1 package corn husks or husks of many ears of corn, soaked for at least an hour

6 pound pork chuck
5 pound whole chicken
1/2 cup corn oil
6 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
water

2 pounds masa (corn) flour
2 cups corn oil
3 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
3 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons garlic powder

1. Add pork roast to a large pot and cover with water. Cook over medium-low heat until meat can be easily torn apart with a fork, about 2-3 hours. In a separate pot, do the same with the chicken.
2. Reserve stock from pork and chicken. Refrigerate and scoop off excess fat.
3. Remove skin from chicken. Shred meat from chicken and pork and mix together in a bowl.
4. Heat corn oil in a large sauce pan over low heat and add chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, pepper and salt. Stir until dissolved.
5. Mix corn oil mixture into the meat and refrigerate.
6. Combine corn flour, paprika, salt, cumin seed, chili powder and garlic powder in a bowl. Mix well.
7. Combine pork and chicken stock together and bring to a gentle simmer.
8. Gradually incorporate corn oil into the flour mixture, then add the broth, a ladle at a time, until it becomes the texture of smooth peanut butter. You will not need all of the stock.
9. Place about 1/2 cup of the corn flour mixture into the center of a corn husk and top with a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture.
10. Roll up the corn husk around the contents and tie ends with a string. Repeat with remaining filling and corn husks.
11. Steam tamales closely together until corn flour becomes stiff, about 1 hour.

Makes 40 servings

6 ears corn, shucked
4 chipotle peppers, chopped
3 tablespoons butter, softened
salt and pepper

1. Preheat grill to medium-low.
2. Combine chipotles, butter, salt and pepper and spread over corn.
3. Wrap corn in foil and place on the grill. Grill until corn is cooked, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

38 ounces canned Romano beans
3/4 cup corn oil
12 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

1. Heat 1 tablespoon corn oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the garlic, cumin, salt and pepper, stirring until fragrant.
2. Add the beans and mash with a fork. Gradually incorporate the remaining oil until you have a smooth paste. Serve.

Makes 6 servings

After the horrible Amiga’s experience, I thought I'd try my hand at an authentic Mexican recipe that I've never eaten nor attempted before. This ended up being far more than I bargained for, because Tamales are actually somewhat difficult without any previous know-how. I invited the closest Mexican I could find to help me assemble them, but to the best of her knowledge she could only tell me that they were too dry and that the shucks needed to be bigger. We made an effort to stick several together to encase everything, but we used way too much masa (which I forgot to add the oil to; likely why they were so dry) and not enough meat! I cut back quite a bit on the salt that was recommended and I still found them salty.

Despite being kind of cute, the tamales didn't really do it for me at all. I'm willing to give them another chance once we move to Montreal, since I'll be more likely to find a package of corn husks instead of husking a bunch of corn and working with that. I brought a half dozen of them or so to Shannon's work and everyone there, including her, thought that they were very good, though. This recipe could potentially make hundreds of tamales; I really have no idea, except that I didn't even feel like I put a dent in the filling and now have about 6 pounds of shredded, seasoned meat sitting in my fridge after making several dozen tamales.

To make use of the shucked corn I made Grilled Corn with Chipotle Butter. I honestly have no idea how long it takes to properly cook corn on the grill, but it seemed to turn out fine. There really only seemed to be a hint of chipotle spice. The rest was just sweet, buttered corn flavor. I'm not disappointed by that in the slightest.

The least photogenic of pasty starches, Refried Beans, was very good. It's always very good. It might not be good for your health, but it certainly is good for the taste buds. I was a bit starched out after sampling the tamales and corn though, so I only had a small portion. Now I've got a large yogurt container full of refried bean leftovers that will likely just get re-refried for burritos with the enormous amount of leftovers from the tamales. We'll see how it goes.