The Secret's in the Masa

“The secret of tasty tamales is in the dough.” This phrase was repeated to Kevin and me several times during our tamale-making session last Thursday with our new friends and co-workers, Ethel and José.  It became our motto and the driving force behind the day’s labors.

There is a lot that goes into making tamales: one must prepare the banana leaves (burn them, slice them, clean them, and cut them), chop and cook the pork meat and all of the vegetables and cut the twine to the perfect length. The most important step, however, is the preparation of the dough, or masa. You’ve got to mix the corn starch and the corn flour, the water, salt, garlic and beef broth (which of course must be prepared beforehand and made extra delicious), and then cook it over a lot of TLC. After all, who would want to eat a tamale with boring dough?

The actual tamale-making process only takes a few intense hours, but we made ours Tico style, with lots of chatting and breaks in between. Ethel and I made the dough while Kevin and José prepared the leaves (note the very definite division of labor), then we needed a lunch break, so we made arroz con pollo (rice and chicken). Then we worked a little more, chopping, cooking and setting out all of the vegetables and beans while the men cleaned and cut the leaves into tamale-sized sheets. Then came the filling and the wrapping (I filled and folded and Kevin tied them up). We made 56 piñas, or pairs of tamales tied together. That makes a total of 112 tamales that went into the pot of boiling water to cook over a wood-burning fire. Then came the waiting, the touring and the chatting, and at last, the coffee drinking and tamale eating.

The process, all in all, took us 10 hours. It was well worth the effort because in the end, Kevin and I learned a valuable new skill and formed some great friendships. Most importantly though, the dough came out perfectly.