Read in EnglishIn every little plastic baby Jesus, there hides an unavoidable future: making a batch of tamales filled with chili, sweet, or lard... Oaxacan tamales, warm tamales. It's clear that you can't pay for the promise made with the king's cake with goat tamales, because making goat tamales for someone, as historian and writer José N. Iturriaga states, is wanting to have your way: In Mexico, we have countless varieties of tamales. There are pork, chicken, turkey, rabbit, iguana, shrimp ones like in Sinaloa... everything but goat. Those don't exist.Tamales are the quintessence of Candlemas, a celebration that refers to the forty days after the birth of Jesus, when Mary and Joseph presented their son in the temple. It wasn't until the Middle Ages, starting in the 5th century, that candles or candelas were lit in chapels as a sign that Jesus is light. Hence, there exists a virgin with the invocation of the candlemas.For one of the most famous tamale vendors in the city, Don Víctor Gumersindo Zárate Cuevas, this festival warrants a change of location. On a normal day, the pot of his tamales releases the unmistakable vapors of pork adobo, green with chicken, and cheese with strips at the entrance of the Mercado de Granaditas. But for Candlemas, his son Víctor Zárate – chef of the restaurant Madre Café – will take him to a spot in Roma, in Mexico City, where the tamale vendor with over forty years of experience will sell his tamales to a public that considers them cult.Don Víctor's tamales are giant; his stews, juicy. But his mystique transcends our favorite tamale vendor. The tamalli, a Nahuatl word meaning wrapped, is more than the sum of its parts: more than the ground corn dough, its sweet or savory filling, or the leaf that wraps it all. The tamale is legend, a technique of pre-Hispanic origin, but also of Conquest and of products that, like pork and chicken, crossed the Atlantic. The tamale is a sign of life – it’s a feast at weddings and baptisms – and of death – it’s a pillar on the altars of November 2nd. It is the delicacy of the rich, the pleasure of the middle class, and the sustenance of the poor. Democratic, varied, and unique, the tamale is an ecosystem that mutates between the distances of one town to another. According to José N. Iturriaga, Nationally, there could be up to a thousand of them.There aren't many foods with so many traditions, beliefs, and rituals. Some of them are related to the Virgin and her purity, like when the women of the town stop making tamales during their menstruation because it is believed that they won't turn out well or will sour, says Iturriaga. Another is that with the pot ready and overflowing with small wrapped corn, it is vital to cross oneself and bless them before placing them over the fire. It depends on the tamale vendor. Don Víctor, for example, recites the phrases that his father and mother taught him to say in front of the pot. Additionally, he asks the Virgin that his tamales have sufficient demand and that, when eaten, people leave happy. Finally, he draws a V over them with branches of laurel, epazote, and orange as a sign of victory and the initial of his name. Only after fulfilling each magical pass will those tamales be ready to triumph.There are those who repeatedly make the sign of the Holy Cross over the pot or make a cross with dough on the outside of the pot, according to Iturriaga. For her part, Brenda Villagómez, chef at Kiwilimón, tells me that in her town in Oaxaca, that cross is drawn at the bottom of the pot with guajillo chiles.Tamales are both a piece of heaven and a product of the earth, so physics and chemistry do not pass them by. Don Víctor says that a good tamale is distinguished by the hygiene of each element that makes it up and by the selection of each ingredient: You have to give them love to discover their secrets, he confesses.What I confess is that I don’t know whether to go buy from Don Víctor or cook some of the richest tamale recipes we have. Maybe I will do both, what does it matter? To ensure it will be worth cooking them at home, I will follow all the advice given to me by my mom, my grandmother, and the chefs at Kiwilimón. To have some really good tamales, use freshly ground corn flour. If you want them to last longer, use water instead of chicken or beef broth. If the problem is that they turn out dry, make sure the dough is moist, with a creamy and pasty consistency. Use high-quality pork lard, as this will add a lot of flavor to your tamale. Yamilette González, Kiwilimón chef coordinator. To fluff the tamales, use the cooking water from the tomato husks and tequesquite. That's how my grandfather taught me. Mayte Rueda, Kiwilimón chef. The arrangement of the tamales is important. The best way to do it, if you are starting, is to place them vertically with the tail up, to ensure that the dough doesn’t spill out. Don’t squeeze the tamale leaf too tight so that with the heat and cooking, they come out fluffier. Brenda Villagómez, Kiwilimón chef. The easiest way is to make a ball of tamale dough and flatten it in a tortilla press. Alexandra Romero, Kiwilimón chef.If you make a
tamal ring, soak it completely with the sauce so it stays moist and spicy. Marielle Henanine, Kiwilimón chef.My family's method is simple: if you have a mixer, beat for about fifteen minutes. If you do it by hand, beat for about twenty-five minutes, and preferably – as my grandmother used to say – the one who starts it should be the one to finish it so that the dough doesn't cut. My mom prefers the flavor of vegetable lard, which adds texture, and only stops beating when the dough fluffs up.What’s your secret?
Northern tamaleTamale filled with chili and cheeseRicotta and strips tamalesChili stuffed with tamale