Corn husks for tamales in BR

Rouses has them.

La Morenita at Florida and Wooddale will definitely have them. No need to go to Gardere.

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Prepared to be frustrated and them look like shite...

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Thanks for the heads up, I'll try to lower my expectations. I use wild hog shoulders and venison shanks for barbacoa quite a bit, trying to find other ways to use it than tacos and burritos. I use Hank Shaw's venison barbacoa recipe. I'll also be using his tamale recipe. LINK

Buy some lard to work into your Mesa too.

Since you have the meat, I won't Share anything about the stuffing.

The corn husks:

Soak the corn husks for about 18 - 24 hours. I usually change the water at least once and add a little kosher salt - 1 tablespoon to the last 2 hours of water soak.

The dough:

To about four cups Masa flour, white cornmeal or yellow cornmeal, add 2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 cup of lard (Crisco is ok, just not as good) and the warm-not hot broth from the pork cooking. If needed, add a little chicken stock to get a slightly wet playdough consistency.

Making the tamales:

Take a damp corn husk and add enough dough to make a 4X5 pad for the tamale

Add a strip of seasoned meat the length of the dough, then roll the tamale and seal the dough

Make certain the tamale is rolled tightly and then fold over the lower end

I do groups of three tamales and tie them together into a small bundle. Then stage them until all have been made.

They are steamed in a basket for about thirty minutes with a snug lid to keep the steam contained.

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MeridianDog

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These look amazing, thanks for the tips!

Do yourself a favor and research Honduran tamales.

It blows the Mexican ones out of the water.

Eta....clearly my downvoters have no idea.

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Lard-yes(be generous), drippings from the meat you cooked-yes, add more salt than you think you need, and the chile sauce that you're going to mix into your meat...add some of that to the masa as well.

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I have some pork lard that I rendered to use. I used home made bone broth as my braising liquid in the barbacoa, plan on adding that as well.

Calandros for the win on husks and chilies

Yes

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I have plenty of family from Central America - so I’ve had enough of both

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Same

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I don’t think they blow the Mexican ones out of the water - but they are good.

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We are different that way.

The best Mexican tamales are average in flavor to me. I like the combination of flavors you get in a Honduran tamale.

When I lived on the border, tamales were a huge deal at Christmas.

The running joke was it was the only think those poor Mexican kids had to open on Christmas morning