A 4th-Generation Staple

Nicholas Quesada

Nacatamales, Nicaragua's bigger, fattier, sweet-
savory, umami rich cousin to the Mexican tamal, would become a staple for my family throughout the holidays and other celebrations.

INGREDIENTS:

Dough:

- 1kg Masa Fina

- 333g Mashed Potatoes 

(about 1# peeled Yukon Golds)

- 2 Bay leaves

- 3 Cloves of garlic

- ¼# Butter

- 4-5 slices of bacon, chopped 

fine and their drippings

- Drippings of from Pork Mix

- 500ml Orange Juice lightly seasoned 

with garlic powder

- Water as needed

Tamale:

- 3 packs of banana leaves 

(hojas de platano)

- Butchers Twine

- Green stuffed pimento olives

- Black Olives

- Capers

- Raisins

- Prunes

- 1# Yukon Gold Potatoes 

- 1 cup Jasmine Rice

- 3 Ripe tomatoes on vine 

- ¼# Mint

Pork Marinade:

- 2-3# Pork Mix (Belly, Shoulder, Jowl)

- 250g Datu Puti (Filipino Cane Vinegar)

- 1T Garlic Powder

- 1T Paprika

- Stock or water

My grandmother Maria Teresa, Tia Teco as her family called her and Tita as her grandchildren called her (my older sister couldn’t pronounce abuelita and the name stuck), would make nacatamales for the whole extended family around said holidays, but as she got older she made them less and less frequently as they are extremely labor intensive (often families came together to assemble to make quick work). My mother in the late 1970s-early 80s sat her down for an interview with a typewriter to ask how she made the nacatamales. That typewritten draft, officially stamped with the word “DRAFT”, would be lost to time for nearly 40 years stuffed in the front of an ancient copy of the “Joy of Cooking” and shoved to the back of our kitchen pantry closet. 

My mother, eschewing the laborious task of making the tamales herself, would pick them up on Christmas Eve from on 24th St and Mission in San Francisco from La Loma Produce (If you’re making them yourself and in SF, La Palma on 24th street has the masa made in house, cooking corn with lime and water, a process called nixtamalization, ask for “masa preparada para tamales.”) 

Upon rediscovering my grandma’s recipe a couple years back I decided I would approach this recipe as a now professional chef. The original has no quantities except for a couple basic ratios based on 20 pounds of masa and 10 pounds of pork, (That’s enough for close to 100 tamales!) so I had to make a couple of educated guesses but I believe I am close. 

The biggest surprises here are many techniques at play here that are often found in the fine dining kitchens where I honed my craft, such as the potato and the masa cooked together with butter not unlike a pommes dauphine (potato puree mixed with a pate a choux pastry and then deep fried). My grandma used the marinade, pork drippings, bacon, and orange juice, which was unique to her recipe. Traditionally the dough would use the juice from a bitter sour orange, possibly not always readily available to her, as they are today. I imagine she adapted using vinegar from the marinade and seasoning the orange juice with garlic powder. I found using Datu Puti, a Filipino cane vinegar, pairs really nicely with the pork as it has a slightly more round flavor than using straight distilled white vinegar (which to be honest should only be used as a cleaning product). The original calls for lean pork, I opted for pork shoulder as my meat of choice, but I think a medley of fattier and leaner cuts would really make this recipe shine, employing shoulder, belly, and jowl.

Maria Teresa passed in 2010, so with her lies the truth, this is my tribute to her as my fondest memories are of her cooking in our kitchen as a curious toddler unaware of the future of food that would envelop the rest of my life.

METHOD:

Day  1:

Dice your pork into 1” chunks and place into a large bowl or plastic container with a lid. Toss your pork with garlic powder and paprika. Pour in vinegar to cover and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate overnight.

Day  2:

Reserve pork marinade. In a large dutch oven, working in batches, brown the pork in foaming butter on all sides (careful not to crowd the pan to prevent steaming) and set aside. When all the pork is browned return it all to the pan and add the reserved marinade. Bring to a Simmer and cover til tender about 30–45 mins.

While the pork is simmering, peel 1# Yukon Gold potatoes and place them in a large stock pot with enough water to cover and seasoned with salt like the sea, add 3 crushed garlic cloves and two bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 20–30 minutes until potatoes are cooked all the way through. Drain the potatoes and return to the pot, removing the bay leaves. Mash potatoes and set aside in a bowl.

While your pork and potatoes are cooking is a great time to get all the mise en place for the tamale assembly ready. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and pour over 1 cup of rice in a large bowl, and let sit for at least a half hour uncovered.  In small bowls or plastic deli containers gather all raisins, prunes (sliced in half), capers, green and black olives, potato slices (¼” thick), tomatoes, and mint ready. You will want this organized on your counter in a way that will make assembly of the tamale easy. If you haven’t already, thaw your banana leaves and cut into 10” x 10” (approx.) squares, I like to give these a rinse they tend to have a lot of dirt and dust on them.  ’

After your pork is finished cooking, remove meat and reserve the juices. In the same dutch oven fry your bacon slices crispy, remove and chop finely, and set aside. In the dutch oven with bacon fat melt ¼# butter on low heat and pour into a heat-proof container and let cool slightly.

In a large bowl combine the butter-bacon fat mixture with the masa fina (1kg) till a shaggy mess is formed. Weigh out on a kitchen scale 333g of mashed potatoes and combine with the masa along with the bacon bits. Pour the garlicky orange juice (500ml) into the dough and knead, adding water to the dough until it forms into a smooth playdough-like consistency.

Next in the dutch oven place the dough on medium-low heat stirring often with a heavy wooden spoon for about 30mins. The dough will start to look smoother as you stir. Remove and knead on the counter. Divide the dough into 250g portions (approximately 9-10 pieces). Drain soaked rice.

Melt 4T of butter and mix with 4T of water in a bowl, we will use this to brush the banana leaves to prevent sticking. Take two pieces of banana leaves and brush the top leaf with the butter-water mixture. 

Place one portion of dough in a flat rectangular shape creating a divot in the center of the top leaf. In the divot, place 3 chunks of pork (evenly selecting lean and fattier pieces) with 3 slices of potatoes in between each chunk of pork. Then arrange evenly across the tamal two pieces of prunes, 5-6 raisins, 5-6 capers, 2 each green and black olives, 1 spoon of rice, a slice of tomato, and a sprig of mint. Wrap the tamal like a package with the first layer layer of banana leaf, then wrap that with the second. 

Take approximately 6ft of butchers twine, take the twine under the package lengthwise, meet in the middle, and twist before wrapping around the bottom going widthwise. Wrap the twine across each section across the tamal 3-4 times before tying tightly and trimming the excess. Repeat with remainder of tamales. Serve with handmade tortillas, queso fresco, plátanos maduros, and Salsa Lizano.

Nicholas Quesada is a New York-based chef who has Worked in many kitchens including Fat Rice, Queen, and Chef’s table.