Video: How to Make Tamales

I agree with cookinglady,,plus to have the authentic tamales your going to have to get your masa from a Mexican tortilla factory/Mexican bread store. That's where I get mine.

Hi Cookinglady and Mel, I want to make tamales but I need an authentic receipe of how to make them. Could you email me your receipe to maria.hooker@gmail.com?

As a Mexican-American, I agree with Mel. This is definitely the short-cut/ Americanized way to make tamales, which will not turn out well. I'm disappointed that Allrecipes didn't ask a Latino cook for a demonstration and tips as it did for some of the other world cuisine videos (e.g. pho or pad thai). Also, it's 1 tamal, 2 tamales. Someone with the appropriate background for this recipe would have known that.

Just don't think this is a 2 hour job, plan on a full day after you make the meat. The more hands the better..

I tried this method as well and had very disappointing results. The mesa never sat up as a "bread" and it was grainy and loose. It was a lot of work and a lot of money wasted. They were terrible.

We tried to make tamales today May 5th and were extremely disappointed with our results. The masa de harina we found in our area was yellow rather than the pale color of the video and I couldn't get a ball of it to float even when I added so much water that it became a soup. /we emded up frying the dough in a frying pan and layering the fillings on and covering with aniother pre cooked dough and baking in the oven. Tasted good but it certainly didn't look like tamales. I won't try it again as it is too much work for something that came out like this.

I have lived in El Paso almost 3 years now and tamales have been on my to try list for at least 2 years now. I think I may be ready to go ahead and giving them a try. Thank you!

Mels comments were very helpful, but couldn't read the complete thing.Would like to have read the rest of what he wrote. The video gave me an idea of what to do, but would like to tweek it with Mel's suggestions.

Your video demonstration of making tamales is effective I'm sure, but not for an outcome of "authentic" tamale creation. Having grown up in "Texican" home where tamales were the special occasion meal (made three to five times each year) for over 35 years, your video is at best, a "short-cut, Americanized" instruction for tamale making. While it is very good I’m sure, I have a few suggestions that might improve on your video. For great tamales, you should start by soaking the husks at least a day-and-a-half in advance; husks can be very tough and pliability is key. The meat you choose should be seasoned during initial preparation and it requires a healthy amount (but not too much) of fat to keep the filling from being too dry. The dough ball being dropped into a glass of water is a good visual of how the dough should look and feel when prepared properly, however the dough also requires seasoning and it should not be so pale in color (chili powder, garlic and onion will help). Spre

I can't wait to try this! My husbands birthday is May 5th - Cinco de Mayo & we are having a Mexican-style birthday party.