Tamales

[Lordblacknail]

If there is enough interest in Tamales, perhaps my wife could put on a cooking class and send you home with two dozen homemade Tamales for a small fee. We are fixing to attend a cooking class at a Hindu temple for making Chutney and other things, which is why I thought of it.

[Old55]

I'm curious about this topic. I make Tamale here in the states we have a Mexican bakery that provides fresh Masa. :dance:

My wife says there is no Tamale or equivalent in Filipino cooking so the problem you will have is finding fresh masa. If you can find Masa Harina flower locally or order it all the other ingredients can be found locally.  

[Lordblacknail]

yes we have masa harina. it is available at Metro Ayala on occasion.

[JJReyes]

The Philippine version of the Tamale actually taste better than the Mexican. It could be the use of fresh banana leaves as an outer wrapper that gives it a unique flavor and aroma during the cooking process. We used to buy them from sidewalk vendors even as the family kept referring to them as "dirty food" just like "dirty ice cream." (Magnolia was referred to as "clean ice cream.") 

 

I buy the Mexican version while visiting Los Angeles except I still consider the Philippine version to be superior.

[Old55]

I've never heard of a Filipino, that sounds very tasty.

[JJReyes]

I've never heard of a Filipino, that sounds very tasty.

 

It's probably a Mexican recipe modified since some ingredients are difficult to get or expensive. I tried Mexican churros. The La Cibeles version with Spanish chocolate is definitely superior. That's one of the "must eat" items when visiting the Philippines. 

[MacBubba]

It's probably a Mexican recipe modified since some ingredients are difficult to get or expensive. I tried Mexican churros. The La Cibeles version with Spanish chocolate is definitely superior. That's one of the "must eat" items when visiting the Philippines.

 

JJ, I wouldn't know this myself as I've never had the La Cibeles churros con chocolate, but my wife swears that is the gold standard.  Are they still available?  We've tried Mexican churros, Cuban churros, Panamanian Churros, El Salvadorean churros, and more that I can't remember, but she found all of them to be huge disappointments.

 

On the subject of tamales, however, I had the very good fortune of sampling some special tamales from Pampanga, and those were superb!  My wife says they used to sell good tamales in Antipolo, but it's been at least 30 years since she's had them. 

[JJReyes]

The original La Cibeles was a small shop in Ermita and everyone ordered "churros con chocolate" as an afternoon snack. There are several locations in Makati with the same item on their menu. The Mexican version are larger and heavier churros. I suspect the Philippine version by La Cibeles used peanut oil, which is much lighter tasting rather than vegetable or corn oil. By the way, the good Chinese restaurants in the Philippines also use peanut oil for stir fry cooking.

 

The tamales from Pampanga are special order. You need to know someone since they are made at private residences. There were tamales vendors outside the church in Antipolo during the summer months. Just like you wife, this was over 30 years ago. Antipolo was half way to the family farm. We would stop to buy cashew nuts and tamales from vendors. The vendors in Antipolo also sold garlicky roasted peanuts that I liked. Supposedly, the best garlicky peanuts are now sold in the marketplace next to Selendra.  

[MacBubba]

My wife still carries on about La Cibeles - not just the churros, but they used to order the Tarta de Madrid, Gateau Rousseau and Gateau St. Honore (sp? on the last 2).  La Cibeles in Ermita was her family's favorite pastileria, but when they moved to Quezon City, they just went to the branches in Greenhills and Cubao.  Those are gone now, we were told.  We saw a Dulcinea in Makati, but not a La Cibeles.  We'll be sure to look for it in November.  She also raves about their very delicate apple strudel and arellanas (sp? again).

 

We've had the peanuts at Market Market, and those were good.  Don't know if they're the same as the ones you mentioned.  As for cashews, we've had great roasted ones from Palawan.  My wife thinks they're sweeter than the Antipolo cashews, which tend to be a little overroasted. 

 

Yes. the tamales we had were special order from Pampanga.  Another Pampanga delight we sampled last year is this dessert called Tibok-Tibok.  It's like a heavenly version of maja.

[JJReyes]

All these talk about tamales is making me hungry. I will be in California later this month. Time to look for a hole-in-the-wall Mexican eatery. It won't be a restaurant because they serve either Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex cuisine, which is too refined. They also try to disguise poor cooking by adding huge amounts of cheese.

 

My wife and I are planning a trip to the Philippines early next year for dental tourism, and to visit family and friends. This is a chance to compare with the Philippine version of the tamale, perhaps tamales made in Pampanga or Cebu. 

 

The memory is starting to get a little fuzzy, but my recollection is La Cibeles made the finest "Brazo de Mercedes." This is the most decadent dessert made with egg yolks, egg white, vanilla and sugar. You start with something like 3 dozen eggs and lots of sugar. Enough sugar to make a diabetic pass out.