Leftovers

What do you do when you have leftover cochinita pibil? Pizza!

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I had some cochinita pibil left over from the the potluck on Saturday. I didn't think we would be having any big dinners for a while, so I started thinking about leftover-type options. I re-heated a little of the cochinita pibil and put it on some nan bread. I topped the meat with some pickled red onions and queso. A few minutes under the broiler and it was ready. I topped it with some avocado slices. Yummy stuff!

I guess I should touch on the cochinita pibil. This is another great recipe that I got from Rick Bayless' fantastic cookbook, Mexican Everyday. Cochinita pibil is Lupe's favorite new dish. Not only is it very easy to make, it is extremely tasty. You just line a slow-cooker with banana leaves (optional) and drop in a 3-4lb. piece of pork shoulder.

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Top with sliced onions, garlic cloves and aji amarillo. Mix 3.5oz. of achiote paste and 2tsp. of salt into 1/2 cup of lime juice and pour over the pork. Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock into the slow cooker and then wrap the banana leaves over the top of everything.

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Six hours later you have some falling-off-the-bone, rich, tangy, spicy, porky goodness.

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Cochinita pibil can be served with pickled red onions and Peruvian amarillo or guerro chile hot sauce.

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A very sharp knife

Sharp knives are essential for cooks. You just can't do a proper job in the kitchen unless you have at least one sharp knife. By the way; two knives are better than one, and five knives are better than two (I'm talking to you Lupe). So now that you have a nice selection of knives, you need to take care of them. It makes no sense to buy a good knife and then throw it in a kitchen drawer full of utensils. It pains me to see that happen (not naming names, but......all of my in-laws).

As much as I try to take good care of my knives, I would be the first to admit that I couldn't sharpen a knife to save my life. I guess I just don't have the knife sharpening gene. Some people just have that ability. They can put a razor edge on a knife and make it look easy. I can spend half a day on a knife and never get a really good edge. I think it stems from my innate sloppiness. I just can't keep a knife at the same angle to the stone for repeated passes. I don't so much as sharpen a knife as round-over the edge to a range of 15 to 30 degrees.

One benefit of my poor sharpening ability is that it allowed me to be really sloppy with my knife skills. Hit a finger-no problemo. Shave a knuckle-no worries. I wasn't drawing blood no matter how careless I got. Oh, I took care with a new knife in hand, but after the initial edge wore down I could go back to hacking and whacking with reckless abandon. In spite of the added safety factor, I still kept looking for some method or tool that would allow me to effectively sharpen a knife. I have bought a dozen different stones, rods, V-sharpeners and or gimmicky crap over the last few years and the results were always roughly the same. I would use my new sharpener and then run to the kitchen (BTW: don't run with knives) to try it out. I would plop a ripe tomato or slightly soft jalepeno down on the cutting board and go to work. Either the blade would drag and tear or I would get a really sharp edge that only seem to last a matter of minutes. Always the same; failure. What is a semi-talented foodie to do?

The solution came from a kayak fishing website. I was reading the Texas Kayak Fisherman hunting forum and somebody posted some info about a new sharpening system for broadhead arrow points. I went to the site, watched some of their videos and was hooked. KME Sharpeners makes a system that is a significant improvement over other similar types of sharpeners. The best thing about the KME sharpener is the spherical bearing that keeps the sharpening stone guide rod at exactly the same angle, no matter what part of the blade you are working. Another nice feature is that the clamping jaws that hold the knife can be easily rotated 180 degrees. I bought a standard sharpener kit with a set of four stones just before Christmas. KME has excellent customer service. Ron Schwartz (the owner?) even called me on Christmas Eve in response to an email question about my order. He was extremely helpful and gave me all sorts of info on the system and how to sharpen my knives.

I got my new KME sharpener just in time for the second wave of holiday cooking. I set it up and did a quick job on my Shun Classic 8" chef's knife. I know I could have put a better edge on it if I had taken my time, but I was in a hurry because I had to start prepping for dinner. In no time at all, the knife was as sharp or sharper than when I bought it. Pleased with the results, I ran off to the kitchen (DON'T run with knives) to start on dinner. The knife worked beautifully. It made quick work of all types of vegetables, meat and my finger.

From Family photos for web

Lesson learned: sharp knives are not forgiving of sloppy handling. I have cut myself before; slices, chops, pokes, punctures, even ragged lacerations; but never before have I shaved off a fingernail. That was a new experience. Effortlessly, the knife shaved off about a quarter of an inch of the fingernail on my ring finger. It even took off a bit of the nail bed. I'm glad that I was 'almost' using good knife handling procedures. If my fingers had been extended a little more I would have lost the tip. OK; that's nothing new. I have cut myself with just about every knife I've owned when they were new and sharp. Not a problem. I'd play it safe for a few days and then they would get a little dull and I could go back to Sloppyville. That isn't the case this time, my friends. I didn't even put that good of an edge on the Shun and it is still dangerously sharp. I let my guard down again, and again, I paid the price. This time I was doing a Brunoise of some jalapeno for a breakfast omelette when my attention faded. Before you get all judgmental you need to understand that it was 6am and I was working on less than five hours of sleep. Knives don't care if you're tired and a little blurry-eyed. You gotta' keep those fingers in.

From Family photos for web

This time I shaved off a nice little V from the nail on my index finger. This one is a little deeper than the ring finger. I'm worried that the nail might not grow back properly. I was very proud of myself for not cussing up a storm when I did it. My in-laws were staying with us and I didn't want to go all sailorish on them. I don't think they've ever heard me speak my native language (Swabbeze) before, and this wasn't a good time to show off my linguistic skills. I just let out a very loud sort of grunt and then bit my lip. I thought that I had got away with it, but it got their attention. I patched myself up and made a big show of cleaning the cutting board and tossing the jalapeno that I had been working on. My mother-in-law suddenly became very worried about my welfare and told me not to worry about making them breakfast. I think she was just worried about getting a bit of finger in her eggs. Seriously-some people just have unreasonable fears about things like that. I mean; who hasn't found little mystery bits in their food now and then. Its not like it makes you a cannibal if you get a little 'extra protein' in your meal. Grow up, people. Its not going to kill you. Sorry. Got a little off topic there. So, remember, boys and girls; be safe with knives. Learn those safe knife skills and practice them at all time. After all; you don't want to turn your dinner guests into cannibals, do you?

Puerco-rama Redux

The countdown has begun. I've had a pork loin and some black pork belly in the Korean red chili marinade since this morning. I got up early this morning to start experimenting with the marinade. It still needs some work to get it where I want it, but this is a good start.

Fermented red chili paste: 3/4 cup
Korean apple vinegar: 1/4 cup
Rice vinegar: 1/4 cup
Sake: 1/4 cup
Mirin: 1/4 cup
Soy sauce: 1/2 cup + 1tblsp
Sesame oil: 1tsp
Sugar: 3tblsp
onion-minced: 1/2 small
Garlic-crushed: 1 head

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I cut the loin into one large and two small pieces and placed in ziploc bags with the marinade. I also placed a 2lb package of black pork belly in a bag with some of the marinade. Once everything was marinating in the fridge, I headed over to Williams Sonoma to use a gift card that I got for Christmas. Among other things, I picked up a marinade injector. As soon as we got home, I broke out that bad boy and injected marinade into one of the loin segments.

As soon as we finish the laundry its time to hit the grill.....................

..............Finished the laundry and started cooking at 4pm. I seared/par grilled the pork loins, then took them back in to finish the rest of the prep. Rather than try the elaborate pork belly weave, I just stretched out long strips and only wrapped the two smaller pieces of pork loin. Again, I put thinly sliced garlic in between the loin and the pork belly strips. This time I used turkey lacing skewers to hold the pork belly in place. Before heading back out to the grill, I prepped a red chili and onion sauce. Lupe made white rice and braised veggies (cauliflower, green beans and carrots) while I was out at the grill.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I kept the grill low and slow as possible in order to keep the pork belly from getting burnt. Apple wood chips were added to the fire for some good smokey flavor. It took quite a while for the loins to cook through. I took them off at 140 and let them rest while we finished the veggies.

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Puerco-rama landed on the table at 9pm; a little later than we normally eat. Served with rice, braised veggies, topped with chili-onion sauce and a side of baby-Napa cabbage kimchi. Once again; "Kamsahamnida, Piggy. Your flavor was greatly appreciated"

2010 - The year of the PUERCO-RAMA

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

"Hey piggies, whatcha' talkin' 'bout?"

2010 - The year of the PUERCO-RAMA

OK, I know that 2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger, but here at the Hollow Leg Diner it is the Year of the Puerco-rama. You might be saying, "Doug, what is the Puerco-rama", or maybe, "Whatch'ya talkin' 'bout, Piggy?" Well sit right back and I'll tell 'ya tale, 'bout a tasty new pork dish that will soon be sweeping the nation - The Puerco-rama!

If you've read more than one or two posts here, then you'll know that I loves me some pohk. I like ham, I like bacon, I like ribs, I like pork shoulder, I like tongue, I like ham hocks, I love pork belly......well, you get the picture. It's all good. Pork is the all-'round meat champion. Nothing is as versatile or as conducive to accepting flavors and styles of cooking. Every great culinary culture in the world loves pork. My mom's side of the family might disagree, but they couldn't cook, so it doesn't matter. I've tried all types of pork, from BBQ to chile verde con puerco, stir fry to roasted; and I haven't even scratched the surface. Always eager to try something new, I embarked upon an audacious, never-before tried; no, never-before envisioned pork recipe. If done properly, this recipe has the potential to take the world by storm. Every previous pork recipe will pale in comparison to the PUERCO-RAMA. Audacious? Yes; but as I learned from our beloved Great Leader; one must have the audacity of pork. I think that's what he said. I wasn't listening very carefully and all those speeches just seem to blur together after a while. So with my heart full of HOPE for CHANGE, I set out to make the ultimate pork dish. I would create the PUERCO-RAMA and the people of this great nation would say, "This is the PORK that we have been waiting for." And if things didn't work out, we could just blame W.

A few years back I had an opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Yoesu, ROK. I was there with my Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare unit for an exercise, but I didn't eat a whole lot of MRE's on this trip. Rather than roughing it in camp, we stayed at a hotel in town. Hey, we're Navy Reserve, not Marines; so no smack-talk. Just a block or two from our hotel was a fantastic little restaurant. I never figured out what the name was, but it had a picture of a smiling pig on the front door. We dubbed it the 'Pig Place' and it became the favorite eating establishment of the whole crew. Every team getting off watch would hit the Pig Place for some pork belly. As far as I know, that was the only thing on the menu. Each table had a burner and a large, flat cooking surface embedded. The cook would come out and cut pieces of pork belly at the table and then place them on the griddle. After the pork was going, a variety of vegetables was added. Once the pork was close to being done, the cook would turn down the heat and everybody would serve themselves. One time when I went in there, we had some marinated pork belly that was grilled. This was one of those food epiphanies that I'll remember until the day I die. There is something about the way that the pork fat and juices mix with the red pepper and vinegar of the marinade that creates an other-worldly flavor. Unfortunately, that was the last of my several trips to Korea and I was sure that I'd never get a dish that good again.

Fast forward a couple of years and I live in San Diego, near a large Korean community and my wife works for a Korean-owned company. The possibilities of getting really good Korean food have increased immensely. There is a large Korean market, Zion Market, in Kearney Mesa; not too far from where we live. Since discovering Zion Market, I have rekindled my love of Korean food. Earlier this year I picked up some marinated black pork belly for a unit BBQ. I just bought a few pounds on a whim, along with the standard short ribs and beef kalbi. The pork belly turned out to be the best of the lot. I still don't know what exactly is in the marinade, but I've got a few ideas; red chili paste, vinegar (apple or pear), soy, sesame oil and maybe a little mirin. I just tossed the strips of pork belly onto the grill of the BBQ, turning frequently to avoid burning. Unbelievable flavor.

At my mother-in-law's birthday shindig I introduced Familia Lopez to the wondrous joys of grilled marinated pork belly. On a day when I fired up a wide variety of BBQ favorites (carne asada, Harris Ranch burgers, hot dogs, jalapeno sausage and short ribs), everybody wanted more of the marinated pork belly. Korean Q was the top pick at a good old fashioned Mexican backyard party. Who'da thunk it?

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Knowing that marinated pork belly can conquer the world, I started thinking about a new recipes that would take advantage of the miracle food. My first inspiration came at the end of the family BBQ when I finally had a chance to make myself some food. I had secreted away a couple of strips of pork belly before they all got snapped up. I thought that if a bacon cheese burger is good, a Korean pork belly cheese burger would be better. Adding a couple of slices of avocado to the burger would be freakin' awesome. Yup! I tried this again at a BBQ at my mom's house. I made some giant gourmet burgers (chuck, pork sausage& ground lamb) for Mom, Lupe and her sisters, Lorena and Marisela. The burgers were topped with Muenster, cheddar and jack cheese, the pork belly and avocado slices.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

OK. Awesome burgers. Now I had to come up with something that would truly allow the marinated pork to shine in its full glory. Back in September I had experimented with The Bacon Explosion, a glorious monument to the goodness of all that is pork. While some may think that the turducken is the epitome of wretched excess in the food world, I would disagree. Nothing captures the spirit of the BBQ, the taste of a county fair, the wild abandon of an L.A. car chase and thrill of a game of Russian Roulette quite like a Bacon Explosion. Pork fat in all its glory is introduced to the church of the BBQ. A sin and a blessing all wrapped up in smokey BBQ'd bacon. Can't beat that with a stick.

On the advice of my cardiologist I had to limit myself to one Bacon Explosion a year. Too bad; I really wanted to do that again. It did, however, get me thinking about the Korean marinated pork belly. How could I combine the shock and awe of the Bacon Explosion and the beauty and goodness of the pork belly? An idea started to form in my head. It started as random flashes of flavor memories, triggered by clumps of triglycerides bumping into neurons. Like fat congealing in the bottom of a pan, the idea started to come together. Slowly building from a faint blood pressure-induced ringing in my ears to a roaring chorus; I heard the word:
Puerco-rama, PUERCO-RAMA, PUERCO-RAMA, PUERCO-RAMA, PUERCO-RAMA, PUERCO-RAMA, PUERCO-RAMA

I knew what I had to do; go buy pork.

As luck would have it, Von's had pork loin on sale for some ridiculously low price. I got a 10lb loin and cut it in thirds. Two pieces got vacuum-packed and put in the freezer for later. As this was just a trial run, I didn't get the pork belly from the Korean market. A package of thick-cut bacon would have to do. I mixed up a marinade from the Korean section in my pantry and dunked all the porky goodness for a few hours. After a nice long soak in the marinade, I removed the pork loin and wiped the excess off. I took this out to the grill and gave it a good sear on all sides. I brought it back in and continued with the prep.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I pierced the center of the pork loin with a long, thin knife (it sure would be nice to have a real larding needle). With a long skewer I inserted a couple of pieces of the marinated bacon. The top of the loin was generously covered with thin slices of garlic and onions. Next, I started to weave a mat of marinated bacon on the cutting board(now there's a phrase you don't often hear).

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I should have gone with a rectangular mat for better wrapping, but this still worked. The pork loin was placed on the bacon mat and then gently rolled with the mat.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Wooden skewers held the bacon weave tenuously in place. No sudden moves or a bacon trainwreck was sure to happen. Not to self: buy some damn metal skewers.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Back to the grill for some indirect heat. These damn small grills at our apartments are killing me. It is buku difficult controlling the heat and flare-ups. This type of work really calls for a large charcoal BBQ with an offset firebox. Got a little charring of the bacon, but all is still good in the world of pork fat.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Apple wood chips added to the smokey flavor. I took it off after about an hour on the grill. Internal temp of the loin was 141 when taken off the heat. Sliced after resting for a while, the loin was tender and succulent.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

PUERCO-RAMA

Something that tasty will make you wanna' to go to church the next morning.
"Forgive me Father for I have sinned. I don't know if I broke one of the Ten Commandments, but it sure feels like I've sinned."
"Say ten Hail Mary's, my child, and bring me a Puerco-rama on rye"

Lessons learned:
Puerco-rama doesn't need the smokiness of bacon. That's just overkill.
Get extra-long-cut pork belly slices for a good weave
Use a larding needle to insert strips of marinated pork fat into the loin
Marinate the pork loin and belly overnight for better flavor absorption
Form the weave on a sheet of parchment paper for ease of rolling
Cook on a proper BBQ

Another pork loin is in the fridge along with a package of pork belly. It's time for the real thing. Lupe and I have been eating salads and fruit most of the week in preparation for the next coming of the Puerco-rama. This time I'm making grilled vegetables and white rice to go with it. I also picked up some baby Napa cabbage kimchi to go with the Puerco-rama.

Kamsahamnida, Piggy.

Tamale roundup

The Christmas, 2009 Tamale Season has come and gone. Lupe and I are recovering from a marathon of roasting, simmering, straining, mixing, filling and steaming. This was our most successful tamale making effort to date. We made at least six distinctly different types of tamales, including several new recipes made up on the fly.

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I started preparations for tamale season on the Friday before Christmas. I desperately wanted to do all my shopping before the weekend, as I have experienced just how bad North Gate Market can get on the weekend before Christmas (OK, North Gate is a zoo even on slow days, but it is horrible right before Christmas). I hit the store early Friday morning and it was already bad. Fully 83% of all Mexicans living in the greater San Diego/Tijuana metropolitan area were already there when I arrived. Oi vey! I finally found a parking spot and put on my hiking boots for the trek to the store. I got a cart and headed straight for the big bin with the packages of hojas de maize (corn husks). Competition for the best looking hojas was fierce. Lots of old Mexican women were gathered around the bin, busily sorting through the packages. They were snorting and tossing back packages left and right; angrily complaining about the inferior quality (no habla...so they could have been bitching about their daughter-in-laws for all I know). I tried to act like I knew what I was looking for. I picked up a few packages and tossed them back, grumbling about the inferior quality. I don't think I fooled any of the old ladies. They were smirking as I grabbed a couple of packs and turned to leave. Then I realized that somebody had taken my cart. Damn, sneaky old ladies. I had to put the hojas back and go outside to get another cart. When I got back inside, the bin was almost empty. I ended up having to take the hojas that the old ladies had rejected. More smirks (ay pinche guero). I got a ton of dried chiles; guajillo, ancho, negro, morita, de arbol and New Mexico. The next half hour was spent wandering through the produce section. The cart was rapidly filling with my grab some of everything shopping strategy. Once again I felt the need to get a bag of banana leaves. I've never made tamales in banana leaves, but I figured we gotta' try it. At least I didn't by the 6' sugar cane stalk this time.

Next stop; the carneceria. Oh how I love that place. You can walk right by the meat department in most supermarkets and wouldn't know it was there. The only sound you hear from behind the meat counter is the soft whir of the plastic wrap roller as the pre-cut meat gets placed in little plastic trays. I can't even remember the last time I actually heard a band saw or a knife being steeled at my local Von's. I don't think their butchers even know how to cut meat anymore. North Gate is different. There is a constant buzz of activity, with dozens of butchers feverishly working behind the counter. Just about anytime you look in the back there are butchers actually cutting meat to order. And it smells like meat. I can't smell anything when I am in the meat section of a regular supermarket. It might as well be the canned foods aisle. At North Gate you can smell meat, blood and the pungent aroma of marinades. I had almost forgotten what a real meat market was like before I started going to North Gate. You actually see that meat comes from animals when you're in a real carneceria. Need a pig's head? They got 'em. Tripe, hearts, kidneys, beef cheeks, tongue, trotters; all here. A little slice (pardon the pun) of carnivore heaven. The only thing that even comes close to the visceral carnival at North Gate is the meat department at the Zion Korean Market. The band saws run full time, cutting pork belly, in that place. On top of all the cool meat products, they have a ton of bizarre and tasty seafood. Need a cod stomach or needle fish......that's your place. But I digress - back to tamales.

Twenty pounds of pork shoulder, 10lbs of beef and 2 yards of chorizo sausage crowds the cart as I head to the tortilleria. Not having any idea how much masa I'll need, I just grab two bags and hope that it's enough. That's about 23lbs of masa. With the shopping cart groaning under the weight of all the food, I head for the check-out. North Gate has pretty good prices and I can usually get out of there in under $50. Not this day. What the hell did I buy? I ask myself that over and over as I start the overland trek back to the truck.

When I got home I started to prep the meat for the filling. I had three different preparations for the beef and pork. I dry-rubbed the beef with an ancho chile mix and some of the pork shoulder got a mix of Cayenne and smoked paprika. The beef and some of the pork were slow roasted in the oven. I lined the bottom of the pans with onion, garlic and jalapenos (tomatillo in the pan with the pork). A little chicken stock in the pans to keep things moist and into a 325 oven for several hours. While the rest of the meat was roasting, I prepped another 5lb chunk of pork shoulder to go in the slow cooker. This was basically cochinita pibil. The slow cooker is lined with banana leaves and the pork is placed inside and topped with sliced onion, garlic and hot yellow peppers (chile guero). A mixture of lime juice and achiote paste is added along with some water or stock for cooking. The banana leaves are folded over everything and you let it go for 6 hours or so. Lupe has fallen in love with the cochinita pibil. The acidic tang of the lime and the earthiness of the achiote really goes well with the rich, fatty pork. I wanted to try it in the banana leaf tamales to try and get a Southern Mexican flavor.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

While the meat was cooking, we started toasting the chiles for the sauces. Lupe removed the seeds and cut the chile into manageable sizes. We had two cast iron pans going continuously for a half hour as we toasted a buttload of chile. That'll open your sinuses.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

The smartest thing I did all day was to call Lupe's sister Lorena and ask her if she wanted to come down to San Diego for our little tamale party. Fortunately, she was game for our little adventure. She hopped the Surfliner and got down here on Saturday morning just as the last of the meat finished cooking. Lorena and Lupe started on the masa as I worked on the sauces. Lupe has perfected the masa. She adds extra butter and baking powder to the masa preparada for the perfect, light fluffy tamale. I am usually not a big fan of tamales, because they are often hard, thick, tough and dry. Our tamales are the only ones that I really like.

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I made the traditional chile sauce for the tamales. After the chiles are toasted they are gently simmered to release the flavor. My mother-in-law steeps the chiles in water, but I use chicken stock for a fuller flavor. After they have simmered in the stock for an hour or so, I remove the chiles and puree them in a blender. I do this a little differently as well. Lupe's mom laboriously runs the puree through a chinoise to get a smoother product. I'll do that for enchilada sauce, but not for tamale filler. My tamale filling is going to have some body, so there's no need to strain it. I sautee some finely diced onions and garlic in a large pot and then add the chile puree and some of the steeping liquid. After separating the fat, I'll add all the pan drippings from the roasted meat. The sauce is seasoned with salt, pepper, cinnamon and clove. Depending on how much volume I'm looking for, I'll add more stock. This will reduce on the stove top for at least an hour or more. This is the base for a couple of the filling mixtures that I'm going to be using. When it is ready it will be a rich, thick, smooth sauce with a gentle warmth.

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I make one base sauce for the pork and another for the beef. The primary difference being the pan drippings and the stock used (chicken for the pork and beef stock for the beef). The red sauce for the beef is split into two even portions for the final flavors. I wanted to make a chipotle sauce and one that had more of a pronounced tomato flavor. The Chipotle sauce was easiest. I just added some finely diced chipotle en adobo and a couple of cans of San Marcos chipotle sauce. Instant chipootle goodness. The other sauce got some diced, roasted tomato and a couple of cans of El Pato hot tomato sauce.

After the meat was roasted, I shredded it and mixed in all the veg that was in the roasting pan. When you're making a ton of tamales it is best to store the meet in ziploc bags. You can easily store them in the fridge until you are ready to add to the sauce. I froze a couple of bags that I used for the tamales that I made after Christmas.

The shredded beef was mixed with the sauces to get the proper consistency. I am looking for just enough sauce to coat all the meat and make a moist filling, but not so much that it will be runny and difficult to wrap.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I made three batches of red sauce filling (pork, beef & chipotle beef) for the first round of tamale making. While I was finishing the fillings, Lupe and Lorena were roasting about 15lbs of tomatillos, jalapenos and anaheim chiles. They pureed this mix and put it in roasting pans in a slow oven to cook down.

As the 'Tamale Twins' got busy filling the first batch of tamales, I started on the cochinita pibil filling for the banana leaf tamales. I reserved the cooking liquid from the slow cooker and separated out the fat. The pork was shredded and mixed with the onions, garlic and peppers. I sauteed finely diced onion and garlic in a pan and then added the cooking liquid. The only seasoning that I used was salt, pepper and some Amazonas hot yellow pepper sauce. After the sauce reduced down to the right consistency I added the shredded pork. That stuff is so tasty it is hard not to eat it all up before it goes into the tamales.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Before I even started on the chile verde for the rest of the pork, Lupe warned me that we were running low on masa. She wanted to stop with what we had already made, but I wasn't having any of that. Off to North Gate for more masa. I was dreading this trip. If Friday morning was bad, then Saturday afternoon would surely be worse. Surprisingly, North Gate was just about as empty as I had ever seen it. I grabbed another 12lbs of masa and was off to find Food Saver vacuum seal bags. We started by vacuum packing a bunch of raw tamales for Lorena to take back home. We did so many tamales, we quickly ran out of bags. I hit two other stores before I went to the Navy Exchange. I knew exactly where they were at the NEX. Unfortunately, they have been doing a lot of work on the 32nd St. Exchange since I was last there. I ended up going to three different buildings before finding them. By the time I got home Lupe and Lorena had finished making the first batch and it was already done steaming. They had even finished up all the banana leaf tamales.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

After taking a brief dinner break to sample our goods it was back to work. Lupe mixed the last batch of masa and I started the chile verde sauce for the filling. The tomatillo-chile puree had been slow-cooked for a couple of hours. I transferred it to pots and added the pork roast pan drippings and chicken stock. This reduced down to a nice smooth, rich consistency. One batch was mixed with shredded pork and the other with a variety of cheeses. I used a mix of queso quesadilla, mozarella, pepper jack and cotija for the chile verde-cheese tamales. We filled tamales until we ran out of masa once again. Maybe I'll have these ingredient measurements worked out by next year. Lupe made an executive decision and told me that we were finished and that I was forbidden to go back to North Gate. We wrapped up at nearly 10pm; 15 hours after starting our little tamale party. Once again, I got carried away and we made way too many. The freezer was packed solid and there wasn't an inch of open space in the fridge.

The next morning we fired up the forklift and loaded up Lupe's Escape for the trip up to Long Beach. I was a little worried about going through the scales at the San Clemente Inspection Station with the load that we were carrying. Luckily, we didn't get pulled over, so no overweight tickets.

We got to Lupe's parent's house and unloaded our tasty cargo. Lupe's mom looked happy when we explained that we had brought a bunch of raw tamales. Now she wouldn't have to make them herself on Christmas Eve. I also managed to pawn off 20lbs of pork shoulder on her. That pork had been taking up space in our freezer for weeks. Now I could finally see the bottom of my freezer and the fridge only had ten packs of tamales left in it. I sure am glad they have three refrigerators at her house.