You can add a coin to the bottom of the tamale pot. The coin will rattle as the water boils. When you don’t hear the coin anymore, that means there’s no more water in the pot. That will let you know you need to add more boiling water without losing all your steam every time you open the lid.
I find myself feeling sentimental watching your video today, this brings back memories of my relatives in Mexico. Our tamalada party was a two day event. The first day my Dad and uncles would dig a hole in the backyard and place my grandmother's huge cast iron dutch oven filled with pork. The next day the ladies were inside preparing the essentials for the tamales. Everyone had an assignment meanwhile we're yaking away and laughing and reminiscing about times gone by. The kiddos are running around in the background, music was playing, there were some occasional dancing it was a magical event. Now those days are gone My Grandmother, my Father and all my uncles have passed. It's now the newer generation taking over but it's not the same. Thanks for sharing. Blessings ❤️❤️❤️
OH that sounds like so much fun and happiness I I love “ big cooking” with the women in the kitchen all day for Holiday diiners , people dropping in to visit. ,and stay for dinner.❤❤❤
Becky, you have such gorgeous pablano chilies and learned how to steam and how to skin them. You might want to consider stuffed chili rellenos. Your family will love them. Something else you might want to consider is collecting some of Diane Kennedy‘s cookbooks. She was British, moved to Mexico, where she lived for decades going Village to Village and small enclaves to find and photograph every secret she could about Mexican cooking. She won James Beard awards. She was also honored by the president of Mexico with what is the equivalent of knighthood for her work and searching and figuring out the ancient recipes of Mexico. She was the pioneer before everyone else jumped into the act. She died at the age of 99 in 2002.
Becky, I’m so glad you finally tried to make tamales. My family has been making them for many many years at Christmas time. I actually buy my Masa already premade from a local Mexican store. Make my New Mexico red chili in the blender and cook my pork meat in the instant pot. The last few years I have been cooking them in the instant pot SO much easier than trying to steam them in a pot. Place 12 tamales standing up on top of the rack in the instant pot add one cup of water., Cook on high for 18 minutes let naturally release for 10 minutes then manually release the remaining pressure. Let them cool down a bit and set before eating. But after doing this way, I will never steam them on a regular pot again. I should add I make about 13 dozen at a time. So the instant pot makes it quick
Hi Becky in Mexico it's tradition to make tamales in February and Christmas. Usually it's a family event. All the woman gather to make them. There's also a sweet version
@sanity_faire I make my sweet tamales with masa, pineapple juice, and mix in raisins then spread it across the most corn husks tie them up and steam they are always a hit
Next time place the corn husks in the sink with warm water let sit 10 minutes, make sure they are under the water. Set a plate on the husks to keep them under water. I usually take one husk and tear it into long strips to use as ties.
Hi Becky! Long time viewer, first time commenter! Some tips I’ve learned for tamales: 1. For a tamalada (tamale party) fill an ice chest with boiling water and soak your husk there. You can take out what you need as you go 2. The red sauce from peppers is super easy to make if you decide to do it, you can use it 2 ways. As a paste to rub and roast your pork in the oven and a bit in the masa to make it the traditional reddish color. 4. Pork butt or shoulder is preferable because you need all the marbling to get a tender filling. Yours looked great and fatty for a loin but a regular loin would definitely dry out. 4. Jalapeño/cream cheese tamales.Jalapeños julienned with cream cheese inside the Tamale……it’s amazing. 5. Sweet tamales are delicious and easy. The masa is sweet usually made with butter and sugar instead of lard and you can fill it with anything! Rhubarb tamales maybe?!? 6.Rick Martinez (formally) Bon Appetite has a great recipe for tamales and some really solid techniques.
My hubby was 1/4 Mexican so one of the ways we used to do tamales was as Xmas morning breakfast as tamales and eggs.... I lost him a few years ago but I'm back in an area that has a good tacoria/ Mexican bakery so it's going to be one that I have more often...
Hello Becky, Josh, Sprout, all the family and all the viewers. Pastel de 3 Leches can be ANY flavor you want. the milk and cream combine with any fruits, spices, chocolate, etc. Just let your imagination run wild. If you can make a smoothie out of it, you can soak a cake in it. Rhubarb is kind of lemony. you can use lemon instead of rhubarb with the strawberries. You can make tamales with any flavor profile...chinese with soy and chinese spices and filling... Hindu with curry and different meats and veggies...Greek with cinnamon clove and tomato and onion and garlic...again it's a matter of being creative. Yankee tamales with bar-b-que meat and american cheeses. In mexico we also make sweet tamales with fruit and cinnamon and sugar. Tamales always take longer than the recipes claim. If you can't find the corn husks or don't want to do all the work, you can put the masa in large pan, half on the bottom...the filling on top and then the other half of the masa over the filling and make a large tamale pie. Becky, your tamale construction was just beautiful. (they freeze perfectly) Hugs to all Jim Mexico retired
@@Zorro-5515 Hello friend, I'm glad you asked we all have our first tamale. The Husk is there to hold the filling. It's very fibrous and not really edible. you pell the corn hust off just like you would if you roasted a corn cob with the green husk on. All the Best Jim Mexico retired
One of the reasons I really enjoy watching you, Becky you are 100% real. Just like anybody else you get a little messy and make a mistake or two and then find a way to fix it. And that’s what makes you an amazing cooking gardener.. I don’t feel like I’m watching Martha Stewart or somecooking show that that’s glazed over and super perfect. Who really cooks like that. Keep it up. You’re amazing.
Whenever I use evaporated milk, I use the pointy side of a bottle opener and bend it over the side in two spots and pour from them to save myself from fishing the lid out.
My mother (now in her 70's) used to use evaporated milk in her coffee and she did this with the can and stored it as is in the fridge. Lasted longer than regular milk and apparently tasted creamier. (I'm lactose intolerant and my sister is not a fan of plain milk so we didn't have much regular milk at home). Nowadays she uses those teeny tiny little uht milk caps you get for commercial use. She found them available on Amazon when she was a treasurer for a crafty ladies group that met up once a week (so fresh milk wouldn't last week to week).
When making tamales, usually 35 dozen, during Christmas season it takes at least two days. One day is for making the red chili sauce and cooking the meat. The meat and suace along with seasoning are put in the refrigerator so flavors make nice. The next day, corn leaves are soaked for at least two hours in very hot water, and the masa is made. Then comes the filling, the corn leaves have a smooth and ridged side, The masa and meat go on the smooth side. We make tamales only once a year, the work is done mostly my hand and everyone and there uncle is needed to get them done.
Yes, I have learned that you need to soak corn husks for at least 30 minutes to make them soft in hot water. I wondered if it was okay to soak them until you use them.
Wow. What struck me immediately was the quality of the pork you used. It was beautiful. I loved watching you pop into your garden to get some ingredients. I have a friend who gardens (flowers) so I know the tremendous amount of work a garden is. I love your videos. You have a wonderful presence; I feel like I'm sitting in your kitchen watching you cook and chatting. Blessings from Michigan.
I'm from England and had no idea what a tamale was and no idea how to get corn husks. Thank you because I now know where to get them. I will definitely do the pork part but I think I will do it for taco shells with guacamole and salsa topping. I also want to try doing that cake. You bring so much joy Becky to us your devoted fans. My family are my favourite people. I like that people love their in laws as well as their own. Great episode
When you are harvesting and shucking your corn, save the largest and best husks. Clean them with water, cut them uniformly and let them dry out. (Here in Texas it doesnt take long in our blazing sun, but you could use a very low temp oven or dehydrator probably. Save them up for tamales later.
I agree with you, Suzanne. It seems like so many people don't get along with their in-laws and don't care that they don't. That would be an important thing if I was married, but I am old school. LOL
The one thing is there is a smooth side and a rough side of the husk. The smooth side is where you spread your massa so it comes off nicely. I learned from my grandma (nana) and I have shown my kids and I hope they pass it on to their kids since it is our Hispanic tradition. You did a great job.
I grew up making tamales, learned from my grandma who is from Mexico. It’s such a big part of my heritage and a family event that is treasured. Now I pass it to my daughter to keep alive. When we got together it was an all day event and we sang hymns in English and Spanish, great memories.
That sounds like great memories. I wish my dad would have taught me about my heritage, but I have had to learn on my own. I am not slamming Mexican women, but they can't tell I am Mexican so they don't want to show me anything, I am half white and where I live they don't want anything to do with you even if you are half and half and especially if you don't speak Spanish. Wasn't my doing. I would have loved to learn more about my heritage, but Dad did not have a relationship with his family either because he married my mom. It makes me sad, but I have now met a couple of my cousins at my dad's funeral and they have been raised the same due to the same circumstances. It is so important to me to teach your children about both sides of their heritage. I am taking a Spanish class now as well. I am excited to learn Spanish.
My mother grew up in Del Rio Texas. Her best friend’s mom thought her how to make tamales. Even though we do not have any Latino roots, we now make them every Christmas. My mom cooks the meat, I do the masa, my daughter now does the husk. I’m looking forward to making them with my own grandchild. We make pork, chicken, and beef. We give a dozen out as a time as gifts to love ones. We don’t fold them like you do. We put the masa in the middle, added the filling. Then used the husk to roll the masa over the filling. That way when you unwrap them it was like a masa burrito with the filling inside.
Yes, spreading the masa all the way across won't allow the tamale to release because you have husk between two layers of masa. Hopefully Becky will learn. ATK has a great video showing how to do it.
When I first started baking, my father gathered a bunch of tools for the hardware store and made a baker's toolbox for me. I got quite a lot of use out of the spackle tool for cake decorating, and a really great little saw for slicing breads.
Christmas is tamale season in my world. We definitely do our party and everyone makes tamales. We have added our Chinese friends and we make dumplings and tamales together for the holidays. SO FUN!
I am so proud of you! Making tamales isn’t for the faint hearted. I am Hispanic and I avoid making them every holiday season. Our favorite is poblano, Oaxaca cheese, and chicken. Just fyi what ever protein you cook just keep the broth it cook in strain it and use it in masa. Hubby’s and daughters favorite is refried beans and cheese.
Traditionally, I have roasted poblanos over the flame on the gas stove but I learned a new trick. Put them under the broiler. It's so much faster! You're meal looks amazing. Thanks again for another great video.
I use v8 spicy tomato juice when making Mexican rice. I live in South Texas and have all sorts of ideas that my housekeeper gives me. She’s a wonderful cook and loves to help me with Mexican food.
my mother loves rhubarb custard pie (personally, I can't stand the stuff-too sour no matter how much sugar I put in) and would often freeze rhubarb in season into the amounts needed for the pie (2 cups per bag iirc). Her 75th birthday is this year....I'm thinking I need to make that pie!
Becky, everything looks delicious 😋. I love that your not afraid to try anything . Love your table setting and all. You are full of energy and so cute. I'm 57 and have made tamales 1 time and said Never again to much work. But you made it look like a piece of cake. Your amazing, thank you!!
Hi Becky. When I was in Texas I was chitchatting with a Mexican-American young lady who told me that at Christmas she and all her sisters and her mom and all of her sisters and her grandma and the sisters that were left would all get together and make hundreds of tamales for the whole family and extended family. It was a tradition and they loved it! I thought it was so cool!
The party is called a tamalada. The men grill fajitas outside and keep the kids from getting underfoot. Lots of cool beverages, tv sports, family traditions, and fun being passed on.
Hi Becky! Next time you want to blister your poblanos try sticking them on a sheet pan and broiling them in the oven. It’s so much faster and really gets them charred. It also really cuts down on washing dishes if you use parchment. Also, it’s way easier to do your corn husks in a deep pot on the stove.
I have to congratulate you on the tamales. You can use your green tomatillo salsa to serve over the green chile tamales, and your homemade red chile sauce(your enchilada sauce) to serve with the pork or beef tamales. I also thoroughly wash and clean the corn husks of any dust, bugs or corn silk before soaking them. You did a great job!
Love and enjoy all of your videos! I wanted to share a tip with u. If you have more time cut a pork roast in big chunks ( season and add water) cook overnight in roaster oven . Do not trim the fat. Use the broth from that for the masa. The broth will be flavored and u should not need additional lard.
When I saw the marbling on the meet, I actually thought she was going to use the broth for her masa. As you said, that would have been ease and delicious but overall she did a great job.
I love watching you! you have inspired me to do much more home cooked meals. Tres leches is my favorite cake and you forgot to add regular whole milk to your mixture. That is the 3 milks. sweetened condensed, evaporated and whole milk. If you had added the whole milk, it would have soaked into the cake better.
Congrats on trying so many new recipes this year! I know they seem easy now, but I think part of it is that you've built up so much experience that you're ready to tackle more challenging recipes. You've really levelled up!
My husband, the first generation Mexican American, watched every minute of this video. He know wants the pork filling in an enchilada 😂🤣 great video! I love how you try things even when they seem a little intimidating.
I've made tamales many times at Christmas, of course all the ladies in the family. It's a tradition. I've also made them by myself. They are a lot of work and I'm impressed you took this on yourself and also had time to make salsa, rice and cake. Wowza! You're amazing. All I could think about was how lucky your family is to be on the receiving end of your labor of love! Great job. You've inspired me to give it a try again as well; might even tackle it alone since I no longer live by family. Thanks for sharing!!
Hello Becky, as a new viewer and a Mexican mom, I just want to say you did a great job with your tamales they look delicious and the rice as well. There was a couple of things that were not traditional but no need to mention it all looked really good
I have a friend in Louisiana who makes tamales & she folds them like an envelope, so the filling does not fall out. She boils her corn husks in a pot for a short time & yes when you gather woman together to make tamales it goes so much faster & lots of fun. Great job will make the cake this weekend. from Canada
Hi Becky, did you know there is a wrong side and a right side of the corn husk. The smooth side is where you spread the maza on. And the rough side is the outside which is folded.
for the peppers, ill just put them all on the oven in the broil option and rotate them along when its more than 2, although the grill is the best way. And after all the sides are black, we just put them inside a bag, close it, run it under cold water while rubbing the sides. the friction makes all the skin come out, and all you have to do is a quick rinse afterwards.
Becky, I enjoy your gardening & your cooking !! I’ve been doing more cooking 🧑🍳 ! I’m 80+ years old Widow and live with my Oldest daughter & her husband. She has MS & CLL (Cancer) I do what I can to help them out, which keeps me young and I have a Pacemaker/defibrillator that keeps me ticking ! Take care & Love to you and your Family 🥰🥰🥰 I used to make rhubarb strawberry jam, and I love making it, but we don’t have rhubarb!
I love that you made Tamales! Go Becky!!!! WOOHOO! I love ALL tamales but my fav is the Red Beef Tamales!! When my Hubby was in Iraq, a wonderful friend (an American Mexican) came & we made a gazillion Tamales! I had 3 kids, I was so busy & her loving guidance in showing me how to make these...they were amazing!!! I adore the strainer!!! Yah! You make me smile Becky!!! Have an excellent day! ✌🏻🧡
Just wait until your tomatillos and peppers come in the garden and you can make verde chicken tamale 😋 i make them twice a year and we freeze what we dont eat so we can eat on them for awhile. I usually make a double batch and split it up in two days. One day is filling, masa, soak corn husks overnight and then assemble and cook them all the next day 😊
That looks soooo good! I never ate tamales. Didnt know what they were until now. They look a lot like Pamonha, from Brazil. Its also a corn base that you can fill with whatever you want, wrap in the corn husk and steam, its most popular version is sweet, with cane sugar and shredded coconut but it can be savory too. The difference is that its made with fresh corn, that is grinded until its a paste, instead of masa harina. Now I want to try tamales but dont know if I can find easily here in Brazil. Thank you Becky, I love how adventurous you are in the kitchen, its really inspiring.
I live in from Pueblo, a chile capital in Colorado. i rub the chiles with lard and roast them in the oven. Peel, chop them up, and add garlic powder. Use as a side to everything! Sooo good! Commercial growers roast them in rotating baskets over flames. The sight and smell are amazing.We also make dessert tamales. This meal looks fantastic!
The idea you mentioned of making a party of assembling the tamales is similar to what we do in our family. We make homemade egg rolls and do an egg roll making party. Everyone helps with the chopping and prepping, then rolling and frying. Everyone gets to take some home with them for future eating. We haven't tried tamales yet, but those look really good!!!
Dear Becky, you are such a sweetheart and a model to follow! Your voice is soothing and I enjoy listening to you. I love there’s no background music that’s disturbing. Thanks a million for being you! ❤
Soy de Argentina, nunca hice tamales, aunque en el norte de mi país se preparan de forma tradicional. Me ha resultado muy interesante este video. Todo se ve delicioso. Y la mesa, hermosa. Te felicito Becky, y agradezco tu trabajo. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Wow, Becky, that was a lot of work, but everything looks beautiful! Those strawberries you cut for the top of the cake were amazing looking! I hope you all had a great time and enjoy your wonderful fruits of labor.
I make a few hundred tamales every year- and I steam them all in instant pots (I borrow them from friends too) and I have a steamer basket - a metal one- that we fill and then steam for 18 minutes, then allow it to cool for 10 minutes- then release pressure.
Oh for crying out loud. I'm always learning little nuggets that seem like things I should've already known. I didn't realize my InstaPot lid would rest in the handle!🤯
It's kinda funny that you make spicy meals for them when they come over. We older folks can't handle spices, but eat it with a handful of tums anyway lol. I miss spicy food! 🌶 Your dinner looks fantastic!
Very true! 😅I almost killed my mother-n-law by making a spicy low country boil. I asked her why she didn’t tell me that she is not fond of seafood or spicy foods.
I believe you are one of my favorite channels to watch. The bloops & blunders remind me of Julia Child. Adds a little humor to me. I get such wonderful ideas from your meals & dinner partys. Thank you so very much for sharing.❤😊
Kitchen Tip: A way of blistering your peppers (poblano, jalapeño, Anaheim, etc…) without having to stand over them constantly is to put them on a cookie sheet and place them on the top rack of your oven and set the oven to broil. Of course you will still have to turn them but you will be able to get a nice even char all around without all the babysitting😊
Becky, hermana, ya eres mexicana. I've watched your channel for years now and I love how you educate yourself whenever approaching cuisines from other cultures, tamales look delicious. Here I was screaming at the screen that your canning pot already looks like a tamalera.
Becky - I’ve been binge watching enchilada recipes for some reason this week. You make it look so easy so I’m going to give it a try. My boys are of Hispanic descent (adoption)and I’m always looking for recipes like their dad used to make. I also love the idea of rhubarb and strawberry for a tres leches cake. I make these quite often as it’s what they always request for their birthday, etc.
I enjoy watching you try food from different cultures. It helps me cook a variety of foods for my family that I otherwise wouldn’t try, it’s intimidating! Mexican here, tamales are something we look forward to !
Every Christmas eve my family makes tamales together. We hav mixed the masa in the same clay bowl for over 50 yrs. A great way to add flavor to your masa is to mix in some of the red sauce that you mix with your pork. It gives the masa a darker color and tastes amazing.
It all looks amazing! I watch views on the road when I'm questioning this type of food. I look for someone from the culture I'm cooking from to get the scoop.
I love watching your videos! My cousin with her friends prepare all the tamales, puts the rack in their insta pots and steams them that way. Quick and easy.
Blistering your poblanos (or any chili pepper) on the grill is the fastest method! In addition, if you want to preserve them, once blistered, let cool completely, then place them whole on a cookie sheet (don't peel the skin off) and flash freeze them. Once frozen, place them in a ziplock bag and place them back in the freezer. When you're ready to use, take out the number you need and run them under warm water, the skin peels right off! I also chop them up an put them into 4 oz cups to freeze for those recipes that call for 4 oz cans of chopped chili peppers.
Yes!!! I was hoping you would think of your canner! I steam mine in my water bath canner. I take the wire rack that holds the jars and turn it upside down put down some extra corn husks and load it up, cover the top with corn husks on top. Then cover with a dame towel. You can also double stack them in the water bath canner just place extra corn husks between the layers.
I made an all Mexican food Xmas. Try green chicken chili tamales. Sooooo good! Also, I used a tortilla press for the masa, then just laid it in the husk and filled it. That saved a whole lot of time. 😁
You can preserve rhubarb. It makes a great sauce for ice cream, for adding to bar cookies, even thumbprint cookies with rhubarb preserves. Of course strawberry/rhubarb pie which was my husband's favorite summer fruit pie! Never thought of making a rhubarb lemonade/iced tea, I may try that(if my rhubarb is still going strong this year, haven't even checked it yet. Have not made anything with it since my husband passed away). My Mom used to freeze rhubarb too!😊❤
You can make a Rhubarb sauce for pancakes or over shortbread and freeze it for later. I so miss Rhubarb from the north!! I still am pushing myself to make homemade breads and rolls, but we have decided to sell our home and finally build on our 10 acres so we are busy painting rooms and get house ready to list. Also to keep up on our garden which is struggling this year since we have been so wet this spring. Anxious to get to our land and start our new garden plot when that happens.
Becky, when I make tamales, I usually make chicken and pork, but I make a lot of them. I usually end up making dinner and freezing bags of 2 dozen. Last time I made them, I ended up with 8- 2 dozen bags for the freezer and we had 2 dozen for dinner that night. 18 dozen tamales in an afternoon, by myself isn't bad. I love them as do my family.
21:2321:26 Your rhubarb is beautiful! It freezes really well. I dice it up and put 4 cups in freezer bags ....enough for most recipes.😊 I wonder how the rhubarb strawberry pulp would taste if you freeze dried it.
A little trick…if you have a tortilla press, get a ziplock bag and cut it down the side so that it creates a sleeve, put that on the tortilla press so that each side of the ziploc bag covers each side of the press, scoop the masa, press and presto you have the masa at a best thickness and then place on corn husk. Add the meat and roll up. You’ll need to experiment with how much you scoop for each but it’s the fastest way to do it. There are some videos on UA-cam that use this method.
Hi Becky if you have a boiling water canner works great. Just layer them in a circular motion and build it up. Makebsure to put extra corn husk on top while steaming.
Out of all the videos you do these are probably my favorite. I truly admire you to because I spent 3 hours in the kitchen yesterday and I was so over it so you friend are a champion
Hey, Becky I love your channel.❤ I use cooling racks and place the racks on top of stove burners then place the peppers on the racks. It works amazingly. Put them in a paper bag and let them sweat for a few minutes. Works great!❤
We've always roasted peppers in the oven on a baking tray for about 30 minutes you turn them.over half way through cooking.the peppers soften up& the skin blisters up & gets a nice char & the skin is very easy to peel off this way.
Becky thank you for taking us along another successful meal and hosting. You are truly inspiring me and others to learn something new. Many blessings to you and your family.
You can add a coin to the bottom of the tamale pot. The coin will rattle as the water boils. When you don’t hear the coin anymore, that means there’s no more water in the pot. That will let you know you need to add more boiling water without losing all your steam every time you open the lid.
I find myself feeling sentimental watching your video today, this brings back memories of my relatives in Mexico. Our tamalada party was a two day event. The first day my Dad and uncles would dig a hole in the backyard and place my grandmother's huge cast iron dutch oven filled with pork. The next day the ladies were inside preparing the essentials for the tamales. Everyone had an assignment meanwhile we're yaking away and laughing and reminiscing about times gone by. The kiddos are running around in the background, music was playing, there were some occasional dancing it was a magical event. Now those days are gone My Grandmother, my Father and all my uncles have passed. It's now the newer generation taking over but it's not the same. Thanks for sharing. Blessings ❤️❤️❤️
OH that sounds like so much fun and happiness I I love “ big cooking” with the women in the kitchen all day for Holiday diiners , people dropping in to visit. ,and stay for dinner.❤❤❤
Becky, you have such gorgeous pablano chilies and learned how to steam and how to skin them. You might want to consider stuffed chili rellenos. Your family will love them. Something else you might want to consider is collecting some of Diane Kennedy‘s cookbooks. She was British, moved to Mexico, where she lived for decades going Village to Village and small enclaves to find and photograph every secret she could about Mexican cooking. She won James Beard awards. She was also honored by the president of Mexico with what is the equivalent of knighthood for her work and searching and figuring out the ancient recipes of Mexico. She was the pioneer before everyone else jumped into the act. She died at the age of 99 in 2002.
Thank you for the info on new cookbook to add to my already unwieldy collection!!
Becky, I’m so glad you finally tried to make tamales. My family has been making them for many many years at Christmas time. I actually buy my Masa already premade from a local Mexican store. Make my New Mexico red chili in the blender and cook my pork meat in the instant pot. The last few years I have been cooking them in the instant pot SO much easier than trying to steam them in a pot. Place 12 tamales standing up on top of the rack in the instant pot add one cup of water., Cook on high for 18 minutes let naturally release for 10 minutes then manually release the remaining pressure. Let them cool down a bit and set before eating. But after doing this way, I will never steam them on a regular pot again. I should add I make about 13 dozen at a time. So the instant pot makes it quick
Hi Becky in Mexico it's tradition to make tamales in February and Christmas. Usually it's a family event. All the woman gather to make them. There's also a sweet version
A sweet version?! Like what?
yes sweet method with raisins, I have also seen people make with masa and cake mix.
My neighbor used to make them filled with either strawberries or pineapple. They were delicious!
@sanity_faire I make my sweet tamales with masa, pineapple juice, and mix in raisins then spread it across the most corn husks tie them up and steam they are always a hit
Becky before it bolts you can cut up and freeze for recipes in the winter months.
Next time place the corn husks in the sink with warm water let sit 10 minutes, make sure they are under the water. Set a plate on the husks to keep them under water. I usually take one husk and tear it into long strips to use as ties.
Hi Becky! Long time viewer, first time commenter!
Some tips I’ve learned for tamales:
1. For a tamalada (tamale party) fill an ice chest with boiling water and soak your husk there. You can take out what you need as you go
2. The red sauce from peppers is super easy to make if you decide to do it, you can use it 2 ways. As a paste to rub and roast your pork in the oven and a bit in the masa to make it the traditional reddish color.
4. Pork butt or shoulder is preferable because you need all the marbling to get a tender filling. Yours looked great and fatty for a loin but a regular loin would definitely dry out.
4. Jalapeño/cream cheese tamales.Jalapeños julienned with cream cheese inside the Tamale……it’s amazing.
5. Sweet tamales are delicious and easy. The masa is sweet usually made with butter and sugar instead of lard and you can fill it with anything! Rhubarb tamales maybe?!?
6.Rick Martinez (formally) Bon Appetite has a great recipe for tamales and some really solid techniques.
@nataliehinojosa the jalapeno/cream cheese tamales do sound amazing. I am so making these. 😃
My hubby was 1/4 Mexican so one of the ways we used to do tamales was as Xmas morning breakfast as tamales and eggs.... I lost him a few years ago but I'm back in an area that has a good tacoria/ Mexican bakery so it's going to be one that I have more often...
Hello Becky, Josh, Sprout, all the family and all the viewers. Pastel de 3 Leches can be ANY flavor you want. the milk and cream combine with any fruits, spices, chocolate, etc. Just let your imagination run wild. If you can make a smoothie out of it, you can soak a cake in it. Rhubarb is kind of lemony. you can use lemon instead of rhubarb with the strawberries.
You can make tamales with any flavor profile...chinese with soy and chinese spices and filling... Hindu with curry and different meats and veggies...Greek with cinnamon clove and tomato and onion and garlic...again it's a matter of being creative. Yankee tamales with bar-b-que meat and american cheeses.
In mexico we also make sweet tamales with fruit and cinnamon and sugar. Tamales always take longer than the recipes claim.
If you can't find the corn husks or don't want to do all the work, you can put the masa in large pan, half on the bottom...the filling on top and then the other half of the masa over the filling and make a large tamale pie.
Becky, your tamale construction was just beautiful. (they freeze perfectly) Hugs to all Jim Mexico retired
Sorry to be ignorant, but how does one eat tamales? Is the corn husk edible? TIA
I’ve never had tamale and was wondering the same thing
@@Zorro-5515No worries - no you don’t eat the corn husk. Just the cooked maza and your filling. You open the corn husk and eat the insides.
@@Zorro-5515 Hello friend, I'm glad you asked we all have our first tamale. The Husk is there to hold the filling. It's very fibrous and not really edible. you pell the corn hust off just like you would if you roasted a corn cob with the green husk on. All the Best Jim Mexico retired
One of the reasons I really enjoy watching you, Becky you are 100% real. Just like anybody else you get a little messy and make a mistake or two and then find a way to fix it. And that’s what makes you an amazing cooking gardener.. I don’t feel like I’m watching Martha Stewart or somecooking show that that’s glazed over and super perfect. Who really cooks like that. Keep it up. You’re amazing.
Whenever I use evaporated milk, I use the pointy side of a bottle opener and bend it over the side in two spots and pour from them to save myself from fishing the lid out.
My mother (now in her 70's) used to use evaporated milk in her coffee and she did this with the can and stored it as is in the fridge. Lasted longer than regular milk and apparently tasted creamier. (I'm lactose intolerant and my sister is not a fan of plain milk so we didn't have much regular milk at home). Nowadays she uses those teeny tiny little uht milk caps you get for commercial use. She found them available on Amazon when she was a treasurer for a crafty ladies group that met up once a week (so fresh milk wouldn't last week to week).
Quick tip I learned. To test if your masa is ready….drop a small ball in a glass of cold water…if it floats, it’s ready…
When making tamales, usually 35 dozen, during Christmas season it takes at least two days. One day is for making the red chili sauce and cooking the meat. The meat and suace along with seasoning are put in the refrigerator so flavors make nice. The next day, corn leaves are soaked for at least two hours in very hot water, and the masa is made. Then comes the filling, the corn leaves have a smooth and ridged side, The masa and meat go on the smooth side. We make tamales only once a year, the work is done mostly my hand and everyone and there uncle is needed to get them done.
Yes, I have learned that you need to soak corn husks for at least 30 minutes to make them soft in hot water. I wondered if it was okay to soak them until you use them.
Wow. What struck me immediately was the quality of the pork you used. It was beautiful. I loved watching you pop into your garden to get some ingredients. I have a friend who gardens (flowers) so I know the tremendous amount of work a garden is. I love your videos. You have a wonderful presence; I feel like I'm sitting in your kitchen watching you cook and chatting. Blessings from Michigan.
I'm from England and had no idea what a tamale was and no idea how to get corn husks. Thank you because I now know where to get them. I will definitely do the pork part but I think I will do it for taco shells with guacamole and salsa topping. I also want to try doing that cake. You bring so much joy Becky to us your devoted fans. My family are my favourite people. I like that people love their in laws as well as their own. Great episode
The Hairy Bikers did a Mexican trip a few years ago, that’s how I knew what tamale was! It’s definitely not something you usually see in the UK.
When you are harvesting and shucking your corn, save the largest and best husks. Clean them with water, cut them uniformly and let them dry out. (Here in Texas it doesnt take long in our blazing sun, but you could use a very low temp oven or dehydrator probably. Save them up for tamales later.
I agree with you, Suzanne. It seems like so many people don't get along with their in-laws and don't care that they don't. That would be an important thing if I was married, but I am old school. LOL
The one thing is there is a smooth side and a rough side of the husk. The smooth side is where you spread your massa so it comes off nicely. I learned from my grandma (nana) and I have shown my kids and I hope they pass it on to their kids since it is our Hispanic tradition. You did a great job.
We call it the "shiny" side. :)
I grew up making tamales, learned from my grandma who is from Mexico. It’s such a big part of my heritage and a family event that is treasured. Now I pass it to my daughter to keep alive. When we got together it was an all day event and we sang hymns in English and Spanish, great memories.
That sounds like great memories. I wish my dad would have taught me about my heritage, but I have had to learn on my own. I am not slamming Mexican women, but they can't tell I am Mexican so they don't want to show me anything, I am half white and where I live they don't want anything to do with you even if you are half and half and especially if you don't speak Spanish. Wasn't my doing. I would have loved to learn more about my heritage, but Dad did not have a relationship with his family either because he married my mom. It makes me sad, but I have now met a couple of my cousins at my dad's funeral and they have been raised the same due to the same circumstances. It is so important to me to teach your children about both sides of their heritage. I am taking a Spanish class now as well. I am excited to learn Spanish.
You have more energy and enthusiasm than any 10 people! You are an absolute joy to cook with 😍 Thanks so much for sharing!
My mother grew up in Del Rio Texas. Her best friend’s mom thought her how to make tamales. Even though we do not have any Latino roots, we now make them every Christmas. My mom cooks the meat, I do the masa, my daughter now does the husk. I’m looking forward to making them with my own grandchild.
We make pork, chicken, and beef. We give a dozen out as a time as gifts to love ones.
We don’t fold them like you do. We put the masa in the middle, added the filling. Then used the husk to roll the masa over the filling. That way when you unwrap them it was like a masa burrito with the filling inside.
The way you described folding the tamales is how I fold them! And my masa is little thicker
Yes, spreading the masa all the way across won't allow the tamale to release because you have husk between two layers of masa. Hopefully Becky will learn. ATK has a great video showing how to do it.
When I first started baking, my father gathered a bunch of tools for the hardware store and made a baker's toolbox for me. I got quite a lot of use out of the spackle tool for cake decorating, and a really great little saw for slicing breads.
My mother and I get so excited when your videos pop up. You are so inspiring. God bless you all
Awesome! Thank you!
Christmas is tamale season in my world. We definitely do our party and everyone makes tamales. We have added our Chinese friends and we make dumplings and tamales together for the holidays. SO FUN!
LOVE YOUR Honesty! You keep it real! I love watching you because of that!
I am so proud of you! Making tamales isn’t for the faint hearted.
I am Hispanic and I avoid making them every holiday season.
Our favorite is poblano, Oaxaca cheese, and chicken.
Just fyi what ever protein you cook just keep the broth it cook in strain it and use it in masa.
Hubby’s and daughters favorite is refried beans and cheese.
Traditionally, I have roasted poblanos over the flame on the gas stove but I learned a new trick. Put them under the broiler. It's so much faster! You're meal looks amazing. Thanks again for another great video.
I use the broiler, so fast & maintains the texture of the peppers too!
I do them on the grill but I like the broiler tip for winter. Thanks.
Nice tip! That’s what I do to roast my green chilies in batches. Also, large batch salsa.
I do mine on my propane grill too! I make a few pounds of chiles and it makes quick work! Winters in California are usually mild!😊
I've started using my kitchen torch. It's great for the peppers that have deeper groves.
I use v8 spicy tomato juice when making Mexican rice. I live in South Texas and have all sorts of ideas that my housekeeper gives me. She’s a wonderful cook and loves to help me with Mexican food.
You can also chop up the rhubarb and freeze it for the winter. It works great for many recipes.❤
You can also freeze dry, and even make a powder.
Good to know
my mother loves rhubarb custard pie (personally, I can't stand the stuff-too sour no matter how much sugar I put in) and would often freeze rhubarb in season into the amounts needed for the pie (2 cups per bag iirc). Her 75th birthday is this year....I'm thinking I need to make that pie!
Becky, everything looks delicious 😋. I love that your not afraid to try anything . Love your table setting and all. You are full of energy and so cute. I'm 57 and have made tamales 1 time and said Never again to much work. But you made it look like a piece of cake. Your amazing, thank you!!
Hi Becky. When I was in Texas I was chitchatting with a Mexican-American young lady who told me that at Christmas she and all her sisters and her mom and all of her sisters and her grandma and the sisters that were left would all get together and make hundreds of tamales for the whole family and extended family. It was a tradition and they loved it! I thought it was so cool!
The party is called a tamalada. The men grill fajitas outside and keep the kids from getting underfoot. Lots of cool beverages, tv sports, family traditions, and fun being passed on.
Hi Becky! Next time you want to blister your poblanos try sticking them on a sheet pan and broiling them in the oven. It’s so much faster and really gets them charred. It also really cuts down on washing dishes if you use parchment. Also, it’s way easier to do your corn husks in a deep pot on the stove.
I have to congratulate you on the tamales. You can use your green tomatillo salsa to serve over the green chile tamales, and your homemade red chile sauce(your enchilada sauce) to serve with the pork or beef tamales. I also thoroughly wash and clean the corn husks of any dust, bugs or corn silk before soaking them. You did a great job!
My husband is from Mexico. We love making tamales with a chunk of queso and a jalapeño slice in them!
You have a steamer pot for extracting juice! You can use bottom 2 pots and lid or top and bottom sections with lid.
Love and enjoy all of your videos! I wanted to share a tip with u. If you have more time cut a pork roast in big chunks ( season and add water) cook overnight in roaster oven . Do not trim the fat. Use the broth from that for the masa. The broth will be flavored and u should not need additional lard.
When I saw the marbling on the meet, I actually thought she was going to use the broth for her masa. As you said, that would have been ease and delicious but overall she did a great job.
I’m super proud of you friend for tackling making tamales. It really is a labor of love ❤️ great job 👏
I love watching you! you have inspired me to do much more home cooked meals. Tres leches is my favorite cake and you forgot to add regular whole milk to your mixture. That is the 3 milks. sweetened condensed, evaporated and whole milk. If you had added the whole milk, it would have soaked into the cake better.
Congrats on trying so many new recipes this year! I know they seem easy now, but I think part of it is that you've built up so much experience that you're ready to tackle more challenging recipes. You've really levelled up!
My husband, the first generation Mexican American, watched every minute of this video. He know wants the pork filling in an enchilada 😂🤣 great video! I love how you try things even when they seem a little intimidating.
We usually soak the husks in the sink. Lot more room to clean and soak.
You are amazing, Becky! What a lovely meal…your family is so fortunate to have you! ❤
I've made tamales many times at Christmas, of course all the ladies in the family. It's a tradition. I've also made them by myself. They are a lot of work and I'm impressed you took this on yourself and also had time to make salsa, rice and cake. Wowza! You're amazing. All I could think about was how lucky your family is to be on the receiving end of your labor of love! Great job. You've inspired me to give it a try again as well; might even tackle it alone since I no longer live by family. Thanks for sharing!!
All I have to say is that your loving homemaking warms my heart.
You had me at Strawberry 🍓 Rhubarb ❤️ 😍
Hello Becky, as a new viewer and a Mexican mom, I just want to say you did a great job with your tamales they look delicious and the rice as well. There was a couple of things that were not traditional but no need to mention it all looked really good
I have a friend in Louisiana who makes tamales & she folds them like an envelope, so the filling does not fall out. She boils her corn husks in a pot for a short time & yes when you gather woman together to make tamales it goes so much faster & lots of fun. Great job will make the cake this weekend. from Canada
Hi Becky, did you know there is a wrong side and a right side of the corn husk.
The smooth side is where you spread the maza on. And the rough side is the outside which is folded.
I love seeing your furry helpers!! 🐶🐶
for the peppers, ill just put them all on the oven in the broil option and rotate them along when its more than 2, although the grill is the best way. And after all the sides are black, we just put them inside a bag, close it, run it under cold water while rubbing the sides. the friction makes all the skin come out, and all you have to do is a quick rinse afterwards.
Becky,
I enjoy your gardening & your cooking !! I’ve been doing more cooking 🧑🍳 ! I’m 80+ years old Widow and live with my Oldest daughter & her husband. She has MS & CLL (Cancer) I do what I can to help them out, which keeps me young and I have a Pacemaker/defibrillator that keeps me ticking !
Take care & Love to you and your Family 🥰🥰🥰
I used to make rhubarb strawberry jam, and I love making it, but we don’t have rhubarb!
Love my work Days so much better when I've got a new Becky video to watch
Same! 😊
I love that you made Tamales! Go Becky!!!! WOOHOO! I love ALL tamales but my fav is the Red Beef Tamales!! When my Hubby was in Iraq, a wonderful friend (an American Mexican) came & we made a gazillion Tamales! I had 3 kids, I was so busy & her loving guidance in showing me how to make these...they were amazing!!! I adore the strainer!!! Yah! You make me smile Becky!!! Have an excellent day! ✌🏻🧡
Just wait until your tomatillos and peppers come in the garden and you can make verde chicken tamale 😋 i make them twice a year and we freeze what we dont eat so we can eat on them for awhile. I usually make a double batch and split it up in two days. One day is filling, masa, soak corn husks overnight and then assemble and cook them all the next day 😊
Becky my dear you are amazing. I really enjoyed watching you cook your wonderful dinner. All I can say is "YOU GO GIRL".
That looks soooo good! I never ate tamales. Didnt know what they were until now. They look a lot like Pamonha, from Brazil. Its also a corn base that you can fill with whatever you want, wrap in the corn husk and steam, its most popular version is sweet, with cane sugar and shredded coconut but it can be savory too. The difference is that its made with fresh corn, that is grinded until its a paste, instead of masa harina. Now I want to try tamales but dont know if I can find easily here in Brazil.
Thank you Becky, I love how adventurous you are in the kitchen, its really inspiring.
As a Mexican and someone who is very familiar with tamales, rice and salsa…this looks very good Becky. You did an amazing job! 👏🏼 😊 I want a plate!!!
I'm so excited for this!!! My parents are mexican and haven't made tamales yet on my own! Thank you for sharing! Very authentic!
I live in from Pueblo, a chile capital in Colorado. i rub the chiles with lard and roast them in the oven. Peel, chop them up, and add garlic powder. Use as a side to everything! Sooo good! Commercial growers roast them in rotating baskets over flames. The sight and smell are amazing.We also make dessert tamales. This meal looks fantastic!
Yum!! I’m from New Mexico and I love chile roasting season. A freezer with chile to last till the next season is where it’s at. 😊
I just stumbled across your channel & I’ve been binge watching for… Well I’m embarrassed to say how long but I really love your videos
The idea you mentioned of making a party of assembling the tamales is similar to what we do in our family. We make homemade egg rolls and do an egg roll making party. Everyone helps with the chopping and prepping, then rolling and frying. Everyone gets to take some home with them for future eating. We haven't tried tamales yet, but those look really good!!!
Oh my gosh, how do you make homemade egg rolls? Sounds awesome.😮
Dear Becky, you are such a sweetheart and a model to follow! Your voice is soothing and I enjoy listening to you.
I love there’s no background music that’s disturbing. Thanks a million for being you! ❤
Soy de Argentina, nunca hice tamales, aunque en el norte de mi país se preparan de forma tradicional. Me ha resultado muy interesante este video. Todo se ve delicioso. Y la mesa, hermosa. Te felicito Becky, y agradezco tu trabajo. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Loved todays video so much! Thanks Beckey for blessing us all with your God given talents.❤
Blessing to your family!
Wow, Becky, that was a lot of work, but everything looks beautiful! Those strawberries you cut for the top of the cake were amazing looking! I hope you all had a great time and enjoy your wonderful fruits of labor.
I make a few hundred tamales every year- and I steam them all in instant pots (I borrow them from friends too) and I have a steamer basket - a metal one- that we fill and then steam for 18 minutes, then allow it to cool for 10 minutes- then release pressure.
Becky, I just love watching your videos, you are so relatable, down-to-earth, and show an array of wonderful detailed topic!
Just little tip, from an old lady, drop an ice cube into the gravy in your fat separator.
Today we reached 90 degrees so I made your BLT chicken for dinner tonight. Had a sneak taste and WOW so tasty!!!
Oh for crying out loud. I'm always learning little nuggets that seem like things I should've already known. I didn't realize my InstaPot lid would rest in the handle!🤯
It's kinda funny that you make spicy meals for them when they come over. We older folks can't handle spices, but eat it with a handful of tums anyway lol. I miss spicy food! 🌶 Your dinner looks fantastic!
Very true! 😅I almost killed my mother-n-law by making a spicy low country boil. I asked her why she didn’t tell me that she is not fond of seafood or spicy foods.
Yes, it gets much harder eating spicy food as you get older. A stomach can no longer handle it!
Becky time!!! thank you Becky for making more Videos
I believe you are one of my favorite channels to watch. The bloops & blunders remind me of Julia Child. Adds a little humor to me. I get such wonderful ideas from your meals & dinner partys. Thank you so very much for sharing.❤😊
Hi Becky! You could have used you metal colander to steam the Tomales!! Great video. ❤
Kitchen Tip: A way of blistering your peppers (poblano, jalapeño, Anaheim, etc…) without having to stand over them constantly is to put them on a cookie sheet and place them on the top rack of your oven and set the oven to broil. Of course you will still have to turn them but you will be able to get a nice even char all around without all the babysitting😊
Becky, hermana, ya eres mexicana. I've watched your channel for years now and I love how you educate yourself whenever approaching cuisines from other cultures, tamales look delicious. Here I was screaming at the screen that your canning pot already looks like a tamalera.
Becky - I’ve been binge watching enchilada recipes for some reason this week. You make it look so easy so I’m going to give it a try. My boys are of Hispanic descent (adoption)and I’m always looking for recipes like their dad used to make. I also love the idea of rhubarb and strawberry for a tres leches cake. I make these quite often as it’s what they always request for their birthday, etc.
I enjoy watching you try food from different cultures. It helps me cook a variety of foods for my family that I otherwise wouldn’t try, it’s intimidating! Mexican here, tamales are something we look forward to !
Love it when you say " I may have just tasted" Makes me smile every time. Happy to say I love to Taste it.
Wow I have never seen tamales 🫔 made. Watching your shows are very educational. Thanks for showing us how.
For small batches like this you can use your instant pot and pressure cook for 45 minutes and let set/cool for like 15
Every Christmas eve my family makes tamales together. We hav mixed the masa in the same clay bowl for over 50 yrs. A great way to add flavor to your masa is to mix in some of the red sauce that you mix with your pork. It gives the masa a darker color and tastes amazing.
I do this as well, I also use the juice from the meat.
It all looks amazing! I watch views on the road when I'm questioning this type of food. I look for someone from the culture I'm cooking from to get the scoop.
I love watching your videos!
My cousin with her friends prepare all the tamales, puts the rack in their insta pots and steams them that way. Quick and easy.
Blistering your poblanos (or any chili pepper) on the grill is the fastest method! In addition, if you want to preserve them, once blistered, let cool completely, then place them whole on a cookie sheet (don't peel the skin off) and flash freeze them. Once frozen, place them in a ziplock bag and place them back in the freezer. When you're ready to use, take out the number you need and run them under warm water, the skin peels right off! I also chop them up an put them into 4 oz cups to freeze for those recipes that call for 4 oz cans of chopped chili peppers.
Yes!!! I was hoping you would think of your canner! I steam mine in my water bath canner. I take the wire rack that holds the jars and turn it upside down put down some extra corn husks and load it up, cover the top with corn husks on top. Then cover with a dame towel. You can also double stack them in the water bath canner just place extra corn husks between the layers.
I made an all Mexican food Xmas. Try green chicken chili tamales. Sooooo good! Also, I used a tortilla press for the masa, then just laid it in the husk and filled it. That saved a whole lot of time. 😁
You can preserve rhubarb. It makes a great sauce for ice cream, for adding to bar cookies, even thumbprint cookies with rhubarb preserves. Of course strawberry/rhubarb pie which was my husband's favorite summer fruit pie! Never thought of making a rhubarb lemonade/iced tea, I may try that(if my rhubarb is still going strong this year, haven't even checked it yet. Have not made anything with it since my husband passed away). My Mom used to freeze rhubarb too!😊❤
You can make a Rhubarb sauce for pancakes or over shortbread and freeze it for later. I so miss Rhubarb from the north!! I still am pushing myself to make homemade breads and rolls, but we have decided to sell our home and finally build on our 10 acres so we are busy painting rooms and get house ready to list. Also to keep up on our garden which is struggling this year since we have been so wet this spring. Anxious to get to our land and start our new garden plot when that happens.
Pam here….you can chop and freeze rhubarb on cookie sheet then into baggie…use as you need. No need to blanch or cook before hand.
Becky, when I make tamales, I usually make chicken and pork, but I make a lot of them. I usually end up making dinner and freezing bags of 2 dozen. Last time I made them, I ended up with 8- 2 dozen bags for the freezer and we had 2 dozen for dinner that night. 18 dozen tamales in an afternoon, by myself isn't bad. I love them as do my family.
I love it when you always says 'WE will do this. WE will do that' it's like we are your sous-chefs. 😊❤
I love the collection of white serving dishes you have.
21:23 21:26 Your rhubarb is beautiful! It freezes really well. I dice it up and put 4 cups in freezer bags ....enough for most recipes.😊
I wonder how the rhubarb strawberry pulp would taste if you freeze dried it.
The cake looks beautiful with the strawberries!!!
A little trick…if you have a tortilla press, get a ziplock bag and cut it down the side so that it creates a sleeve, put that on the tortilla press so that each side of the ziploc bag covers each side of the press, scoop the masa, press and presto you have the masa at a best thickness and then place on corn husk. Add the meat and roll up. You’ll need to experiment with how much you scoop for each but it’s the fastest way to do it. There are some videos on UA-cam that use this method.
Hi Becky if you have a boiling water canner works great. Just layer them in a circular motion and build it up. Makebsure to put extra corn husk on top while steaming.
Out of all the videos you do these are probably my favorite. I truly admire you to because I spent 3 hours in the kitchen yesterday and I was so over it so you friend are a champion
Hey, Becky I love your channel.❤ I use cooling racks and place the racks on top of stove burners then place the peppers on the racks. It works amazingly. Put them in a paper bag and let them sweat for a few minutes. Works great!❤
We've always roasted peppers in the oven on a baking tray for about 30 minutes you turn them.over half way through cooking.the peppers soften up& the skin blisters up & gets a nice char & the skin is very easy to peel off this way.
Becky thank you for taking us along another successful meal and hosting. You are truly inspiring me and others to learn something new. Many blessings to you and your family.
This Mexican American says , you did a fantastic job for your first time! Beautiful spread