San Antonio Christmas Tamales
Long, thin San Antonio tamales with more filling than masa: lean pork simmered with raisins, then cooked in a tomato, green chile and oregano sauce, rolled in husks like cigars for the Christmas tamalada.
San Antonio's chili queens sold tamales in the city's plazas from the 1860s until the late 1930s; when Stephen Crane visited in 1895 he listed chili con carne, tamales, enchiladas, chili verde and frijoles (Frank W. Jennings, Journal of San Antonio:). Pilar Zazueta told the Austin Chronicle that San Antonio and El Paso were among the first Texas cities with a commercial holiday tamale trade, and that she has seen tamale businesses selling to the public as early as the 1920s.
At home it is still a tamalada. The Christian Science Monitor's 2008 piece on San Antonio's holiday tamales describes a family assembly line that turned out about 40 dozen in a day for the freezer, and a local cook's rule that there should never be more dough than filling (Clare Leschin-Hoar, December 10, 2008:). The recipe that runs with it, adapted from San Antonio's Mary Alice Cisneros, rolls the tamales into long, thin cigars.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Long, thin San Antonio tamales with more filling than masa: lean pork simmered with raisins, then cooked in a tomato, green chile and oregano sauce, rolled in husks like cigars for the Christmas tamalada.
🇲🇽 The original
The Mexican original is fresh masa beaten with lard, spread on soaked corn husks around pork in red chile sauce, folded and steamed until the masa pulls away from the husk. See the Red Chile Pork Tamales (Tamales Rojos de Puerco) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
More filling than masa
A thin 2 tablespoon layer of masa around 2 tablespoons of saucy pork makes a slim tamal where the filling carries the flavor, the San Antonio style the Monitor describes.
Raisins in the pot
Simmering the raisins with the pork plumps them and sweetens the stock, which then goes into the masa, so the sweet note runs through both.
Step by step
- Step 1
Put the pork in a Dutch oven, cover with water and add salt, pepper and the raisins. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer about 1 hour, until tender. Strain, saving the stock, and shred the meat with two forks (keep the raisins with it). Meanwhile soak the husks in warm water 30 minutes.
- Step 2
Purée the onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, green chiles, jalapeño and sugar in a food processor.
- Step 3
Melt the 1 tbsp lard in a skillet over medium heat, add the purée and bay leaf and cook about 10 minutes, stirring. Take out the bay leaf, stir in the pork and season to taste.
- Step 4
Beat the 1/3 cup lard with an electric mixer 3 to 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Mix the masa harina, salt and baking powder, and add it to the lard about 1/4 cup at a time, alternating with about 1/4 cup of warm stock at a time, until soft and spreadable.
- Step 5
With wet fingers, spread about 2 tablespoons dough into a rectangle on each husk, leaving about 3/4 inch at the sides. Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling down the center and fold so the dough covers the filling. The tamal should look like a long, thin cigar; fold the bottom up.
- Step 6
Stand the tamales upright, folded ends down, in a steamer over water, lay extra husks on top, cover and steam about 1 1/2 hours over medium heat, adding boiling water as needed.
- Step 7
Unwrap one: the masa should be fully cooked and set, not doughy. If not, steam 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve, or cool and freeze for the holidays.
San Antonio Christmas Tamales
Serves 6 (4 tamales each) · 24 tamales · 3 hr 40 min total
Pork filling
- 1 lb lean boneless pork loin, cut into 2-inch pieces
- Salt and black pepper
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 large garlic clove, chopped
- 1/2 lb tomatoes (about 1 cup), finely chopped
- 1/2 (8 oz) can tomato sauce (1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 cup canned green chiles, drained
- Roasted, peeled and seeded jalapeño, to taste
- A pinch of sugar
- 1 tbsp lard
- 1 bay leaf
Dough
- 1/3 cup lard
- 2 cups masa harina
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups warm pork stock from the pot (or chicken broth)
- 24 dried corn husks, plus extras for the steamer
Method
- Put the pork in a Dutch oven, cover with water and add salt, pepper and the raisins. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer about 1 hour, until tender. Strain, saving the stock, and shred the meat with two forks (keep the raisins with it). Meanwhile soak the husks in warm water 30 minutes.
- Purée the onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, green chiles, jalapeño and sugar in a food processor.
- Melt the 1 tbsp lard in a skillet over medium heat, add the purée and bay leaf and cook about 10 minutes, stirring. Take out the bay leaf, stir in the pork and season to taste.
- Beat the 1/3 cup lard with an electric mixer 3 to 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Mix the masa harina, salt and baking powder, and add it to the lard about 1/4 cup at a time, alternating with about 1/4 cup of warm stock at a time, until soft and spreadable.
- With wet fingers, spread about 2 tablespoons dough into a rectangle on each husk, leaving about 3/4 inch at the sides. Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling down the center and fold so the dough covers the filling. The tamal should look like a long, thin cigar; fold the bottom up.
- Stand the tamales upright, folded ends down, in a steamer over water, lay extra husks on top, cover and steam about 1 1/2 hours over medium heat, adding boiling water as needed.
- Unwrap one: the masa should be fully cooked and set, not doughy. If not, steam 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve, or cool and freeze for the holidays.
Adapted from "San Antonio Christmas Tamales", adapted from Mary Alice Cisneros, in The Christian Science Monitor, December 10, 2008: halved from 48 tamales to 24. Its 1 hour pork simmer, 10 minute sauce, 2 tablespoon portions and 1 1/2 hour steam are its own. It gives no husk soaking time, mixing time or heat level; our 30 minute soak, 3 to 4 minute beat and medium heat are ours, as are the halved can amounts and the serving count. The Christian Science Monitor. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Linda Eckhardt's tip in the Monitor: make the filling the day before and chill it overnight.
- Cook a big batch and freeze; reheat in a steamer or one at a time in the microwave.
- Save every drop of the pork stock; it seasons the masa.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Texas tamales are smaller than Mexican tamales. Disputed: the Monitor describes San Antonio's as long and thin with more filling than masa, but we found no authoritative source that says Texas tamales are smaller as a rule.
- The tamalada is a Christmas tradition in Texas. Documented (Christian Science Monitor; Austin Chronicle).
- The chili queens sold tamales. Documented: Stephen Crane listed them in 1895 (Jennings, UIW).
- San Antonio sells holiday tamales by the hundreds of thousands. Documented for 2008 only, as the restaurants' own counts in the Monitor; treat as dated.
Every other tamale
Red Chile Pork Tamales (Tamales Rojos de Puerco)
Pork shoulder simmered down in a smooth guajillo chile sauce, wrapped in light, fluffy lard-beaten masa and steamed upright in corn husks, the central Mexican way.
Green Chicken Tamales (Tamales Verdes de Pollo)
Shredded chicken in a tangy tomatillo and serrano salsa verde, tucked into masa beaten fluffy with lard and chicken broth and steamed in corn husks.
Oaxacan Black Mole Tamales in Banana Leaves
Smooth lard-beaten masa, shredded pork and chicken and a spoonful of glossy mole negro, folded into square banana-leaf packets and steamed for an hour and a half.
Pink Sweet Tamales (Tamales de Dulce)
Sweet masa beaten with whipped lard and sugar, tinted pale pink and studded with raisins, steamed in corn husks and eaten with hot atole or champurrado.
Rajas con Queso Tamales (Poblano and Cheese)
Strips of roasted poblano chile and melting cheese tucked into lard-beaten masa and steamed in corn husks, the vegetarian tamal at every tamalada.
Uchepos (Michoacán Fresh Corn Tamales)
Sweet fresh corn blended with milk, butter and piloncillo, wrapped in fresh green husks from the same ears and steamed until just set, served with crema, cheese and salsa.
Venezuelan Hallacas
Venezuela's Christmas tamal: achiote-gold corn dough around a beef and pork stew with olives, raisins, capers, peppers and chicken, wrapped in banana leaves like a gift and boiled.
Mississippi Delta Hot Tamales
Small, spicy beef tamales with a gritty cornmeal dough, tied in bundles and simmered upright in a pot of seasoned water, then served with the juice thickened into a sauce.
New Mexico Red Chile Pork Tamales
Slow-roasted pork shoulder in a New Mexico red chile sauce, with a little of the same sauce beaten into the masa, rolled in corn husks, steamed and served under more red chile.
1918 Tamale Pie
The World War I version of America's tamale casserole: seasoned ground beef, onion and tomatoes baked between two layers of plain cornmeal mush, with no wrapper, no steamer and, in 1918, no chile.
Skillet Tamale Pie
Chili-spiced ground sirloin, black beans, tomatoes and cheddar under a quick cornbread batter, baked right in the skillet in about 15 minutes.
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