I made tamales yesterday on my own for the first time in my life. They were very tasty but not like my nanas?

Question

What do you think could have been missing? If I had to guess I would say salt and chili but when I was preparing them the meat and masa was sooo salty and I used about 20 chilis. Is there another spice of something that goes in to keep the flavor?

Answer 1

Cumin is a key to the flavor of your meat in Tamales, also the type of chiles makes a difference, I like to use Chipotles and Adobo sauce. Did you make your Tamale Masa from scratch and use Lard? That's important to that flavor aspect

Answer 2

one trick alot of people miss is useing bacon fat instead of lard in the masa. and go to the mexican store and buy some masa pre made its already seasoned and very cheap. when you get home whip the bacon fat until it doubles in volume and turns white. then slowly add the masa this will make a very light and tasty mixture. the key to the filling is patience. put all of your ingredients into a crock pot and let them slow cook over night. and pick up some fresh chile powder from the mexican store while you are there. then add the basics cumin oragano garlic onion salt pepper. if you use fresh chile go with a mix of ancho and guajillo. and keep trying soon you will have a recipe everbody wants.

Answer 3

Have you tried mixing chili powder into the masa? Knead some of it into the masa to give it a very light orange shade to it.

what ingredients did you use to prepare the meat? Did you mix in chile ancho (pre-boiled) without seeds into it?

Answer 4

Practice makes perfect. So it was your first time? Keep doing it and it will get better over time that way you can add or take away spices/ingredients to make it your own. I have been trying to make my mom's stuffed shells for almost a year and they never taste the same. Close, but no cigar. That's how it is.

Answer 5

You didn't mention what spices you did use. I always use garlic, oregano and cumin in mine. I also use a little sugar which really seems to make a difference in the outcome.