Smoked Pork Tamales - Cowboy Kent Rollins
Servings 3 dozen
Ingredients
Smoked Pork
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small white onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 ½ lbs. pork butt
- Kent’s Mesquite seasoning or your favorite all-purpose seasoning
Red Sauce
- 3 dried guajillo chili peppers seeded and destemmed
- 3 dried ancho chili peppers seeded and destemmed
- 2 jalapeno peppers destemmed
- 2 serrano peppers destemmed
- 1 large white onion cut in half
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 16 oz bag of corn husks
Masa
- 2 ½ cups masa
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups hog lard or Manteca melted
- 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped green chilies
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees F. Note slow cooker method below.
- Pour the chicken broth into a large foil pan. Stir in the garlic, onion, cumin, and bay leaves.
- Cut the pork meat into about 1-inch slices. Season all sides well with the Mesquite seasoning and then place in the foil pan.
- Place on the smoker and cook for 45 minutes. Then cover with foil, and cook for another 3 to 4 hours, or until fork tender.
- Note: Two hours before the meat is done, submerge the corn husks in hot water (in a sink or bowl). Put a plate or bowl on top of the husks to weigh them down to be sure they stay submerged. Drain well before using.
- While the meat is smoking, prepare the sauce. Add the guajillos, anchos, onion, jalapenos, serranos, onion and garlic to a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat for about 15 minutes, or until all the ingredients are tender.
- Strain and add the contents to a blender. Blend until smooth. Strain the sauce to make sure it is smooth and to remove any skin/seeds.
- When the meat has finished, strain it from the broth and place in a bowl. Reserve the broth. Let cool slightly, then shred with two forks. Set aside.
- To prepare the masa: combine the masa, salt and black pepper in a large bowl.
- Begin by stirring in about 1 cup of the lard and 2 ½ cups of the meat broth into the masa. Stir in about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the red sauce.
- Lightly flour your hands and begin working the dough. Continue adding the meat broth and lard, about ½ cup at a time, until you get a moist consistency that will stick together, but will easily spread. Note: you may not end up using all the lard or broth.
- Pour the remaining red sauce and green chilies into the pulled pork and mix to combine.
- To assemble the tamales: Take a corn husk with the smooth side up, with the wide end at the top, and spoon about 2 tablespoons of the masa mixture toward the top of the husk. Smooth out to create a thin layer of the masa to the desired size (we did about 4 x 5-inch area).
- Top with about 2 tablespoons of the pork meat mixture down the center of the masa. Tightly roll the masa/pork mixture up and fold the bottom of the husk over. Repeat with the remaining husks and mixture. Note: you won’t end up using all the husks and you may have masa/filling remaining.
- Place the tamales, folded end down, in a tamale steamer. Cover the top with the remaining corn husks to hold in the moisture and cover with a lid. Steam for about 1 ½ to 2 hours, or until the masa sets up and the tamales easily release from the husks.
- Makes about 3 dozen.
Notes
Slow Cooker Method: Cut the pork meat into about 2-inch chunks. Season both sides well with the mesquite and then add to the Crock Pot. Top with the bay leaves and cover. Let cook for about 4 ½ to 5 hours, or until tender.