BACON TAMALES

Christmas time has many traditions for lots of different people. One tradition that I like is the Christmas tamale. Tamales traditionally are stuffed with chicken, pork, and beef. There are even sweet tamales made with cinnamon and raisins. Tamales can be stuffed with anything your imagination desires. How about bacon tamales? Oh yes, bacon, roasted peppers and jack cheese will fill these corn masa tubes of joy. The secret to good tamales is fresh masa. Masa is a corn based dough that is used to wrap the filling. Fresh masa can be purchased at Mexican specialty markets or you local tortilleria. Todays masa was purchased at 'La Finca' in Oakland California. We are using some peppers that we procurred last summer. They were fresh roasted and sealed away in the Chilebrown Icecave.

Bacon Tamales

1. 4 pounds of fresh masa
2. 2 dozen corn husks
3. 1 pound of sliced bacon (fried till crisp and cut into large chunks)
4. 1 pound of roasted green peppers cut into strips
5. 1 pound of jack cheese cut into strips
6. 1 cup of bacon fat (Do not be scared! This will make your tamales rich and delicious)
7. 3/4 cup chipotle in adobo puree

The only trick to making tamales is to have all your ingredients ready and in place. Take your masa and add chipotle puree and bacon fat. Mix well. Take a corn hush and add 1/4 cup of masa and spread evenly into a square shape. Add a strip of cheese, pepper and bacon. Fold into cylinder and fold bottom end up. Place assembled tamales into a steamer and cook for aprox 40 minutes. When the dough is firm and the cheese is melted they are done.

These tamales where served with some grilled steak, rice and some refried beans. More bacon fat was added to the beans. Christmas time only comes around once a year so do not fret about the bacon love. This is one hearty meal. The tamales were so good that I went straight to the couch to celebrate. This is comfort food that puts a smile on my face. The green chile gave this tamale a little kick in the pants. Cheers!