Tamales, in one form or another, have been made in the Americas for thousands of years. They are an important part of the culinary tradition of Mexico, Central and South America, as well as a beloved holiday food in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Southern California.

What's less well known is that tamales also made their way to the Misssissippi Delta, brought there at the turn of the century by Mexican migrants who worked the fields alongside African Americans. A colleague traveling in Arkansas in early fall ordered some pulled pork (another Southern classic) at a small-town barbecue shack, then stood back and watched as a half-dozen housewives, both black and white, came in to pick up dozens of tamales to go. "The pork was great but I kicked myself for not making the right order," she said in an e-mail.

Tamales are not complicated to make, but they take a lot of time and labor. Rolling and steaming them properly is an art as well as a craft — the kind of thing (if you grew up in these parts) your grandmother would teach your mother who would teach you. To make the work go faster — and make the hundreds of tamales kept at the ready to serve visitors over the holidays — many families still host tamaladas, group-cooking events where the gossip and socializing are at least as important as the tamales.

This week we are featuring two types of tamales on Cooking with Chef Johnny Vee, The New Mexican's weekly Web-based cooking program — a traditional Nothern New Mexico red-chile pork and a yam-based vegetarian version spiced up with roasted poblanos. Both are served with the same basic red-chile sauce — just be sure to make the sauce with vegetable stock instead of chicken or beef broth if you are serving vegetarians. And there's no lard (or fat other than the cheese stuffing) to be found in the yam tamales — only the yam starch binds everything together.

All three recipes can be found in John Vollertsen's book, Cooking with Johnny Vee (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2008) as well as on our Web site, santafenew
mexican.com/food/.

To see the step-by-step instructions for making the masa, the two fillings, the chile sauce — and, most importanly, for newcomers, rolling the tamales — log onto etastesantafe.com. You can watch the red chile sauce being made on our first Cooking with Chef Johnny Vee video, Chile Rellenos.



YAM TAMALES

(Makes 30-40 tamales)

6 cups masa

2 teaspoons salt

5 cups warm water, approximately

30-40 corn husks

2 cups baked yam purée

1/4 pound Monterey jack cheese

4 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled and seeded

Red Chile Sauce for serving (recipe follows)



In a large bowl, mix masa, salt and water, adding just enough water to form a wet masa mixture.

Soak corn husks in hot water to soften.

With electric mixer, whip yam purée until light and fluffy. Gently fold masa into yam purée to combine.

Cut cheese into matchstick-size pieces. Cut poblanos into 1/2-inch strips.

Spread about 1/3 cup of the masa on a softened corn husk, making about a 4- x 3-inch rectangle about and leaving a 1-inch border. Place one piece of cheese and one strip of
chile vertically on the masa. Fold tamale and tie with strips of husk.

Place tamales in steamer and steam over boiling water for 45 minutes. Serve with Red Chile Sauce.



RED CHILE SAUCE

(Makes about 2-3/4 cups)

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup mild ground red chile

1/4 cup hot ground red chile

1 tablespoon ancho chile powder

2-3/4 cups stock (vegetable, chicken or beef)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt



Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat. Add flour and mix well, allowing it to brown slightly. Remove from heat and stir in ground chiles and ancho powder.

Return to heat and blend in garlic, spices and stock. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes and season with salt.



RED CHILE-PORK TAMALES

(Makes 30-40 tamales)

30-40 corn husks

Red chile-pork filling (recipe follows)

Masa mixture (recipe follows)

Red Chile Sauce (recipe at left)



For the husks: Place the husks in a large deep bowl and cover with hot water. Place a plate on the husks so that they are submerged in the water. Allow to soften for 20 minutes. When soft, separate the husks and remove any corn silk stuck to the husks. Keep husks in the water as you make the tamales.

Make the red chile-pork filling and the red chile sauce.

Assemble the tamales: Tear some tamale ties from a few of the husks. Take one husk and open it with the narrow end away from you. Spread a 4- by 3-inch rectangle of masa 1-inch from the bottom of the husk. Take 1 teaspoon of the filling and place it in a narrow strip going from the bottom of the tamale toward the top, 1/4-inch wide.

Resist the temptation to over-fill the tamale!

Roll the husk over the masa to completely cover the filling. Fold the bottom of the tamale up and twist the top. Tie both top and bottom of tamales with husk ties.

Cook the tamales: Place tamales vertically into a steamer. Add 3 inches of water to the pan. Place a penny in the bottom of the pan; this will rattle and warn you if you are running out of water during the steaming time.

Steam the tamales over boiling water for 45 minutes, or until masa is set up and tamale looses its shiny look. Serve hot with red chile sauce.



RED CHILE PORK FILLING

1-1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, butt or top sirloin

2 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons lard

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup hot ground red chile

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin



Cut the pork into 1-inch cubes and remove any connective tissue. Place meat in a medium saucepan and cover with chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until pork is cooked through.

Remove the meat from the stock, reserving the stock. Chop meat in very small pieces. Heat lard in a frying pan and sauté chopped meat until browned. Add garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add ground chile, salt, oregano and cumin.

Return pan to heat and add enough reserved cooking stock to create a moist-but-not-runny filling. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature before stuffing tamales.



MASA MIXTURE

6 cups masa

2 tablespoons mild ground red chile

4-5 cups warm water, including remainder of pork stock

2 cups cold lard

2 teaspoon salt



Stir chile into masa and add enough water to make a moist dough similar to the consistency of a thick oatmeal.

Whip the lard with the salt until very fluffy and light enough to float on the surface of cold water. Fold the whipped lard into the masa mixture, making sure it is completely incorporated. Do not over-mix.