TAP INTO TRADITION: HOMEMADE TAMALES

This particular recipe, adapted from what my mother and I remember of my tatarabuela’s (great-grandmother) tamales, is rather specifically for tamales commonly made in Nogales, Sonora.

It was there that someone started adding potatoes and carrots to their tamales along with the usual olives – with the pit and only ever with the pit, as they otherwise never taste right – and pickled jalapeños.

Doña Elodia, my tatarabuela, would not be shown up. Raisins, added to this recipe, are not, to my knowledge, seen in savory Mexican tamales outside Sonora. But it shouldn’t be dismissed as an oddity but embraced as one of the many small surprises found inside these warm bundles.

Though the fillings are flexible, all Sonoran beef tamales should be generous in portion, with a simple husk fold, no cutesy corn husk bows adorning them, no wax paper wrapping the corn husk wrapping.

Two days? Oh yes, for those of you making your first foray into tamales, for your own sanity, I recommend breaking this process up into two days.