Hot Tamales!
Bringing sunshine to my day.
Years ago feral hogs did not roam on our countryside. They thrived in the northern part of our county, but they were never a concern on our property. Within the last ten years, feral hogs have moved into our area. They are destructive animals. The hogs root up pastures overnight while they forage for food. The boars are mean and aggressive weighing easily over 200 pounds. Farmers and ranchers do not welcome these unwanted guests.
My husband built a trap for them out of metal fence posts and cattle panels. He baits it with corn. Sometimes he sprinkles berry flavored Kool-aid on the corn to help entice the hogs. The other day we had five trapped hogs. My husband, Kyla, and Jake processed them. We gave one to my brother and kept three for ourselves. Usually we smoke the hams, shoulders, and ribs, which are very good. The meat is very flavorful and lean from the foraging wild animals. It is not gamey. I actually prefer it to domesticated pork.
This time we wanted to do something different. We decided to make tamales out of one of the 60 lb. boars. I stewed it in water with an onion and a whole head of garlic. In a small pot, I boiled 1/2 lb. of ancho peppers. After 15 minutes, I skinned the peppers, chopped up the pulp, and reserved the juice. Then I shred the meat with a fork. I added the chili pulp and spices. I mixed it well and refrigerated it overnight.
Before we left to go to church, I soaked the corn husks in warm water. You have to weigh them down because they want to float. I used a bucket of lard and a dinner plate to do the job.
When we got home Jake ground the meat in our electric grinder to make it easier to spread and eat. I mixed up the masa envelope with hog broth, chili broth, baking powder, spices, and lard. I could only do relatively small batches because of the size of my mixing bowl. My husband worked with Jake in an assembly line. Lane spread the masa while Jake filled it with meat and rolled it. I worked with Kyla similarly.
Kyla is filling a tamale with wild hog.
My children found that sticking an end of the tamale under a plate helped keep the desired shape until the steamer was free. They creatively decided to make a sun shape. Each sun was about 36 tamales. Our tamale steamer would hold 9 dozen tamales. We steamed each batch for one hour. Seven and a half hours later we turned off the stove and began wrapping the last batch.
It was hard work. It used almost every inch of counter space in my kitchen. It left a huge mess, but it was worth it to me. First, the wild boar tamales taste are delicious. We made them mild for the benefit of our children. It was a great use of the free and healthy meat. And, it is gluten-free! It was fun sitting around the table with two of our children for hours visiting while we worked. We told funny stories, tried tongue twisters, but mainly enjoyed being together. Another plus, of course, is a year’s supply of tamales. We made 56 dozen. Yes, 56. That is a grand total of 672 hot tamales!
[...] I have already related how we made almost 60 dozen wild boar tamales in an article called “Hot Tamales.” I sure did not want to make any more tamales at that point in time. Instead we made [...]
Thanks for the tutorial on tamales. I’ll include it on the carnival today!
Mrs. P
[...] ad nauseum. Not too long ago, we made wild boar tamales. I wrote about it in “Hot Tamales.” It cost us about $40.00 to make 56 1/2 dozen tamales. We gave some away to family and [...]