Never had a tamale that I enjoyed.
We took steamed tamales to a friend’s Christmas party last week. Most everyone there are yankees, and had never seen a tamale before. Hey, more leftovers for me.
We serve 'em with a raspberry chipotle sauce- very, very tasty.
Timely article in the LA Times: Taking a tamale tour of Los Angeles.
The best tamales I’ve ever had were at the Fiesta Mart’s lunch counter in Austin, a few blocks from our apartment. I dream of them sometimes. Now I live in New England and they don’t even stock them in cans anywhere within an hour’s drive. 
The local Mexican restaurant makes them sometimes as a special, but not specifically for holidays and not on any predictable schedule. They’re OK.
Tamales are like Mana from Heaven for me.
My Hispanic yard guy called me yesterday and asked if I wanted some his sister had made for Christmas.
It took all the willpower I had to turn him down, because they are like “heart attack in a corn husk” - too much lard and fat for my new diet.
sigh
A co-worker, who dates his family lineage back to when the Spanish claimed Texas, had two daughters who were fighting over a laptop. They broke the screen and he decided they needed to pay for it. The older one had a job and could cover her part of the repair costs, but the younger needed a fundraiser. So they’re making tamales by the tens of dozens. She’s having to do a lot of the work and the profits can pay for the laptop and she can keep any extra. I thought that was a pretty fair way to resolve it, plus it passes on the family recipes and gets everyone some bonding time around the holidays. Beef, pork, and jalapeno con queso tamales. Sounds delish.
When we make tamales it’s very much a family affair and we make seven or eight dozen. I can’t really imagine making fifty or sixty dozen like they’re doing. We’ve really gotten hooked on Adobe Pies, which are like tamales, but cooked in ramekins, so they’re a little more stable and can have more variety in the filling.
Unfortunately traditional recipe tamales, and adobe pies, are seriously unhealthy foods, so they’re best saved for special occasions. We took a batch to my family’s Fourth of July celebration and made some around Thanksgiving this year, so we’re at our limit for the nonce.
Enjoy,
Steven
I eat them year round, but I think of them as Christmas food, like turkey or a really big ham.
Good tamales are amazing. Even mediocre tamales are pretty good.
I love tamales! Unfortunately, since my grandmother died last year, I don’t get them homemade anymore. 
However, the Delimex brand frozen tamales are decent enough.
Even then, I wouldn’t call them acceptable. I have never had any other canned substance that tasted so unlike the original. The canned variety taste akin to Frito pie, and not a very good one, either. That liquid totally destroys the flavor.
BTW, are Christmas tamales the same as regular ones? I would assume they were more likely to be the sweet variety, for some reason.
Living in So Cal, I’ve worked with Mexican-American coworkers who sometimes brought in the real thing. Nothing store-bought (that I’ve yet found) compares. I bookmarked the LA Times article (thanks, Blondebear!) to try those spots, because even restaurant tamales usually disappoint. I’ve told my two (caucasian) children that at least one of them needs to marry a partner from a family with a homemade tamale tradition. My 12 yr old son swears it’s gonna have to be his sister (but he’s 12, what does he know?)
The thing that makes them a “holiday” tradition is in the preparation, when my step-mother would gather together the step-sisters and they’d spend a good part of a day preparing them, usually on the 24th. It’s pretty labor-intensive. And I think that yes, the sweet ones are more for holidays–but not so much in Colombia, I think (where they wrap the tamales in banana leaves, rather than corn husks).
It is a big part of the holidays for my wife’s family, they usually open ‘the tamale factory’ the day after Thanksgiving. This year we made about 40 dozen including pork in red chile, chicken in green Hatch chile w/cheese, some bean and cheese and some sweet ones made with piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar) pineapple and raisins.
It’s a lot of work, but everyone in the family pitches in, there’s food and drinking and music, and always a lot of gossip.
I’m usually tasked with loading and unloading the big steamer pots. Sometimes I get to actually make the tamales too.
As far as I can tell, it’s a pretty sacred tradition in that area (the Inland Empire area of Southern California) handed down from generation to generation to make a huge amount of tamales around the holidays. They make a nice gift too, everyone gets some.
Tim
“toy geek”
Never heard of them being a holiday food, but I’ve never not known what they were. I’m midwestern born and bred.
My great-aunt told stories about lowering a shoebox out of her dormitory window at night to buy tamales from a foot vendor when she was in college. In Evansville, Indiana. In the 1930s.
Tim, you did good.
Oh my. The menu looks great! Thanks, I have mentally bookmarked Pilars. 
I lived in California, WAY long ago and in Colorado for quite a few years too…I developed a taste for good Mexican (or Mexican-type) food and love it. Working construction some of the best lunches were from the women who would cook at home in the wee hours, load up coolers and hit construction sites with really excellent (and completely “illegal” :rolleyes: ) food. Just the best.
TimToyGeek, I envy you your tamale factory, that sounds amazing and fun.
My grandmother made some good tamales, in the husks. We’d freeze them to eat later as “fast food.” Just drop them in a pot of boiling water for 20 minutes. If we had some homemade chili, too, put that on top for a Full House.
I didn’t get her recipe. If anybody has one they’d like to share I’d sure appreciate it.
Never heard of tamales being associated with the holidays. I occasionally enjoy the frozen green chile & cheese ones from Trader Joe’s–a good microwavable lunch.
Remember when Gerald Ford tried to eat a tamale while campaigning in Texas and didn’t know he was supposed to take the husk off?
I love tamales, all kinds. From Mexican-masa based styles wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, to Chicago-style corn-roll tamales made from corn meal (instead of masa) and wrapped in parchment paper, to Mississippi delta hot tamales (which are usually cornmeal based, but can be masa), sweet fruit tamales, hot savory meat tamales, dyed tamales, etc., it’s all good to me.
Always available at my local restaurants, and the school band sells them every year at Christmastime. I love all kinds. We stock the freezer in December and eat until June.
I mostly go to Hy-Vee and Jewel (aka Albertsons). I wouldn’t be surprised if they had them at Wal-Mart, I assume it depends on the demand in your area. Next time you’re grocery shopping, explore the frozen burrito section!
As for heating them, fresh or frozen, I actually prefer to microwave them. Microwaves are pretty good for steaming. Just keep the husks on and cover them.