Delta Tamales vs Mexican Tamales: What's the Difference?

The dough: cornmeal vs masa

The Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) says most Delta cooks use cornmeal, which gives a gritty texture, where Latin-style tamales use corn flour. Some Delta cooks do use masa. A Jackson Free Press feature describes Delta dough that ranges from thick and toothsome to smooth, and notes it is rather plain, which is why the filling gets so much spice.

Mexican masa is usually worked differently. Rick Bayless beats lard until light, works in the masa and broth, and describes central Mexican tamales as light and fluffy. Our Mississippi Delta hot tamales use a cornmeal dough, while our red chile pork tamales follow the Bayless lard-beaten masa method.

Wrapped, tied and cooked differently

Delta tamales are mostly wrapped in corn shucks, though the SFA says a few cooks use parchment paper. They are tied into bundles, three at a time according to the Jackson Free Press and six in the Cook's Country version. Cook's Country stands the bundles upright in a pot of water and simmers them about 30 minutes.

The Mississippi Blues Trail puts the split plainly: tamales in Mexico are usually steamed, and in the Delta they are often simmered and served with the cooking water. Mexican wrappers vary too. Corn husks are common in northern Mexico and Texas, while banana leaves are more typical in the south, and the leaf gives squarer, thicker, moister tamales, a Texas Standard interview explains. Our Oaxacan black mole tamales are folded into banana leaf and steamed for an hour and a half.

Size, spice and filling

The SFA says Delta tamales are smaller than Latin-style tamales and have considerably more spice. In the Cook's Country recipe the spice mix goes into the dough, the beef filling and the cooking water, and the recipe's headnote says the result is heavily spiced and stewed rather than steamed, unlike Mexican tamales.

Pork is the traditional Delta filling, according to the SFA and the Jackson Free Press, with beef, turkey and chicken also used. Mexico's range is wider: pork in red or green sauce, beef, chicken, beans and cheese, poblano strips, mole and sweet versions all turn up in the Texas Standard conversation.

How they are eaten, and who made them first

A Delta tamale usually arrives with its cooking juice, which the SFA calls a byproduct of simmering. Cook's Country thickens it into a sauce. Visit the Delta's tamale trail guide says White Front Cafe in Rosedale serves tamales easy to spread on saltine crackers, and the SFA notes that some cooks fry them or smother them in chili and cheese.

Where the Delta version came from is disputed. The most common story is Mexican workers in the early 1900s, but other theories exist, and we sort through them in where Delta hot tamales came from. To settle it at the table, cast your vote in our Mexican vs Delta tamales debate.

Questions people ask