Hours of preparation have resulted in six stainless steel pots and bowls of fresh ingredients strewn on the flowered tablecloth at Florinda Miguel Paz’s Hillsboro home.
Miguel Paz evaluates the supplies she will need to prepare a batch of tamales, including corn husks, masa (maize dough), shredded pork, cheese, chile peppers, and homemade salsa verde (green salsa).
She describes how long it took to make each ingredient while assembling one tamal at a time. Hours of preparation. Making each tamal slowly is a task in and of itself.
Miguel Paz recalled her first attempt at making tamales and remarked in Spanish, “I learned it by myself.” Even if they didn’t work out, I kept trying until I figured out the proper method.
Since she is not working at the moment, a lot of people have requested her to sell the tamales, which are a favorite in her town. Miguel Paz clarified, however, that her homemade tamales are a treat for family and friends only since she finds it very difficult to make them for sale due to arthritis in her knees. In addition, her pot is not large enough.
In Hillsboro, Florinda Miguel Paz makes tamales in her kitchen.Profenna Chiara
She begins by spreading a handful of masa down the bottom half of a dried corn husk, and then she selects her ingredients, switching between cheese and red chilies and pork and green salsa. She places the packed tamales in a basin to steam, tightly wrapping each corn husk.
Families across North America are embracing the tamale-making ritual as they get ready for Christmas, the busiest tamale season. Unquestionably one of the most delectable holiday delights to open are these little bundles of tasty stuffing, wrapped in corn husks and covered in masa.
In addition, tamales have a long history dating back thousands of years to ancient Mesoamerica and are still a mainstay of many Central and South American cultures. The ma z, or corn, is where it all starts.
If we go back to the Aztecs and Mayans in Central America, that has been the main source of food, the ma z, said Jaime Miranda, founder of M&M Marketplace in Hillsboro. The tamales, it s representative of the ma z and one of the main three foods that Mesoamerican cultures used as their main source of food for many years.
Traditionally enjoyed during colder months, tamales pair perfectly with a warm mug of champurrado, a rich, spiced chocolate drink made with masa, said Miranda.
According to Miranda, the majority of individuals consume it every morning before heading to work. I recall that being customary in Mexico between the hours of 5 and 8 a.m. Early in the morning, those who prepare their tamales come out. And by 9 a.m. they re already sold out.
Miguel Paz s memories from living in Oaxaca are similar.
Food always sells in Mexico, she said. That s what Mexican people have always done. It s important for them to not lose that type of culture.
At M&M Marketplace, a hub for entrepreneurs in Hillsboro, Miranda organizes theAnnual Fiesta de Tamales, a fundraiser for the Hillsboro Schools Foundation. Beyond raising money with tamal sales, makers from the market submit their creations for a friendly competition.
The tamales, made with an array of fillings, were evaluated by community members and a panel of judges. Attendees sampled bites from each entry and cast their votes for their favorites. As a lover of tamales, I took this opportunity very seriously. Taking a bite of each tamal opened my eyes to the variety of fillings and cultural flavors that exist.
At M&M Marketplace, the Annual Fiesta de Tamales offered a taste of nine different makers’ tamales.Profenna Chiara
Growing up in Texas, my mother always made savory tamales filled with beef or chicken. The event introduced me to tamales made with sweet corn masa and fruit fillings. As the owner of an insatiable sweet tooth, these were near life-changing.
Beyond M&M Marketplace, countless restaurants and food trucks offer a wide variety of tamales, from traditional pork and chicken to sweet corn and pineapple. Many of the distinct styles represent the cultural variety in Mexico and Central America.
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For example, in Oaxaca, tamales are wrapped with banana leaves, said Miguel Paz. Where I m from, a small town in Oaxaca, they make another type of tamal that is like a tortilla. You prepare the mole, the chicken and everything and you put it in the same way, but it is a tortilla.
But the way Miguel Paz makes her tamales is all her own, she said. Cooking has always been something she has enjoyed that brings her family together. Making a big batch always brings her sons, scattered over the state, back to her home with their growing families.
Florinda Miguel Paz’s homemade pork and green salsa tamales.Chiara Profenna
Regardless of how they re made or where they come from, tamales tend to bring people together.
I feel like tamales are a good representation of bringing family together, Miranda said. So, it s a good food to have every time you re going to be joining friends and family.
Over time, they evolved into a meal for special occasions, revered for their long history and cultural significance in Mesoamerica. Today, they can be found in most Latino households during Christmas.
Most people make them for their special events, Miranda said. For example, whether it s Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year s Eve, birthday, quincea eras. But mainly during the winter events.
Even in my own family, I ve seen the tradition bring people closer during the holidays. Gathered around my mother s kitchen island in my childhood home in San Antonio, the entire family is wrangled into an assembly-line of sorts, filling and wrapping tamales with practiced efficiency.
Armed with a newfound appreciation for tamales, I ll certainly have some new recipes to test out this year.
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Chiara Profenna covers religion, faith and cultural connections. Reach her at 503-221-4327;[email protected]@chiara-profennaon BlueSky.
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