My grandma's tamale recipe got a makeover after I heard a chef on the radio

I always made tamales with lard like my grandma taught me, but last month I caught half an interview on NPR with this chef from San Antonio. She said swapping lard for high-quality vegetable shortening gives the same texture but lets the corn and chile flavors come through cleaner. I tried it with my mom's red chile pork filling and honestly the masa was fluffier and not greasy at all. My whole family couldn't tell the difference and my uncle actually said they tasted lighter. Has anyone else experimented with fat swaps in mexican cooking? I'm curious about trying coconut oil next time.

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_garcia4d ago

Used to think lard was the only way to go. Grandma swore by it and I figured anything else was cheating. But then I tried the vegetable shortening thing with some chicken verde tamales and yeah... it was way lighter. The masa didn't have that heavy feeling sitting in my stomach after. Reheating wise, the shortening ones microwaved better too, no waxy layer on top like you mentioned. Coconut oil sounds interesting but I'd worry about it getting too firm when cold.

morgan_martinez4d ago

Does anyone factor in how different fats affect reheating, since lard gets that weird waxy film in the fridge?

harper_foster4d ago

Has anyone tested how the fat type changes the texture after freezing versus just fridge? I've got a batch of red chile pork tamales in the freezer right now that I made with half lard half bacon fat, and they're pretty solid for reheating. But I made some green chile and cheese ones with vegetable shortening last month and they thawed way softer, almost fluffy in the microwave from frozen. The lard ones definitely get that waxy thing going on after a couple days in the fridge though, so I always freeze them the same day if I'm using lard now.