Tamale Chronicals
Red, White and Blue Tamales
by Todd Martin on 06/29/10
We live on the west side of 'A' Mountain. For those of you not in Tucson, 'A' Mountain is not really a mountain, it's more of a big hill. Near the top of 'A' mountain is a giant letter A made out of stone and rock. The story of the A is in 1915, after a successful football victory, a giant letter A was whitewashed at the top of Sentinel Peak by UofA students. One year later, the more permanent A was then assembled for $397. It is 162 feet high and 80 feet wide. After fifty years, it was refurbished by university groups and the Parks and Recreation Department, in 1966. The refurbishing took 165 sacks of regular cement, 38 sacks of white cement, 38 sacks of lime, 50 yards of regular sand and 4 yards of fine sand.
Anyway, every year there is a big fireworks display at the top of the mountain. From our house it looks like the fireworks are right above you. We have some of the best seats in the city. Our neighborhood has a big block party. Before I opened the Tamale Shoppe, I would make Tamales for special events. I thought a red, white and blue tamale would be great for the 4th of July. The first attempt was one tamale with 3 different colored masa's in it. I used food color in the white corn masa to make the red and blue masa. I stuffed them with a pineapple BBQ pork. The tamale tasted great but the masa colors were a little to 'bright' and not real looking. I loved the idea but had to do a better job on the masa, make it more authentic. Figuring out the blue masa was easy, blue corn meal. The masa came out beautiful, rustic, rich and of course, corny! The Red masa was a little more challenging. While you can get red corn meal it is not as prevalent as blue corn and more expensive. Also, I wanted something to bring another dimension to the party. I settled on pureed roasted red peppers. They brought out a nice hearty red color and flavor to the tamale.
So this year we are making our red white and blue tamales for the 4th of July. The Red tamale is smoked BBQ pork in the red pepper masa. The white tamale is smoked BBQ chicken in our white corn masa and the blue tamale is a vegetarian delight, calabasitas (zucchini, yellow squash, onion, tomatoes, corn and cheese) in the blue corn masa. They are available this week only so stop on by if you want to grab a package.
Tamale Chronicals
by Todd Martin on 06/21/10
Some of you may have been a fan of or read my old blog. As you know I stopped that blog about 6 months. Being someone that always has something to say I've started our new blog, The Tamale Chronicals. The Tamale Chronicals will be focused on the comings and goings of the Tucson Tamale Company and specifically on new tamale discoveries. We are going to start venturing into the wilds of the Americas in search of great tamales and new tamale ideas. Some of the recipes we will bring back to the Tamale Shoppe and replicate for all to try.
Next week we are going to be making our Red, White and Blue Tamales. It will be a package of 3 tamales. The first will be smoked BBQ pork wrapped in a rich, red pepper masa. The second will be smoked BBQ chicken wrapped in our traditional white corn masa. Rounding out the trio will be fresh veggies in blue corn masa. They will only be available the week before the fourth of July, so reserve yours early!
I hope you like the new blog and follow us regularly. Thanks, Todd, Sherry and the Staff of the Tucson Tamale Company
