How to Make Tamales from Rancho Del Zocalo in Disneyland - S02E01

These are absolutely delicious!

Chicken Filling
1 whole chicken
1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon sea salt

Red Chile Sauce
1 (3-ounce) bag dried California chiles
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt

Tamale Dough
3 1/2 cups masa harina
1/2 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
1 tablespoon coarse salt
2 to 4 cups of reserved chicken broth
1/2 tablespoon baking powder

For chicken filling:
Place all of the ingredients in a large stockpot. Add enough cold water to cover chicken entirely. Place pot over high heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken registers 165° on an instant-read thermometer. Carefully remove chicken from the broth; reserve broth for tamale dough. When chicken is cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the skin. Pull the meat from the bones, discarding the bones. Shred chicken meat, and set aside.

For red chili sauce:
Place chiles in a medium bowl. Pour 3 cups of boiling water over, submerging chiles completely in water. Soak for 2 hours. Place the soaked chiles into a blender with the remaining ingredients. Add just enough water to cover chiles (no more than 2 cups). Puree until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove skin and seeds, pressing on solids to push sauce through the sieve. If you added too much water (test by tasting), you can reduce over medium heat.

For tamale dough:
Place masa and vegetable shortening in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend until shortening is evenly distributed through the masa. Add chicken broth, a cup at a time, until mixture resembles the consistency of mashed potatoes.

For tamales:
Add 1 cup of Red Chile Sauce to the shredded chicken, tossing to combine. Lay 1 cornhusk, concave side up, on a work surface. Place about 2 tablespoons tamale dough in an even layer across the wide end of the husk. The dough should be about 1/2 inch from the sides, 1 inch from the top and about 3 inches from the bottom. Place 1 level tablespoon of the chicken mixture in the center of the dough. Bring sides up to meet, pinching dough to seal, and then roll tamale into a cylinder. Fold the bottom of the husk up and under. Set tamale seam side down on a baking sheet or large platter. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Add a few inches water to a large stockpot, and place a steamer basket inside. Place tamales in steamer, stacking no more than 2 high. Place pot over high to bring water to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low. Steam tamales for about 90 minutes, or until the tamales start to separate from the cornhusks. Check water level periodically, and add more water if needed. Serve with additional Red Chile Sauce on the side.

Notes:
This is a slight deviation from the Rancho Del Zocalo recipe. They use tomatillo sauce mixed with the chicken instead of red chile sauce. I like mixing in the red chile sauce and pouring tomatillo sauce over the top so that I have both.

Music: Kevin MacLeod

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• rancho
• del
• zocalo
• tamales
• disneyland
• frontierland
• christmas
• holidays

[kmv1217]

Hey Nick! First of all, are you a chef? Just curious. I love the demo videos. I was wondering, if you get the time, if you could do a demo of how to make tigger tails. I love them so much and they look simple, but I dont want to screw it up. I like it with the sugar coating instead of the orange flavored candy coating. Thanks!!! -Kayla

[AMouseAndADream]

@kmv1217 I'm actually a computer programmer/technician, but I've always loved to cook :-). We've got a few things hopefully coming up, and Tigger Tails are on that list. When work slows down enough (we're self-employed), we'll start putting together some more cooking videos.

- Nick

[tnbx1982]

Wow! I'm always at Disneyland and am very happy I found this page. Have you attempted the Blue Bayou Creme Brulee?? That's our fave :-) Thank you for sharing

[AMouseAndADream]

@tnbx1982 Not yet.. we'd love to do more cooking videos, and we have some thoughts in the queue, but the production is a lot of work. We'll definitely have more, and hopefully the creme brulee as it's one of my favorites, but no timeline as of yet.

- Nick

[duntzwitch]

Lol! Plastic made of steel... Question: do you buy all of your ingredients at one place? Or do you have to go to multiple places to get these?

[AMouseAndADream]

@duntzwitch For a couple of recipes I've had to go to a few places (like the gumbo file for the gumbo that we'll be making soon), but for this particular recipe I was able to get everything at my standard chain grocery store (Fry's in this case).

- Nick

[kmv1217]

@AMouseAndADream Thank you so much! I look forward to seeing the videos and hope you both get a chance to relax from what sounds like a very busy life. :)

[RedSevenLinux]

@manyv100 Thanks!

- Nick

[manyv100]

Thanks its a great recipe

[AMouseAndADream]

@ProfessorOcean We'll definitely be making more food.. we've got a few things in the queue. :-)

- Nick