Buzz
Greetings, food lovers and culinary adventurers! Welcome to another exciting edition of Will It Sous Vide?, our weekly column where I test the limits of my immersion circulator, tackling whatever you request.
This week, we’re diving into tamales for two thrilling reasons:
Tamales are absolutely amazing.
I’ve never made them before, and I do enjoy a fresh culinary challenge (and this was definitely one of those).
Thankfully, I have a wonderful friend named Amanda who has mastered the art of tamale-making. She recently returned from Arizona, bringing along some freshly roasted chilies. She graciously brought her chilies, masa, and husks over to my place to share her tamale expertise. (Note: There are countless ways to make tamales, with many recipes and techniques. Being from Mississippi, I’m familiar with cornmeal tamales—though I’ve never made them—and they’re quite different. Unfortunately, I couldn’t test every variation in just a few days, so I went with Amanda’s approach because she’s always so sure of herself.)
To start, we soaked the husks in clean water for 20 minutes, then carefully dried them off. After that, we melted one cup of shortening (lard works too) and whipped it using the whisk attachment of my stand mixer until it became cloudy.
In another bowl, we mixed three cups of instant masa harina, a teaspoon of garlic powder, a pinch of cayenne, a pinch of cumin, and a teaspoon of baking powder. This blend was gradually added to the melted shortening while stirring with the paddle attachment.
Next, we slowly poured in hot stock, continuing to beat the mixture with the stand mixer until it reached a smooth consistency that we could draw a pattern in with a spoon. We then performed the “float test” to check if our masa had the right fluffiness.
It wasn’t quite fluffy enough, so we added a little more Crisco.
Then we moved on to the filling. While I would have loved to sous vide a savory pork filling, I thought it would add too many variables, so I focused on perfecting the masa. (Plus, I didn’t want to spend hours on a great meat filling only to have it fall apart in the end.) So, I opted for a simple filling of peppers (twelve roasted Anaheim chilies and one dried hatch chili), cheese (ten ounces each of shredded queso fresco, Cotija, and sharp cheddar), and one large tomatillo.
Next, we spread the masa across the husks, covering about two-thirds of the way up. Amanda had a special masa scraper for the job, though you can easily use a spoon.
Then, we added the chili mixture.
After that, the cheese went in.
We carefully wrapped them up, making them look all neat and tidy.
Those little gems were vacuum-sealed and submerged in a water bath set to 185℉.
Typically, tamales steam for a couple of hours, but my curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to check one at the one-hour mark. It felt mushy, and even without opening the husk, I could tell it was still quite liquid inside. So, I resealed the bag and returned it to the water for another hour.
After two hours of sous-vide cooking, I carefully unwrapped a husk to reveal this hot mess (full disclosure: I ate it, and it was actually pretty tasty):
Clearly, two hours wasn’t enough, so I tossed the remaining tamales back in the bath and headed to the bar. One hour and three cocktails later—because I’m a professional—I returned home, eager to try a (hopefully) firmer tamale.
It turns out that three-hour sous-vide tamales look exactly like two-hour sous-vide tamales. (If you’ve forgotten, see the picture above.) This was a disappointment to tipsy Claire, but not so much that she didn’t devour the mess of a tamale along with a frozen 3 Muskateers bar. Then, tipsy Claire went to bed.
The next morning, I decided to give it another shot and tossed a fresh batch of vacuum-sealed tamales into the water bath. I wasn’t feeling too optimistic, but at the four-hour mark, I pulled out this beauty:
There were still a few issues, but things were improving. I ate the almost-tamale, resealed the bag, and dunked the corn-husked treasures back into the bath for another hour. Then, finally, after a full five hours, I unwrapped this:
I added salsa to it.
I ate it. It was cheesy, spicy, tender, and oh-so-delicious. I was satisfied. I unwrapped a second one.
This was a setback. I unwrapped a third, and it was fine. I unwrapped a fourth, and it wasn’t. So, success-wise, it was a 50/50 situation. And that, of course, leads us to ‘the question’: Will tamales sous vide?
The answer? Well, kind of? While there wasn’t a bad-tasting tamale in the bunch, only half of them managed to keep their shape after five long hours of cooking. This yield is less than ideal. Even though sous-vide cooking creates a wonderfully moist environment, it might actually be a bit too moist. Typically, tamales are steamed, allowing some oil and moisture to escape from the masa, but that doesn’t happen in a vacuum-sealed bag. Of course, there are other factors at play, like the thickness of the masa layer and the type of fat and fillings used. I’d be open to revisiting this experiment in the future, especially if you all have suggestions. I’m happy to eat a lot of tamales, even the hot mess ones; I’m just that selfless.
Images courtesy of Claire Lower.
