OP: Tamales
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Macmillan, New York, 1997. Hardcover. Fine. Signed first printing.
Tamales, in their most basic form, begin simply as masa dough steamed inside dried corn husks. Variations on the theme throughout Mexico and Latin and South America might replace the corn husk with banana leaf, hoja santa, or avocado leaves. The dough itself could be altered from a corn to a potato or a grain base. And then, of course, there are the endless types of fillings, both sweet and savory.
Tamales are inherently versatile and have an ancient history as such. Here, three southwestern chefs—Mark Miller, Stephan Pyles, and John Sedlar—continue to riff on this perfect foodstuff.
Among the more out-of-the-box types, you’ll find:
- Thai red curry dough
- Clam and fennel dough
- Wild mushroom and truffle tamales with tomatillo-chipotle sauce
- Japanese-style tamales filled with ahi tuna, pickled ginger, and wasabi, ponzu sauce on the side
- Jerk shrimp tamales with rum sauce
- Lobster Newburg tamales (served inside the shell)
- Cabernet tamales with beef and black pepper
Even those variations with more expected flavor profiles and ingredients demonstrate their own level of playfulness. These are not your grandmother’s tamales but rather a celebration of how far culinary boundaries might be pushed when shirking the limitations of “authenticity.”
A Fine first printing, signed to the front free end paper by Mark Miller and Stephan Pyles.
