Saw that H-E-B is selling a variety of masa already prepped for tamales and gorditas etc. Has anyone had a chance to try it yet?
Lists lard and salt as ingredients which seems like the usual way to make it and the Mi Tienda stuff is generally good but I’m wary of pre-pepped masa.
TIA
by saprilx
4 Comments
Is it just…masa and water? Are there other ingredients?
It will probably work but won’t be very tasteful IMO. Part of my family’s recipe, for instance, is to use the juice from cooking the pork in the masa mix alongside the lard. This makes the masa itself much more flavorful and savory. If you ever buy tasteless store tamales it’s because they skip steps like this.
It also requires a fair amount of “hand fluffing” of both the lard beforehand (to aerate it) and then the masa itself to get the consistency right, which i am a bit skeptical this pre prepped stuff nails down.
And to be honest, making the masa isn’t even the hard part of the tamales even though it requires the most physical effort. It’s the time it takes to spread the masa onto corn husks that is the real killer
I insist you instead go to a Whole Foods and find some of Masienda’s Masa Harina.
Blue heirloom masa harina + lard + salt + love = some of the best tortillas in austin at my house
[https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/masienda-heirloom-blue-corn-masa-harina-22-lb-b0988zf5s7](https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/product/masienda-heirloom-blue-corn-masa-harina-22-lb-b0988zf5s7)
Decided to skip after seeing the long list of ingredients. Seems like it’s got a lot of preservatives and as another person pointed out, masa shouldn’t be complicated.