away) next week. I will be bringing a cooler for perishables.
What 10 items would you suggest I pick up? BITD I’d buy their frozen key lime pies. No more 2 Buck Chuck—I’m off alcohol and have given what I collected away. TYIA!
we stock up on cheese and almond and chocolate croissants when we’re in fl.
Greek feta, burrata, any of their fresh ravioli, crème fraiche, the hot Italian sausage (but only if you have a high tolerance for heat), praline pecans, Greek kalamata olive oil.
Grilled olives - jarred, in the pickle section. Smokey delicious
Our all-time favorite products are the mango shaving cream in a tube and the popup sponges.
