Slow Cooked Beef Tamales

It only takes an hour to cook tamales in a steamer. Any kind of steamer pot with a lid will work. It is OK to steam frozen tamales. The steam will perfectly thaw the tamales and cook them.

The tamales can be frozen and put directly into the steamer. Once your steamer is steaming rapidly we suggest breifly turning off the heat to safely load the tamales in the steamer. Same goes for removing the tamales from the steamer. Turn the steamer off - safety first!

The tamales will come wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. Remove the plastic and leave the tamales in the foil. Put the foil packages into the steamer for approximatly 1 hour.

The way to check if the tamales are finished cooking is to unwrap a corn husk on one of the tamales. If the masa sticks to the corn husk then the tamales need to steam longer.

Making tamales is challenging but fun. Eating them is easy and we've discovered some interesting ways to incorporate tamales into some amazing dishes.

TAMALE EGG SCRAMBLE -- scramble some eggs, add cheese, your favorite veggies, and fold in one or two tamales cut in pieces. This makes an awesome breakfast. We use melted cheese sauce at our restaurant. Serve with tortillas and make breakfast tacos with a little of your favorite salsa on top. It's a huge crowd pleaser.

BURRITO -- use a 10 or 12 inch tortilla and make your favorite burrito with all the accoutrements you love in your burrito. The tamale in this dish is the hero. Tamales wrapped up in burritos is one of the best food mashups ever. Many vegetarian and vegan folks love making burritos.

PINWHEELS -- cover the top of a tortilla with generous layer with spicy hummus. We like using spinach tortillas, sun-dried tomatoe tortillas. Lay down two tamales end to end on the hummus. Roll up the tortilla around the tamales. Cut off the uneven ends. Finally, make bite size pinwheel pieces as large as you want. We like keeping them to bite size and we cut on the bias at a fairly sharp angle. They make great tamale hors d'oeuvres.

NACHOS -- put one layer of chips on a plate top them with your favorite beans, cheese sauce, and pico or salsa. Add tamale pieces evenly ontop. Then add another layer of chips and put the same ingredients on top. It's simple to do and it tastes amazing!

Dough (Masa): Corn Flour, Water, Corn Oil, Chili Powder, Cumin, Salt, Baking Powder.

Filling: Beef Tenderloin, Tomato, Onion, Garlic, Worcestershire Sauce (Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Caramel Color, Sugar, Spices, Anchovies, Natural Flavor, Tamarind), Black Pepper, Salt.