Unwrapping Aztec Tamales | The Tamale Wars
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
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Que vivan los tamales! by Jeffrey M. Pilcher: amzn.to/33EvCCP
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A Short History of America’s ‘Tamale Wars’: bit.ly/39HV0vs
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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza
TAMALES
INGREDIENTS
- 4 Cups (600g) dried field corn
- 2 teaspoons (7g) Calcium Hydroxide
- 8-10 Cups (2L water) Water
- A few pieces of Tequesquite dissolved in boiling water
- Corn Husks
- Any cooked filling (Turkey, Papaya, Pumpkin, etc)
METHOD
1. Wash the corn and then add to a pot of boiling water with the calcium hydroxide. Boil for 30 - 45 minutes or until the skins easy come away from the corn. Remove from the heat and allow to sit in the water 8-12 hours. Rinse and soak your corn husks in water during this time.
2. Strain the corn into a colander and rinse any residual calcium hydroxide off. Then, add the corn to a bowl of clean water and rub the skins off the corn. Repeat this process several times until the majority of the skins are off. Then grind the corn into masa.
4. Add the tequesquite water to the masa until it forms a paste. Then spread a thin layer onto a corn husk. Add any filling. Then wrap the filling with the masa by folding the corn husk over it. Then fold down the end of the husk and tie closed.
5. Add an inch of water to the bottom of the steamer and set two coins at the bottom (the sound of these will let you know if you need to add water during the steaming). Then set the steamer basket in and lay a bed of corn husks on the bottom. Add the tamales and cover with another layer of husks. Then place the lid on the pot and set the water to boiling. Steam for 1 hour. The tamales are done with they easy pull away from the husk.
PHOTO CREDITS
Metate and Mano - By Leoboudv - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, bit.ly/3mETDkT
#tastinghistory #tamales #aztec
What is your favorite tamale filling? Mine is definitely pork.
If I have the chance, I always go for cheese and jalapeno,
Turkey and green chile. If you roast your own turkey, you can use that fat in the masa
Savory mole 💕
Have you ever had tamales with picadillo? They are absolutely amazing!
I’ve only had ground beef, shredded beef & shredded chicken, and the shredded beef one is my favorite so far, but pork will probably be my favorite once I get a chance to try it.
Listening to historical mexican upperclass drama narrated by a man holding a pikachu mug
God bless the internet lol
You're just jealous, you really want that Pikachu cup
Bruh
Its pretty great actually
@@EliPorterMahn The mug? Ikr
When I ate my first tamale I didn't know the corn husk wrapper had to be removed. The little grandma at the food truck stared at me in shocked horror like I had lost my mind.
Lmaoooo I did the same thing when I had my first
President Ford made that same mistake on the campaign trail in San Antonio in 1976, and it was likely part of the reason he lost his "re-election" bid to Jimmy Carter. The More You Know!
Dude I worked landscaping for like 5 years and there was this big ole Mexican man we called “Chiles” long story short I had a very similar first experience with tamales lol
@@hollerinwoman I'd say not actually being elected, pardoning Nixon, and helping fuel dire economic situation did Ford no favors as well.
@@civilwarwasaninsidejob7405 Haha true!
"Instead of disappointing some people, I've decided to disappoint everyone."
Me, already a disappointment to everyone: "A'ight, cheers to that, mate."
Just remember, your reach is limited. Plenty more to disappoint.
cheers i'll drink to that bud
I was already disappointed at Papaya. Yuck.
your profile pic tells me that Ivana Alawi.
You haven't disappointed me yet, rookie.
My grandmother's tamales are amazing. They are essentially familial currency. We bribe, steal, and horde them. Laughing at family members as they cry, begging for a handout.
So just like the Aztecs!
That’s awesome! You should go into business and start the tamale mafia and rule over you empire with an iron fist!
You need to start a tradition of bonking those who beg.
Is that a superpower we acquire with age? I feel If I became a granny I will never be as good as mine cooking food. God bless our grannies!
A tamale is a tamale. Simple to make
“Instead of just disappointing someone, I decided to disappoint everyone!”
Me in High School
+1
+ another 1
@@cam4636 😂😂😂
The ultimate "if you don't like what you have, then you get nothing."
Damn straight.
Yes, I think preparing a non-Nestle chocolate drink would make an interesting episode. Any new world foods, really.
Chile hot chocolate is popular!
Wait, Nestle isn’t a Mayan company? Seems I need to get into the research 🤣
VanHooten dark unsuggared chocolate.
I have a container of 'Xioc,' a dark, unsweetened, heavily peppered chocolate beverage powder. It's mixed into hot water, no dairy, and is *SPICY.* I'm going through it rather slowly, because despite liking hot spices, this is a bit much even for me.
Dunno if it's historically accurate, but it's VERY different from the traditional western hot chocolate!
I think so too. I would love to learn how to make hot chocolate.
"She is often seen as a traitor to her own people and is one of the most villainized people in Latin culture, just after Yolanda Saldívar" bless you magic cooking man 😭 💕
I spit my drink out at that part😭💀💀
Definitely emitted a big YEP from me watching it.
I laughed too 😂 that being said, will never forget Selena and the impact she and her music had 😢
@@SharpAssKnittingNeedles
Alright then... So *who's Selena that are you referring to* huh 🤔?
@@rahadianaryo5979it’s obvious, no? /gen
My Abuela made great chicken tamales I always asked her for the recipe, she always said “not until I am 20”, I’m 23 and now she says “not until your married”
Try this, help her make them one day. Cook them with her and you will get all the tips. You could also try this: Look up a few recipes, try things out, and make some to give to her. Ask her if they are good, and she might give you some tips or show you how to make them.
Tell her that you need to know how to make them so that you can properly attract a mate. That just may get her to relax the prerequisites.
Wow that surprised me, we had to start learning the family recipes at the age of 10 along side grandma and grandpa (she was the most patient adult) so that by the age of 12 we could make a whole meal if we ever needed to. Now my mom is 93 years old and doesn’t cook because of arthritis so my dad does the cooking while she does the meal planning and instruction and tasting. She’s the Queen at our Tamaladas and she’s taught her great-grandkids how to cook boys and girls alike. So glad she’s still with us and still sharing ALL! the family secrets 😂 . Her famous line that everyone quotes “if you don’t want anyone to know then don’t tell me” “I don’t want to have to remember what I can and what I can’t say” ❤
I'm willing to get married just for your recipe. 😈😈
I wish someone put me to task like that. Whew.
Im an archaeologyst from México and I really love your aproach to tamales.
We have archaeologycal records in iconography and micro remanentes of the ingredients that survived in the rock or ceramic.
And even we have récord of the process and production of this foods. In Dresde Codex theres a lot of iconographic information.
OMG this is so exciting.
I really want to see some of these codexes in person. The art is so beautiful and I’m sure my PDFs don’t do them justice.
@@TastingHistory For mayan Codex theres good information in the forstemann and schelle compilations. Really good pdf(s) in Mesoweb.com
Sir is there any web resource on Aztec food and food related culture available for free?
@@asamvav being clear about the recipes. As mr. Miller said theres no recipes from mesoamerican prehispanic food but with archaeologycal and historical récord the investigadores can make an aproach on the ingredients and process. The mesoweb, academia.edu and famsi browsers.
Dmitri Beliaiev
Michael D. Coe
Lilia Fernández
Karl Taube
Erick Boot
Nikolai Grube
Im a mayanist so im not specialized familiar to central México cultures but with etnohistorical referentes you can make a good investigation. Sahagún as mr. Miller said its a great point of reference because tenochtitlan was a postclasic and contact culture so they had the information on first hand
@@santiagosobrino3524 gracias!
"They took all his tamales."
Those monsters...
That's considered a war crime
For some reason that was the saddest sounding line in the video, in a video which mentioned burying a child.
This should be a crime in the Geneva Convention.
😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣
Tamales here in the Philippines are made with rice flour and coconut milk, topped with a peanut sauce, shredded chicken, and sliced egg. It's wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks. As a kid, when I'd see Mexican tamales on TV, I always wondered what they tasted like! To this day I have yet to try them... It's on my bucket list.
Hope you get to try them one day they're amazing. Really want to try the Philippine tamales now. I've never heard of them made that way and they sound really good.
The Philippine tamales sound delicious too!
Do you guys call them tamales too? Maybe those aren’t tamales
Bro I would literally fly to the Philippines to bring you some
Still really awesome I've had both urs taste more Thai (coconut) there's taste more like home❤
I’m from rural, coal mining Pennsylvania. This was my first experience with tamales:
In the Navy, 18 years old, stationed in Orlando for training. Two older guys, both from Texas, both recently married, invited me and my future best friend over for Christmas dinner. Both of their wives were of recent Mexican ancestry. (One of the guys was too.). They made tamales, first time by themselves without their mothers. They were embarrassed because the tamales weren’t pretty. But I remember… they were delicious.
And to this day, when I see tamales on a menu, I think “Oh, this place is good.”
Heh, funny. Im of Mexican descent but didn't get the benefit of any cooking instruction from that side of the family. I make them now and I feel the same as those girls, mine are never pretty but always delicious!
"Just like dinner at the miller household. I cannot abide tardiness. *strong sip of cocoa from Pikachu mug*" - Max Miller
Can’t forget the strong sip of cocoa from the Pikachu mug. It’s too important 😂
In reality, "LEFTOVERS!!! For the love of god, take the leftovers!!!"
@gundam ataco I get the feeling that Operation British could be going on and he'd STLL not abide any tardiness.
Me to myself after surviving a mental breakdown:
"I'm actually kind of surprised at how well it's holding together. I really thought that this was going to absolutely fall apart."
Mood
HAHAHAHAHA
My parents were mexican and, as a ~7 year old little pocho (what the paisas call us mex american kids), I tried ordering a “tamale” at our favorite Mexican restaurant {Casa Jimenez in Ontario, California - can’t give it enough props}. I learned two things that day: 1) the singular form is “tamal” not tamale and 2) my parents were happy to laugh at me along with literally every other adult in the building as if my ignorance wasn’t a reflection of their teaching.
Tl;dr it’s tamal not tamale.
Love the video, this isn’t some pedantry from a random UA-cam comment… it’s just all I think of when I hear the word “tamale”.
Was hoping someone would say that. Pisses me off and I'm not even mexican
That is correct. I too have been laughed at for calling it a tamale. The shame of it all.
you should have said my parents were paisas.
❤
@@franciscougartr2415ha! " country" rt?!?
Max yelling "learn to drive you Corn Smut!" is perhaps my favorite moment of the channel 🤣
YES😂 he sounds so aggressive too, I love it
corn smut is delicious though, like mushroom but a better texture. Highly recommend if you see huitlachoche anywhere.
"Here are the wrappers, send me more tamales", mega boss swagger lmao
We love a recycling king 👑
Based
For real though, I love some of those moments in history. Even if the actual person was good or bad (I don't know unfortunately and know if I look him up I will get sucked into a 12-hour rabbithole of awesome history) but those incredibly witty and savage lines are always amazing. The Spartans might be famous for their "spartanisms", but they definitely did not invent witty insults and there are plenty of them everywhere!
@@MatthewSmith-sz1yq To the German commander: NUTS! Signed, the American commander. Siege of Bastogne, December 22nd, 1944
"Instead of disappointing someone, I decided to just disappoint everyone!" is my motto.
hells, I regularly disappoint myself. Almost daily, in fact
My life in a nutshell
My family used to make tamales for Christmas Eve, although we have no South American ancestry AT ALL. we’re actually Scandinavian- but my grandpa used to tell the story of during the Spanish-American war, the soilders stopped for Xmas and shared tamales. They’re some of my favorites now.
Mesoamerica is what Mexico is today and Mexico is in North America.
Same!
I love that you're choosing to focus a lot on meso-American cuisine! A breath of fresh air.
"Instead of disappointing someone I decided to just disappoint everyone" lmao
And in the end he disappointed himself too.
A fine holiday tradition, indeed.
@@Bloodletter8 Been doing it unconsciously several years now
corn smut is a missed opportunity to call it "corn porn".
Search "behold corn".
...don't search that.
huitlacoochie
Did you get your free week of Cornhub Premium?
Go search for "Steve Don't Eat It!" - he has an entry where he eats huitlacoche. And it's hilarious.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
My Mother who died would have loved this programme! It is witty and insightful! This is educational tasteful and well done research in one go ! I applaude you !! You are great ! Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
Video
Can't wait to make New Year's tamales with my New Mexican wife! Thanks for a great video, Max!
Yay!
What happened to your old Mexican wife?
@@bsseb2914 💀💀💀
Albuquerque?
@@bsseb2914 She is from New Mexico USA, a state of the USA; there live Spaniard-Mexicans since 400 years ago, old families
"Nixtmalize"...
*raises a Scrabble-playing eyebrow*
You have my attention.
*nixtamalize, gotta have 2 a's
@@Skoomz I'd say this is even better, but that extra A is only worth one point in Scrabble.
@@McSquiddington unless it lands on a triple letter or triple word square...
@@GiselleMFeuillet Yes, of course. I'm a decent word-finder, but Scrabble tactics were never my forte. :)
Foreign word violation.
Oh, I think an episode on xocolatl would be most welcome.
That would be so awesome
It’s a must I think.
@@voiceineheadphones are you a grammar nazi?
@@voiceineheadphones i think you are overeacting, a little bit... Take a breath man
@@voiceineheadphones I would be the happiest person among us if someone brought let it be full of incorrect issues of pronunciation and spelling even 1 percent of mr. Miller interest to mesoamerican culture to my native language and culture. That never happens :(
One thing I will always appreciate in these videos is how much effort Max puts into spelling the native words correctly. Might seem like a minor thing but to me it shows how enthusiastic he is about the history and culture surrounding the covered subject. Keep up your good work!
He says tamale, tamalada and "meis".
It's tamal, tamaliza and maíz.
While I was in Mexico, one of my friends mother who practices Aztec cooking among other things, made us the "traditional hot chocolate". It was good, different, and I would even say invigorating. I adapted her style for my family and they love it.
I have never been more happy to see a grown man laugh manically while threatening violence and drinking chocolate out of a Pikachu mug... brings back so many Christmas memories.
I miss the ladies selling Tamales from the trunk of their car. Each would be at a different grocery parking lot on a certain day of the week. My favorite was Tuesdays for Antonia's pork ones. She always brought the fruit ones in blue masa at Christmas, but only for her best customers and I always gave her a live duck or two as a thank you.
I wish people still exchanged things like that. My grandad got a live duck for building an enclosure for them when my mum was little. He couldn't bring himself to kill it so he gave it to my mum for a pet and she had him for 9 years.
>not buying from the superior option, the driveway
@@violetskies14 those kind of exchanges are the best. Between my friends and their families and I, we exchange the fruits we grow on our properties that would otherwise go to waste due to the large quantities in for fruits or something else from the other person. I made my friend's grandmother a tiny jar of fig jam and got over forty pounds of pears in return. I canned those and I'm still eating on them today
@@Chris-ib5ht
I always like Senora Gloria's who sold them on Saturdays by the park.
One of my childhood memories was helping my uncle at my grandmas house in Mexico, to grind some corn for making masa. Did it by hand! Or by foot, I should say, as you had to walk in circles to push a wooden plank that spun the grinder.
That's beautiful. We all need more attachment to the food we eat.
Tamales are one of my favorite foods! I was delighted to discover they have been made in what is now Mexico and central America for thousands of years! Every time I eat one, I feel like I'm tasting history 😉
I appreciate the shade thrown at Yolanda Saldivar. The world never forgets!
I screeched at that! Perfect!
I cackled so hard that my kid came to make sure I was okay. 🤣
eligible for release in 2 years btw.
Gotta respect a man who can sip from a Pikachu mug and pronounce Xiuhtecutli competently. (Edited to fix a typo dammit)
This is great programming: educational, calming and entertaining. I can tell great effort is put into these videos. I could see this being on KCET, food network, PBS, etc, as well.
Are you 70?
Especially PBS. That channel always had great cooking shows when I was a kid.
Our tamales are a pork/beef mixture with olives and they are so so good. Grandma's recipe. It took us from noon to almost midnight to make a batch of 80ish but we love freezing bags of 10 and giving them to loved ones. It's a really fun bonding experience usually on Christmas Eve. Hoping you're having a wonderful holiday season!
Olives were in all the ones I remember from childhood. Someone once used unpitted olives and I was afraid of tamales for awhile after. Just curious, are you from California? I am wondering if olives are a regional thing.
I feel like "And they took all his tamales" should be on a T-Shirt...
Merch idea!
Yup!
That was exactly what I said! I need that t-shirt!
Yea!!
@chula chalupa Por qué todo tiene que see pinche? 😑😒😤🙄😠
Him: “My fiancé...”
Men and women everywhere: *My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.*
Seriously tho, congrats! 🥳 ❤️
EDIT: Corrected “fiancé” 😊
🤣 thank you
@@TastingHistory So.. have you already picked a date, or waiting for the plague to be over first?
@@TastingHistory Weren't you already engaged in the beginning of the year?
@@Morgoth10101 still engaged! Wedding next year maybe 🤔
@@KetchupwithMaxandJose I didn't mean to rush you guys ;) I just thought that you were already engaged when the channel started. Congratulations btw :)
Max you’re such a natural host, this pandemic has given us a few gifts and this channel is one of them ❤️
My step dad's friends always sell tamales around Christmas time so we stock the freezer up every year and they are so incredible. I've never brought myself to have restaurant or prepared tamales because I know they won't be able to compete with the real thing.
"Most villanized women.. Just after Yolanda Saldivar" I mean! 😂😂
I howled. 🤣
literally noone knows who selena is in mexico
@@tomhrio speak for yourself...
@@tomhrio as a Mexican and a long time fan, that's not true
Mr Miller you had me at Yolanda Saldivar 🤣 Subscribed! ❤️
The chocolate episode sounds quite interesting. Excellent job pronouncing the nahuatl words and Aztec names.
Thank you
I love how much care he always takes with the pronunciations in every episode!
The tamales you made really remind me of zacahuiles!! Zacahuiles are a local type of tamal you can find in the area in Mexico called "La Huasteca Potosina". Rather than masa, zacahuiles are made with grilled corn, and it's a GIANT tamal broken down to pieces to give individual servings. They are absolutely delicious.
Awww, I loved that book growing up! At the time I had no idea what a tamale actually tasted like, so when I finally got to try one I was very surprised they didn't taste like McDonalds hashbrowns which is how my 7 yr old brain had decided they would taste.
Now they're one of my favorite meals.
God, I love his accent when he pronounces those hardcore Mexican words
His sweetie is no doubt coaching him.
I love that he actually tries to pronounce things correctly, unlike most UA-camrs. 😅
He has so much respect for accents, and has the European ones down I’m guessing from singing early European music. Good on Max for the stretch!
"hardcore mexican words" lol
The language is Nahuatl, not Mexican
Suddenly all my family's weird Tamales traditions make sense. Eat away from the table, watch everyone else, and if they steal one from you, fight them and win.
The captions: “RIP Saint Selena”
I laughed and wept at the same time :’D
I love this episode! I made tamales with my Guatemalan partner and his family around Christmas time, and we wrapped them in banana leaves and used chicken. They were some of the best food I’ve ever had. 😋
History of chocolate, yes! When teaching kids how to do a research paper, I was advised to have them research "how to make chocolate." It always worked well.
Those tamales at 10:55, "stuffed with greens" and served with a "sauce of crabs" sound actually quite good to me...
Yeah that sounds great
“Sauce of crabs” sounds like a bisque to me
@@alysonk5853 - Yes, pretty much that should be it. I didn't know the word "bisque" so I had to look it up and it seems it comes from my own land of Biscay, where my grandma used to make great "txangurro", which is a less creamy version of the bisque, not from lobster but from crabs, served in the shell of the crab itself (delicious!)
@@LuisAldamiz sounds yummy
Seriously I want to eat those
As a Brit living in Iberia, I had never heard of tamales. So thank you for educating me.
I loved the idea of Corn Smut as an insult! I had a Corn Smut event earlier, when I was trying to get In to the supermarket basement car park, and someone was trying to get Out. Only one entrance/exit, and seemingly made for burros or the old tiny Seats they had. Not the miniature juggernauts they love now. Being a Brit, and taught that a downhill going car gives way to an uphill car, (Even though I was already on the descent before he appeared at the bottom, but he just kept coming) I reversed at the entrance to let the guy out, only to find, in true Spanish fashion, someone had totally ignored the situation and was very up close and personal with my rear end! If I had seen this Before going shopping, he would Definitely have been a Corn Smut! As would the Uphill guy. He was on the Flat when I was already on the Down. He could have simply reversed back a way. Also that meant there was 2 of Us and only 1 of him! The Smut on my bumper had to reverse across a 3 way junction, adding to the fun.
My pet driving hate in mainland Europe is their total inability to read the state of affairs , and just hold back, while people sort themselves out. Nooo. They are Coming Through! Which ends up with nobody able to go anywhere! This will henceforth be known to me as a Corn Smut moment. .
That’s so interesting because the type of corn he was referencing is not easy to find even in the states.
Moving to a foreign country, I had to take on the task of providing homeschooling for my son. Making sure that his education enticed and stimulated him was a real task on my part.
I so wish that I had known of your YT channel back then. It would have been perfect for his history education, as well as cooking experiences, which he has a propendency for being a great chef in profession.
Thank you so much for the efforts that you put forth in your channel!! Regardless of the loss in using them for my educational purposes with my son, I still love your videos. I, myself, am getting a history education, along with trying out cooking techniques of times past. It's glorious!!
Do you really think we're going to resist an episode about chocolate?
I mean... 🤣
Do it
Do it
Do it
Do it!
@@TastingHistory *Palpatine voice* Do it...
+1
“Who’s that Pokémon?”
Looks behind Max
“It’s Holiday Grookey!”
I was never into Pokéman, so I'm feeling that I'm missing out on the subtle enjoyments of "Tasting History."
And a Pikachu cup :D
Me too. I felt that.
@@peterconway6584 *exasperated 7 year old voice* it's pronounce Pokémon dad!
I wonder what plush would he bring next come the? chocolate episode
I spit my coffee out laughing with the "don't want no short tamale man" 🤣😭🤣 thank you Max!! I knew you had that kinda humor and we are the same age!!
From now on I'm yelling "Corn Smut!!!" anytime I'm displeased, thank you
Mr. Miller: "...Yolanda Saldívar."
Every Texan: "It still hurts."
What's the reference behind that line? I don't get it.
@@primerprime596 Yolanda Saldivar was a close friend and business associate of Selena Quintanilla-Pérez (popularly known simply as Selena). Saldivar murdered Selena, and is still in jail for it. Selena was already very popular, and became utterly legendary after her death (they sell Selena-themed cups at a gas station chain here; she was murdered 26 years ago). Texans especially love her, and you still hear her music played a lot at weddings and such (from both Tejanos and Anglos).
@@lelandunruh7896 Who and Who?
@@romankozak8728 zoomers 🤣
@@romankozak8728 Hispanics and whites
gotta respect a man who is smart enough to know, that disappointing everyone is better than pissing someone off
I'm disappointed he didn't reference the Porky Pig tamale cartoon! How is that not the first thing to come to mind when he brought up the "tamale carts"???
My family has deep roots in New Mexico, and tamales are part of our Christmas Eve tradition. I remember a big family tamal making party that happened over Thanksgiving weekend when I was about 7 years old. Three days of assembly-line rolling of the tamales yielded 144 dozen. Yes you read that correctly! Filled up the freezers of everyone in the extended family and a few family friends! I’ve continued the tradition by teaching a few of my friends how to make them from scratch. My favorite are the pork with red chile, smothered in chile Colorado. Takes me straight back to my grandparents’ home in Santa Fe. ❤
Huge appreciation props to this guy for attempting an early version of the tamales.
1000 times yes to a chocolate episode. The form of chocolate today is a delicious, but remarkable "Frankenstein" of it's natural form. It has to be broken down into small components and separated and altered only to be put back together into a new and temperamental form. It's really fascinating to me.
A Hot chocolate episode? As Emperor Palpatine would say: “DO IT”!
"Did you ever hear the tragedy of dark chocolate the wise?"
@@uglarinn2715 awesome!! WATCH MADOLORIAN!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!
As much as it pains me to actually agree with the Sheevster, I also insist upon a hot chocolate episode.
Uglarinn Frost I thought not. It’s not a recipe milk chocolate lovers will tell you,
It would be pretty good, but if I remember corectly, the aztec chocolate drink was cold, not hot
Aqui no Brasil tem a famosa pamonha, que é o cozido do milho, doce ou salgado, e é bem parecido com essa, porém aprendemos com os antepassados. E com um bom café é excelente.
Max, I freaking LOVE your show... it's steady giving me ideas to surprise my family with a history lesson with dinner... I'm so glad you have switched to videos full time, your content is AMAZING!!!
"It's not pork. It's not lard."
The saddest words ever spoken.
🤣
But were they either very small... or very thin?
As a Mexican anthropologist, I am always delighted to watch your videos. Thank you for your sharing your love for history and cuisine. I'd love to hear about, and see you make, the famous pre-columbian Mexican chocolatl!
I am fascinated by the foods of precolonial Mexico. What did they eat before the Europeans came and brought pigs, cows, chickens, dairy, garlic, onions, etc.? Makes me think of the book Guns, Germs and Steel.
The Europeans took chocolate and made a dessert out of it.
@@lilafeldman8630real question is what did Europeans eat before the Americas
Chocolate
Vanilla
Tomato
Potatoes
Maíz
Avocado
Turkey
There was garlic in the Americas before Europeans.
@@pasofino9583 yes, that's a good question, too
@@pasofino9583 I don't think either of our cuisines were very tasty
I really enjoyed this episode.! Your pronunciations of the Nahuatl and Spanish words was really good. I make tamales all the time. I don't use lard. There is a bean soup from Chihuahua and they drop little balls of masa into the soup and boil the masa in the soup, kind of like dumplings. I think they call it "ombligos" your description of the water tamales reminded of that soup. When I make my tamales, I mix my filling into the masa and that helps give the masa a lighter texture. To prevent the masa being to thick. I just add a little more liquid. I just finished watching a show about Cherokee bean pies. I think that is what they were called, it's basically a tamale and they mix their beans into the masa and then roll them in husks and steam them.
We have similar food in Java, Indonesia, called lepet/lepeut. They are made of mashed corn, shredded coconut, and sugar, wrapped in corn husks, and steamed. It looks so much like the ones in the picture 😊
I love how every culture seems to have a perogie: stuff with dough around it.
Or a sandwich.
Man this guy is nailing pronunciation after pronunciation.
His soon to be mother in law threatens him with la chancla if he messes up!
But the singular for tamales is tamal, not tamale
except Quetzalcoátl, he pronounced it like the name of a lovecraftian horror
My father always said that you need three generations in the kitchen for tamale making. Abuela, her children and her children's kids. Which makes sense, making the large batches are a labour intensive form of love.
I just love this channel. The subtle humor...amazing.
I like the stories of the rich risking reputation for tamales, good food is good food, and “poor food” tends to make the most of cheap ingredients. Such a shame to not eat amazing food because they’re too stuck up.
more for us is what id say
True and in some places because of the zone the tamales are so expensive in themself
Such is the glory of cajun/creole cuisine.
A friend of mine would occasionally have to go to China for work. His colleagues would take him out for meals and my friend would want to try classic dishes but would then be talked out of them by waiters and his colleagues because they were “poor food.”
didn't know this was a class thing but aight
This has got me, bro. Seeing native cuisine from around the world, in its oldest form, is fucking amazing!
Pointing out natural and historical ways to get those ingredients that leave you shaking your head, does it for the survivalist in me too.
Keep up the stellar work!
Thank you!
Niltze icniuhtli. ❤️
@@tenebris9994
Nonauatlahtol ka amokuali. Is that right?
Sadly, I grew up in US and poor. Learning has been a problem.
There’s a lot of access to old religious knowledge, translated, when I felt the gods call me. So in that way I’ve been blessed.
In the Philippines we also have tamales but many varities are made with rice flour wrapped in banana leaf but there are also some corn variants but very rare. Usually we put chicken, pork, ground peanuts, boiled/salted duck eggs, chorizos and coconut milk. There's also a variant that uses a rice vermicelli and shrimp filling. Aside from Tamales we also have champorado but made with glutinous rice (looks like a chocolate congee), Chicken Pipian (cooked as one dish like a stew), and Chicken Mole with peanut and toasted rice flour as sauce (more like a stew) and is partnered with rice cake puto.
Seriously, your channel is becoming one of my favorites
Speaking from experience, 17:05 a tamal party ain’t no party. It’s just a bunch of work.
True
As a child, I thought I was so cool because I was helping the grown-ups. Now at almost 40, I duck out of the room the moment I see the steam basket or crock pot come out!
Lol underrated comment
Hahahaha so true!
On my last visit to Guatemala, I asked one of my aunts if she could teach me how to make proper Guatemalan tamales. What a, um, humbling experience. It’s a marathon of strength and endurance. (The thing that makes them much more exhausting than Mexican tamales is that Guatemalan ones are made not with raw corn dough, but with a cooked corn porridge. This makes the finished tamales much juicier. But stirring the porridge - which you cannot take breaks from because it will burn if you stop - requires strength and endurance. It starts thin and runny, but gets stiffer and stiffer as you go. So as your arms tire, it gets harder and harder to stir.) Then while the cooked dough cools, you can get to work on the sauce…
"I miss the lard." Truer words were never spoken.
Seriously
Your channel is fantastic, and your t-shirts are pretty cool. Watching is somehow comforting, a nice blend of history and good food, so keep up the good work.
This is so informative, entertaining and at times hilarious. Excellent 👌
That Selena reference was on point!
"i'm probably gonna miss that lard :(" --truer words have never been spoken about lard.
If there’s lard in a recipe, in any capacity, it’s supposed to be there. Never leave out the lard.
Avocado would have been the oiliest thing back then. My wife is from Mexico too. One time a woman from Guatemala made us tamales. They were wrapped in banana leaves and the chicken had the bone in it. This freaked her out but I thought they were very good
Yeah, Guatemalan tamales are quite different, since they’re made using a cooked corn dough (which itself already contains a bunch of water) rather than basic masa, resulting in a much juicier tamale. Indeed it’s common to put in bone-in meat. Then they’re wrapped, ideally in one layer of _maxan_ (pronounced ma-shon) leaves and an outer layer of banana leaves, or just in two layers of banana leaves if you can’t get maxan. In Guatemala, they also make Mexican-style tamales, but they call them “chuchitos”! 🐶
Great video! Loved how you pronounced the Aztec words. I could tell that you put in lots of effort!
"They took all his tamales..." is a great description of being punished for something.
I know I'm late,
but that's a rough divorce if I've ever heard one.
11:56 "And those, *after the food supply ended, all wept* ...😭😭😭"
12:00 "They said: "What shall we do, we who are *ill-fated* ...😖? Evilly hath the feast day come! To *what vain end* is *our ill fortune* 😖💰? Unhappy are *our little ones* ...😔!"
Aztec Chocolate would be an excellent episode; please do it!
The research begins.
@awfulguitarplucker yes! That would be awesome.
Hi Max, I wanted to say thanks for all you share on your channel. Just before the pandemic my husband and I moved to Costa Rica. We haven't been able to go home for the holidays, which has been hard. This year I decided to try to embrace a tropical Christmas, so I made Pazole and tamales instead of a bunch of cakes and cookies. Your channel really inspired me and gave me something new and fun to try. . . I still missed my "traditional" American-style holiday, but I also loved making my own Central/South American food. - Thanks for all you do!
It doesn't matter what you prefer when you are recreating history. I respect and enjoy the fact the length you have gone to be as accurate as possible.
"They took ALL his tamales!"
A dramatic phrase that deserves to be brought back
i love eating tamales for christmas. my german grandma, who married my mexican grandpa, made such delicious tamales
might’ve been using some schnitzel knowledge
@@masonhoover165 kek
The best tamales are always made by someone's grandma.
Your delivery is awesome!
Best tamales I ever had were in Belize, local kids sold them at intersections. They had whole chicken necks inside, vertebrae and all. So good.
You can’t disappoint when you’re just trying to be historically accurate
and hungry
@@The_Gallowglass that part is very accurate
"They didn't leave us any recipies"
Well, they might have. Not that we'd know anymore :(
True. Many things were destroyed by the Spanish en masse; they actually had a huge burning of Mayan texts which guts me as much as the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
@@TastingHistory omg! Yes! I am always SO upset when I think of all the amazing things we will never know because of these tragedies.
What a damn shame
@@TastingHistory humans are awful
@@AstarionWifey Not all humans, just some humans. After all, there are some quite wonderful people in the world, like the charming host of this channel for example and I am quite sure he's human... or possibly a tiny alien gourmand, piloting a mechanical Max Miller suit but...
his fiance won the lotto with him.... i love this dude!!!
Good vid I like how you're going deep into the history of such a significant piece of food.
Regarding lard: my understanding is that turkey tails have a significant amount of fat in them, and are big in today's export markets. They may have supplied the necessary fat.
and would be even more delicious
Duck Fat maybe?
These would have been wild turkeys, which can still be hunted. If they kept turkeys penned up, they still wouldn’t be the fat breasted and tailed that we generally eat now. I would suspect there wasn’t much fat on those birds to add to tamal ingredients.
@@rachelpicheo8959 Duck. Fat. Tamales. *throws money*
@@reginaromsey They would definitely be smaller than the modern variety but their fat content shouldn't be that much lower. Turkeys aren't particularly lean birds.
17:08 Max, you're an abuela in my heart ❤
naw ^^
Sir, I am so happy you do this! Bravo