Beef Tamales Recipe

if you have never attempted tamales, here are some important tips: boil garlic and dried or fresh peppers in water(your favorite kind of pepper)for 30-ish minutes then cook the meat in that broth(leave peppers/garlic in) and add lots of spices. This broth flavors the meat very well--I like spice so I use tons of peppers and garlic. The meat should be cooked long enough that it practically crumbles to the touch--this makes it easier and faster to shred by hand--I usually cook mine 4 hours to overnigt depending on the cut of meat. Boiling the meat is actually the only thing it needs cooking wise--but it depends on whether you boil in the meat in all the spices or add them later. I soak my corn husks in hot/boiling water--this makes them softer faster. Two important things to remember: masa is very bland and there is no substitute for lard! I keep my meat juice for masa flavoring but still add other stuff--El Pato (mexican style tomato sauce)if you can find it is spectacular! When making the tamales, the corn husks should only be about five inches across--any larger need to be sized! (Line the meat along the edge and roll like a cigar) If I plan on freezing I cook them only half the time--also, don't load to many in the steamer or they won't cook evenly! When you place them in the steamer they need to be standing up as much as possible.

I have made these a few times now. This recipe is really awesome as is - but I found an easier & tastier way to do it after making it many times the way listed. I use the recipe on this site for Charley's Slow Cooker Mexican Style Meat. Its very easy to make, & makes the tamales SO much tastier! I make the meat one day in the crockpot, then refrigerate it overnight. This makes it easier to remove any fat. Just pluck off any fat the next morning & follow the recipe for the tamale dough, although I use vegetable shortening instead of lard. Make sure to keep a little water or beef broth on hand to dip your spreading knife into to make spreading the dough onto the corn husks a little easier. If you put a can of beef broth in the stockpot with a little water while you are steaming them, it makes the dough tastier as well. Instead of using butchers twine, I just tear off thin strips of the corn husks & tie them with that. These are really good to freeze too. Place in a freezer bag, and pop in the freezer for up for 6 months. To reheat, steam for 15-20 mins or wrap in a damp paper towel & microwave for 3-7 mins, depending on the microwave. Steaming them will produce a moister tamale. To reheat refrigerated tamales, wrap in a damp paper towel & microwave for about 1-2 mins. You could also steam them for about 5 mins. Make sure you leave the corn husk on while reheating!

First off if you have never made tamales plan on 3 hours to roll the things in addition to time listed this was not easy. Also use the butchers twine the corn husk strings just keep breaking. After soaking the corn husks for 3 hours dump the water and put hot tap water back in the hot water makes them more flexible . I added additional seasoning to the meat because it had no flavor. The masa was dry but I believe this may have been due to me using crisco instead of lard.

After living in PHoenix for 3 years, my husband begged me to try tamales this year. I must say, this recipe is far better than good. I read a couple of recipes, so I wandered a little from this recipe. I used the Ancho chiles, but also used 4 oz. of the New Mexico chiles. Plus I used 1 BULB of garlic for the meat preparation, as well as 1 BULB of garlic in the chile preparation. As for the chile preparation, I used a totally different method, which took far less effort. I removed stems and seeds. Then placed all chiles in stock pot with enough water to just cover them. I boiled them for about 30 minutes with 1/2 sliced onion, cumin, garlic, oregano, and white vinegar. I let this cool slightly, and then placed chiles and 2 ladles of chile broth into a blender. Blend on high for about 1 min. until thoroughly liquified. I had to do this in batches. Then I poured blended mixture into large bowl, and stirred once all of the chiles and juice were blended to incorporate it all together. This was WONDERFUL! Note that chile mixture will be slightly bitter, but flavors of the meat and the sweetness of the masa balanced this all out in the end. I cannot tell you how pleased I was with this outcome. BEST tamales ever made!!!

I followed this basic recipe, but used humanely harvested wild pork and I make my masa just a little different. But this is the way to do it right. I do use quite a bit more garlic in the meat mixture and the masa and I smoke the meat for 2-3 hours prior to braising it in a crock pot until it falls apart easily.

I made this with a few tweaks and everything turned out great! I used a slow cooker for the beef, although I threw small amounts of cumin, a single ancho (torn apart), oregano, and garlic into the crock pot but followed the rest of the recipe exactly...adding the very same ingredients again when required in their suggested amounts. Also, don't use a knife to spread the Masa!!!! Use Saran wrap and spread it with your hand, it won't stick to that.

Very very good.... BUT, I made some adjustments and it was quicker and tasted just like the tamales that I had in Oaxica, Mexico. * I used ground beef. I added garlic and a small chopped onion. Once cooked and drained-I used a food processor to mince the meat. I stirred in a small jar of stewed peppers. Once the tamales were ready to steam, I put a 9inch aluminum pan (I cut holes in it) inside a large pot. I stood each tamale up and steamed on 'medium' for about 45 minutes. I also drenched 4-5 paper towels on top of the pot, then I put the lid on. Served with crackers and Sirachi hot sauce....!

I used pork instead of beef. Don't do spicy so I used garlic n red pepper flakes while cooking the meat in crockpot. Shredded n refrigerated over night. Then I used 1 c broth small can of tomato sauce some more garlic salt and Smokey mesquite seasoning. And didn't have lard so I used the fat off the broth and Crisco off another Masa dough recipe. So I kinda made my own with the guidance of this recipe and another. People in my area are selling tamales $30/12. That is crazy but they are time consuming. I decided to make my own, first time making them.

These tamales were really good. I had a hard time knowing when my masa has enough liquid, so ended up taking a small amount and testing to see when I had too much liquid, then trying to match the consistency of the bulk of the masa to that just before the test amount was over-saturated. 9 cups was also way too much masa. I used maybe half, and I didn’t spread it super-thin on each tamale. The beef came out amazingly, but I did add almost 2 oz. extra mild chili powder. I added it in small amounts and to taste.

Wow - made these today, but with Pork instead, some with just cheese. Very good and I thought easy to make... Thanks for the recipe and easy instructions. Also, I didn't tie mine, I just folded the bottome end over and stood them up, when steaming the tamales, I did cover the tamales with corn husks while steaming (these were things some of my latina girl friends told me to do :)...)

We are making these right now as I type for the second time. They came out great the first time. However, for step number 4 for the meat preparation, when following the recipe exactly after adding 1 cup of beef broth, it was very thick and pasty, and once meat would be added, there'd be nothing to simmer. This time, we added 3 cups of beef broth and then the meat and it was still pretty dry but we're going with that this time.

love this recipe.

Totally a new staple in my household.

Excellent recipe my family loves it

I didn’t stick to the recipe exactly, but everyone says the tamales were delicious. Very tasty.

I have made this batch twice now. They are FANTASTIC!

I used about a 2 1/2 lb roast but kept the seasonings and peppers the same. We could have used more heat for personal taste, but overall a great recipe! Thank you for sharing!

I boiled the beef in a orange salsa and pre seasoned. Much juicier and maintained most of the size of the original raw meat.

PERFECT.

Really, really good. Allow plenty of time to assemble (roll) them, but they’re worth it!