La Tamalera

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to make tamales with a senior citizens group here in Bagaces. My Spanish teacher Line works with them on a regular basis and Judy helped out another time and had a great experience. When invited back she asked if I would like to come along!

We arrived a little after 7am and they had already been at it for a couple hours. The rice was done, the banana leaves were being cleaned and veggies were being chopped. Judy was handed a knife and the bowl of cooked pork, it was already done too, and for me, carrots to slice!

We set to work and in no time all the preparations were done, thanks to the help of about 10 others! Line mixed up all the corn and spices and we got busy rolling the tamale dough balls, which are really wet and so full of grease it's a makeover for your hands all at once:) Another lady and I started squeezing balls together while Judy learned how to put it all together. One ball laid on top of two banana leaves, flatten it down, on top place two carrots, two potatoes, one red pepper and a couple chunks of pork. Then fold into the banana leaf and wrap the sides in. After awhile we traded positions so we could each have a turn at doing both jobs. I kept forgetting the pork, oops! But there was always someone there to remind me:)

By about 10:30 we were done (with the production, still had to cook them)! It went really fast thanks to all the helpers and the fun atmosphere. At that point they put the pinas, which is a package of two tamales tied together with string, into a giant stock pot of water, and set atop a fire to cook for a few hours. After which they remove all the pinas and put the ones that were on top, on the bottom. This is the hardest part I think, since they have been boiling in water for several hours they are a bit hot!

I don't really love tamales but I sure loved the experience. It was so interesting to see how the whole thing comes together. It's is a very primitive set up, cooking over open wood burning fires, mixing with your hands, etc... The community spirit is enough to make you want to come back for more! I am lucky to have been included in this experience and I hope to do it again:)

The small outdoor kitchen, everyone busy at work!

The stove.

Judy slicing and dicing the pork.

Line mixing the tamale dough.

Little Brian adding wood to the fire.

Making dough balls.

Judy learning how to put it all together.

Judy tying the tamales into "Pinas"

My turn assembling the tamale.

Finished product, ta da!!