The Day of the Dead on November 2nd (Tamales y Pan de Muertos, 2002)

Colina, Georgina de la. Recetario para esos felices días de fiesta. México : Editores Mexicanos Unidos, 2002. Pp. 63-65. [TX731 .C65 2002].


Celebrated throughout Latin America, El Día de lost Muertos is a syncretic blend of official Catholic rituals related to All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, practices of popular folk Catholicism, and Indigenous practices of honoring the ancestors (Marchi 11). Traditionally, its observance consisted mainly of “family-oriented, religious rituals at private homes and family gravesites,” but since the 1970s (particularly in the United States), Día de los Muertos has also developed into an opportunity for “secular, ‘cultural events’…that publibly communicate about Latino histories, cultures, and political struggles”(Marchi 2). In both private and public celebrations, however, food plays an important role en Día de los Muertos. In preparation for next weeks festivies, today we bring you three recipes from Georgina de la Colina:


Tamales Caceros

Ingredientes:
1 kilo de harina para tamal
300 gramos de manteca
3 casos de consomé frío.

Procedimiento
1.
Se bate la manteca hasta que esponje. Se agrega el harina y consomé, sin dejar de batir.
2. Se cuece el pollo en mole o carne de cerdo en mole verde
3. Se pone masa y se rellena de su preferencia
4. Se pone en la hoja de tamal.
5. Se cocen en la vaporera por 1 hora.

Tamales Caceros

Ingredients:
1 kilo of masa harina for tamales
300 grams lard
3 cases of cold soup/broth.

Procedure:
1. Beat lard until fluffy. Add the masa harina and broth, stirring
2. constantly.
3. Cook the chicken mole or pork in green mole
4. Shape and fill the masa with your choice of fillings
5. Wrap it in cornhusks.
6. Cooked in the steamer for 1 hour.

Tamales de Maíz

Ingredientes:
15 elotes muy tiernos
6 chiles poblanos
½ cebolla
1 cucharadita de royal
Queso Oaxaca en tiras
350 gramos de mantequilla
½ litro de crema
Hojas de tamal
Sal y pimienta al gusto

Procedimiento:
1. Se desgranan los elotes y se muelen en crudo.
2. Se bate la mantequilla, se agrega el elote molido, después royal, sal.
3. Se sigue batiendo a que suede bien esponjado.
4. Se pone masa en hoja en medio y tiras de queso y más masa.
5. Se ponen en vaporera por 1 hora.
6. Con los chiles, cebolla y crema se hacen unas rajas y se bañan los tamales al momento de servirse.

Corn Tamales

Ingredients:
15 very tender ears of corn
6 poblano chiles
½ onion
1 teaspoon baking powder
Shredded Oaxaca cheese
350 grams of lard
½ pint cream
Cornhusks

Procedure:
1. Remove the corn from the ears and grind it raw.
2. Beat the lard, add the freshly-made corn meal, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat until well mixed and fluffy.
4. Place a little masa in the middle of a corn husk, add a slice of cheese, and top with another piece of masa.
5. Steam tamales for 1 hour.
6. Serve the tamales topped with peppers, onions and cream.

Pan de Muertos

Ingredientes:
800 gramos de harina
8 gramos de levadura comprimida
8 huevos
1 lata de leche condensada
1 cucharadita de sal
185 gramos de mantequilla

Procedimiento:
1. Se hace un hueco con el harina, sal, y anís.
2. Se pone en medio la leche y mantequilla en trocitos de huevo y la levadura, disuelta en un poco de agua.
3. Se amasa todo junto.
4. Hasta que se despegue de las manos.
5. Se deja reposar por una hora en forma de bola, tapado en lugar caliente.
6. Se amasa otro poco y se forman las bolas, se aplana un poco y se adornan con tiras como si fueran huesos.
7. Se les pone azúcar.
8. Se mete al horno hasta que esté cocido.

Pan de Muertos

Ingredients:
800 grams of flour
8 grams of compressed yeast
8 eggs
1 can condensed milk
1 teaspoon salt
185 grams of butter

Procedure:
1. Mix the flour, salt, and anise in a bowl, and then make a hole or well in the middle.
2. Into this well, pour the milk and butter in small pieces, along with the eggs, and yeast that has been dissolved in a little water.
3. Mix and then knead the dough until it does not stick to your hands.
4. Shape into a ball and let it stand for an hour, covered in warm place.
5. Knead a little more and form into balls. Flatten slightly and decorate with strips of dough shaped like bones.
6. Sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake in the oven until done.


Works Cited:

Anonymous. Day of the Dead display in Ocotepec, a town outside of Cuernavaca. A tomb decorated for the Day of the Dead in Ocotepec.” Sept. 6, 2007. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ocomuertos.jpg. Accessed Oct. 29, 2010.

Marchi, Regina M. Day of the Dead in the U.S.A.: The Migration and Transformation of a Cultural Phenomenon. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009.

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