Recipe for shredded meat, red and green sauce for tamales

Day 2, Saturday, February 5, 2005: Let's see, I got up early in the morning and took a 6-mile walk. Oh, I'm straying away from the subject. After the long walk, I made green salsa for the chicken tamales, and red salsa for the pork tamales. Click on the links for my recipes, for the salsa for your tamale filling.

Left: I'm browning veggies for green and red salsa, which will be used to make tamale sauce. Right: Mixing chicken stock with cooked veggies and whirling them into the blender to form the perfect red tamale sauce.

I filled a 16-quart stockpot about half full with water and placed the "hojas," better known as corn husks into the pot. I placed a plate, weighted down with a rock, to make sure that the husks were all soaked.

Left: I take the corn husks out of the package and unroll them, to make them smooth and stuff them into the big stockpot. Right: I've filled the pot with water, and the husks are covered with a plate that is weighted down by a rock from the back yard.

Later that day, I got out the meat cleaver and took the hard approach: Shred the meat! Since the pork and chicken was pre-cooked the day before, all I had to do was to get it out of the refrigerator, place it on a cutting board, and begin chopping. If you own a heavy-duty, sharp cleaver, it makes the job easier, as the meat must be cut into very small pieces. I first chopped up the chicken, and when it was all shredded, I placed in into a plastic container and returned it to the refrigerator. I did the same with the pork.

Left: Pork, all chopped up and ready to store in the 'fridge for tomorrow's tamale party! Right: Here's salsa roja, ready for the pork tamales.

After all of our exertions, it was time to eat, so we ordered take-out food at a local Chinese restaurant. So much for doing it yourself...

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