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tamale 101
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
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You are missing out my friend. Seriously one of the top foods
Do you mean the tamale or the corn husk?
Yes
Same thing
I've had a couple over the years and was totally unimpressed. It wasn't bad, just kinda bland mush. I guess it must vary a lot given how you're rating it
You have to get a good connect. You'll find them where you least expect. I used to buy tamales from the place that refilled my propane tanks.
Somewhere in your city there exists a retired Mexican man driving an SUV with an Igloo cooler in the back full of 300 tamales his wife made this morning. There's at least one in every big city. These are the tamales you want. You'll find them at some random street corner near the Home Depot or near a mechanic's shop and they are some of the best food you'll ever eat.
We must protect our trunk tamale men and women at all costs. Them, and the elote street corn sellers.
You literally just described my hookup. He goes to the bars here in Houston. He also has homemade sauces his wife made in small containers that go with each half dozen sold or to buy a jar by itself. He comes out less often in the last year (gee, I fucking wonder why) but I got in good with him and have his number so he'll meet me anytime between noon and midnight most days.
Anyone who wants a real tamale experience, listen to this person's advice. And if you still don't like them, well you gave them a fair shot. And that's ok too.
100% this. Store-bought or restaurant tamales almost never taste as good as home made.
Honestly I kind of like the cheap individually wrapped ones from the frozen aisle lol
Nothing comes close to a trunk/cart tamale, of course.
The best tamales I've ever had have always been from random people who approach me in a Home Depot parking lot.
this works for everything
Lol, I wish I could say the same. Most people just approach me for cigarettes or money.
Mexican here, tamal (without e) is a class of foods, think of it like cake or pie, maybe not quite as varied, but definitely not a single thing, there are good tamales and bad tamales.
Am I reading it right that a tamal is basically a burrito steamed in a corn husk?
Corn isn't as pervasive in the Europes and Asia, but I'm sometimes making something approaching a burrito, in a wheat-based wrapping — sort of a Mexiconized shawarma. Heard of tamales a bunch of times, and could get a corn tortilla for it, but not sure what steaming adds outside of making the whole thing softer.
A tamal is made of dough so the steaming is done so the dough isn't raw, I don't think it's comparable with a burrito which is some sort of taco made of fluor tortilla
There are some tamales that aren't made of dough though and still called tamales, it's usually meats where I live but I'm sure it's different in other areas
Done right, it's an amazing, flavorful filling with a relatively thin shell of special ground and leavened corn flour around the outside. Most of the bad ones i've had were 90% rubbery unseasoned masa with a thin stripe of meat down the center (cheap). I've been practicing for ages and i'm only up to "not bad" on a scale of 1 to 10 :)
Mexican food at a lot of chain places is made as cheap as possible, and while cheap tacos are still fucking delicious, it doesn't translate well into every dish.
There is a guy who shows up with a cooler full of piping hot tamales about once a week down the street. He puts up a little folding table, a crappy little chair and it's cash only. $1 for the best fucking tamale ever made by man. It's hard to make sure to get there before he sells out. It's usually within an hour.
depends on the tamale, what you describe sounds like canned or 'fast' food tamales.
If you ever see an old Mexican on the side of the road in California selling Tamales that's how you get them.
the closest "mexican" restaurant (they fuck up nachos, somehow) is in the other city, the closest taco bell is in the capital city, the closest mexican food place i'd have access to that wouldn't make an actual Mexican person cry would probably be somewhere in Spain? i assume
:(
This is a nightmare
Tbf, nachos is a newish dish created specifically for americans, so that wouldn't be my test for the quality of a mexican restaurant