By Jared F. Slanina

Second-year medical student Porter Snowden would enjoy the occasional tamale from the supermarket freezer aisle while growing up in Pennsylvania, and with parents from southern California, he probably had more exposure to Mexican dishes than many of his neighbors. However, he gained a newfound appreciation for the dish after trying the homemade tamales made by his wife, Jasmine Aleman.

“It was phenomenal,” exclaimed Snowden when asked about that first bite. “It was so, so delicious,” he said, struggling to put into words just how good it tasted.

A Family Tradition

For Jasmine, making tamales was something that she always reminded her of her early childhood.

“It was a family event, with all hands on deck,” Aleman said. “I have many fond memories of spending the day making tamales with my mom and sisters, just us sitting around talking and laughing all day.”

Aleman’s family would spend one or two full days making about 200 tamales. Sometimes her mom would sell the popular treat, with some going in the freezer to enjoy at a later date.

“My first job was just not to eat the meat before they could go into the tamales,” Aleman said with a laugh. She was eventually “promoted” to making dough balls and filling once she was old enough for those responsibilities.

The tradition of making tamales ahead of Christmas remains a family tradition for Aleman, whose mother, Blanca Aleman, was hard at work helping with the current batch for this story and NEOMED’s Multicultural Festival. Blanca uses a recipe handed down from her own mother, although she scrapped a few ingredients to make it her own.

Each batch includes three different types of tamales—pork, chicken, and poblano and cheese. Jasmine’s favorite is the poblano and cheese, and she learned early that she had to get one quickly after they were prepared as they would go fast as a popular choice among the children. Snowden’s favorite is the pork tamales, although he admits he would happily eat any of the options.

Snowden and Aleman keep busy with four young children, who they have introduced to the tradition. They enjoy helping make the tamales but especially enjoy eating the final product—the tamales even get the stamp of approval from the oldest child, who is a notoriously picky eater.

Some Helpful Tips

Jasmine provided some helpful tips for anyone who would like to try her recipe. Patience is important, as it is a time-consuming dish with many steps.

“Just take your time and don’t get overwhelmed,” she said. “Just take it step-by-step.”

She also suggested to do plenty of taste-testing throughout the process and make adjustments based on your taste. She will often make extra sauce to freeze for the next time they make tamales.

There is also one very important tip for anyone who is a novice to tamale-making—you are not supposed to eat the corn husk, which is used as wrapping for the filling during the steaming process. Just simply unwrap the corn husk and set it aside before enjoying the tamale.

Snowden realized this was an important tip after handing out tamales to some of his classmates. By the time he made it back to his seat, he realized one of his friends had just finished the tamale, corn stalk and all.

“He still seemed to enjoy it, although it probably wasn’t easy to chew through the corn stalk,” Snowden said with a laugh. “It’s hard to go wrong with a homemade tamale—especially compared to the ones in the freezer aisle.”

A Welcome Break

Snowden appreciates joining in on the family tradition of making tamales, and something they are passing along to their young children.

“It’s just a great way to spend time with our family and take a break from the rigors of being a medical student,” Snowden said.