Hot Tamale Trail

Southern Foodways Alliance ^ | Undated | Amy Evans Streeter, SFA Oral Historian

[wizkid]

In Latin America, hot tamales are as ubiquitous as the sandwich. This holds true in, of all places, the Mississippi Delta. Better known for its association with cotton and catfish, the Mississippi Delta has a fascinating relationship with tamales. In restaurants, on street corners, and in kitchens throughout the Delta, this very old and time-consuming culinary tradition remains vibrant. But how and when were hot tamales introduced to what has been called “the most Southern place on earth”? And why have they stayed? There are as many answers to those questions as there are tamale recipes. Oral history interviews with tamale makers and vendors in the Delta today offer us some answers. They reveal the various ways in which tamale recipes have been acquired and how they have evolved, helping to explain the persistence of hot tamales in the Mississippi Delta.

[wizkid]

To some people, New Years in the deep South means black eyed peas but, to me, it means Hot Tamales.

[Nifster]

Tamales are traditional on Christmas

[okie01]

To some people, New Years in the deep South means black eyed peas but, to me, it means Hot Tamales.

Living in Texas, to me, it means both!!!

Why take chances...???

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

We talking tamales or the candy Hot Tamales?

[chicagolady]

What ever happened to the Whole Enchilada?

[Hardastarboard]

I LOVE tamales. LOVE them.

[Mike Darancette]

And why have they stayed?

Because they taste good!

Tamales at Advent are a So Cal tradition too.

[South40]

I live in San Diego where Tamales are readily available at many of the cocinas. I love tamales!

[Red_Devil 232]

When I would visit friends in Jackson,Ms it was a given we would have Hot tamales for dinner. We would drive to this hole in the wall place and place our order through the window and drive home with dozens of tamales. Good eats!

[Charles Martel]

Alton Brown did a show about the Tamale Trail in his second "Feasting on Asphalt" road-show miniseries ("The River Run"), in which he rode a motorcycle north, following the Mississippi north from the Gulf.

Interesting show, well worth a look.

[Vaquero]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TOXXh24HnmY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTOXXh24HnmY#

[paint_your_wagon]

Yep. We had tamales on Christmas day. Delicious!

[SamAdams76]

I went for years not eating tamales because I did not know that you had to remove the outer wrapping before eating them. I tried eating them with the wrapper and found it an unpleasant experience.

Well since removing the wrapper, I've been finding them quite tasty.

[JoeProBono]

Polenta tamale with a pasilla chili beef mole, some ancho chili barbeque sauce and salsa verde

[Aliska]

As a kid, I liked to eat the canned Hormel ones. I think I would prefer the meat be lean pork though, the masa plain without stuff rolled into it. Not too spicy. Hard to find a good recipe on the internet.

It was the steaming that put me off but now I know how to rig something up or use a crockpot.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

To some people, New Years in the deep South means black eyed peas

Don't forget the hog jowl.

[wizkid]

Yes, in a lot of areas they are popular. When I moved to Southern California, my Mexican friends would have me over for tamales during Christmas/New Years.

I feel sorry for people without this tradition. Here is an Esquire writer who is flummoxed by the whole thing:

Esquire - The Red-Hot, Pork-Stuffed, Corn-Wrapped, Blues-Flavored Enigma

At first I thought they messed up my order because I was like, "What the **** is that?" as I stared into a Styrofoam container at Bud's Snack Bar in Tunica, Mississippi. Inside there was a lump wrapped in some kind of a wax paper, tied together with what looked to me like a tampon string.

I was really specific when I told the girl working behind the counter I wanted a tamale. She said okay, then asked how many. I told her one, she said they don't serve only one, and before I could even ask her why not, she said they sell them by the dozen, half dozen, or I can buy just three for three dollars, since they come in a bundle. I told her I'd take three.

I then asked the girl if in fact that thing inside the white Styrofoam container was a tamale. I'm no connoisseur, but to me it looked absolutely nothing like any tamale I'd ever seen before.

Apparently, this poor man has never bought tamales by the dozen and experienced the torture of the smell permeating both his car and clothes during the ride home as the molten red grease seepes through the brown paper sack. Of course, one or two always went missing during my trips.

Here is one of my favorite places in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Solly's:



Eat your heart out Taco Bell:



Here is their mucho delish-iosso tamale burrito (a bad boy loaded with tamale stuffing):

[freedumb2003]

No frou frou mericones tamales for me, gracias.

Tamales puerco con salsa rojo muy picante por favor!

[wizkid]

When you say order from a whole in the wall, you ain't kidding.

Sorry for the ridiculously large photo but I cannot get it re-sized for the life of me:

[Arrowhead1952]

We bought three dozen from our Hispanic friend for Christmas and New Year’s day. We also got a pint of fresh salsa. Wife is out of state until Jan 2nd. What to do, what to do?? They are SO good.