Tamales 101 A Beginner's Guide To Making Traditional Tamales

This is a good book for those wanting to learn the art tamale making. It will take you step by step from how to prepare various types of masa, make various fillings as well as how to wrap and cooking the tamales. It has recipes for both savory and sweet tamales. This is an excellent resource for various fillings. It is well illustrated and filled with personal interesting facts about the various tamales. It does contain a glaring flaw in that it focuses on the use of fresh masa in the preparation of the tamale. Not everyone has access to fresh masa, where as most people can get Masa Harina Masa in their local Mega Mart. The recipe for using dry masa to make your tamales does not work out. It is too dry and will not hold together. You will need to add additional broth to get the masa to the right consistency. Also the proportion on how many tamales can be made from her recipes are greatly under estimated. You can almost double the amount she gives to the number of tamales that can be made unless you are really using excessive amounts of the Masa or have huge corn husks that you are wrapping your tamales in. However, if you overlook these flaws, the book in general is a very good resource.