Tamale recipes???

[EOE4x4]

My wife, baby, and I were visiting my family this weekend in eastern NC. My dad, before he died, used to trade medical checkups (dr) with the Mexican migrant workers across the street for homemade tamales. I believe the ladies are from Sinaloa, but I haven't spoken with them in years. My brother speaks fluent spanish and is good friends with one of their sons, so last night for his birthday they brought him a nice bag of 25 fresh, wonderful tamales.
For the past couple years, my wife and I were able to push the thought of great tamales to the back of our mind. Especially after getting a few really bad ones at restaurants whenever we'd try to fill the void in our stomachs with store-bought tamales.
So, I know they are a major pain to make. But anyone have any good tamale recipes. The ones these ladies make are filled with chicken, green olives, and potatoes.
If we can find a good recipe, we'd like to spend a saturday this month making a big batch of happiness wrapped in corn husk :chef:

ps: we're not afraid of the good stuff like lard, etc...

 

[Pedro]

They aren't really that hard to make. I tend to make them more torpedo shaped like cigars just beacuse of the size of the corn husks that I get around here.

The typical "fill" is just whatever is left after making a big batch of tacos. so chicken or steak or veggies. I typically fill with some molle, wrap, freeze on a plate and then vaccum seal whatever we don't eat right away.

The masa, I just mix similarly to tortillas, adding more lard or shortening a pinch more salt and some more water to make it like a paste. spread it out, fill, wrap done.

I ran out of molle once and used a cajun BBQ sauce and it was EXCELENT, but definitely not 'traditional'.

 

[DarinM]

Just a couple weekends ago I went with my closest friend from highschool back home to our homecoming football game (our team got destroyed) and then to his grandmother's birthday party. If we go back in time almost 30 years [sfx: Wayne's World flashback]... I've been eating tamales and loving them. My friend Rick and I go over to his grandmother's house and being typical 13 year olds are starving. I opened the refrigerator and was horrified, shocked and traumatized by the pig's head sitting there staring back at me.
"What is that?!?!" "What's it for?!?" "Why does your grandma have a head in here?!?!"
Rick, showing the kindness and consideration that has made him one of my lifelong closest friends, just looked at me and asked me what exactly did I think the tamales I had been eating tons of were made out of.
I pondered this for a moment and decided that his grandma wasn't going to kill me.
I've continued to eat tamales made out of cooked down head. Pork, beef, either is about the best meat you can get for these things.
Flavored with a bunch of chiles, comino, masa mixed with a bit of stock to give some more flavor.
I love taking tamales and pan frying them 'til the masa is crispy for breakfast. Que sabroso!!!

 

[Idlehour]

Haha. "these taste great, what does Cabeza mean anyway?"

Cabrito(goat)is another tasty one that can catch people by surprise.

Around here it is traditional to put a green olive at the end of each tamale. Unpitted. This can be painful when you forget after a drink or two on new years

The local specialty is "green corn" tamales. These have green chiles and cheese for filling and heavy cream mixed in the masa. they are a lot lighter/sweeter tasting than red tamales. never made them myself, my recipe consists of "buy wrapped in foil from the guy in the parking lot selling them out of an igloo cooler, open hood, place between manifold and injector rail, drive"