Cookbook Thursday: Delta tamales!

One of the culinary specialties of the Mississippi Delta are mouthwatering tamales and author Anne Martin spotlights a vegetarian style with spinach, corn and cheese filling in “Delta Hot Tamales: Histories, Stories, and Recipes” (The History Press). The recipe follows, but so does a tamale trivia game. Check back next Cookbook Thursday to find out the answers.

Martin grew up in the middle of the hot tamale epicenter, Greenville, Miss. She is an award-winning journalist, having spent 30 years in broadcast news. She is now a writer, documenting the stories of her beloved Mississippi Delta and is a regular contributor to Life in the Delta and Eat. Drink. Mississippi. Anne is a co-founder of the Delta Hot Tamale Festival.

Books available locally and online at www.arcadiapublishing.com. 

Vegetarian Tamales with Spinach, Corn and Cheese Filling

From “Delta Hot Tamales: Histories, Stories, and Recipes” by Anne Martin

Filling

2 teaspoons oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely minced 

1 small green pepper, chopped 

1 cup corn, fresh or frozen 

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed 

1⁄2 teaspoon cumin 

1⁄2 teaspoon chili powder 

salt and pepper to taste 

1 8-ounce package shredded colby jack cheese 

Directions: Heat oil in a pan. Add onion and cook until translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add green pepper, corn and spinach. Cook covered until the veggies are tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Mix well and turn off heat. 

Corn Shucks 

Directions: While the filling is cooling, prepare the corn shuck. Dried shucks need to be soaked in warm water prior to using to make them soft and pliable. Fill a deep pan with warm water and soak for about 15 minutes. Soak additional shucks in case a shuck tears during the process. You will also need a few to line the bottom of a steamer basket. When the shucks are ready, drain and set aside. 

Prepare the Steaming equipment 

Set up the steaming basket. Fill the pot with 2 to 3 inches of water. Keep water level below the steamer basket. Line the bottom of the basket with a few corn shucks. 

Masa Dough 

1⁄4 cup vegetable shortening 

1⁄4 cup margarine 

13⁄4 cups masa mix (available in most grocery stores) 1 teaspoon baking powder 

1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder 

1⁄4 teaspoon salt 

11⁄2 cups vegetable stock (may use canned) 

Directions: In a large mixing bowl, with a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, cream together the shortening and margarine until creamy and light. Sift in the masa, baking powder, garlic powder and salt, then continue to beat for about three minutes, until a sandy looking mixture forms. Pour the vegetable stock into the masa mixture and continue to beat until all the liquid is absorbed and a fluffy dough forms, about five minutes. The tamale dough should have a moist, almost mashed potato consistency and should be easily spread with a rubber spatula. If the mixture appears too wet, sprinkle in a little more masa. If too dry, drizzle in a little vegetable stock until you reach the desired consistency. Use dough immediately. 

Assemble the tamales 

For each tamale, spread a generous 1⁄4 cup of dough down the center of a pliable, soaked corn husk, leaving at least 11⁄2 inches on either end and at least a 1⁄2 inch on either side. This will form a rectangle roughly 4 to 5 inches wide and 3⁄8 to 1⁄2 inch thickand about 5 inches long. Spoon 1 generous tablespoon of filling down the center of the tamale dough, then top with a little of the grated cheese. Grab both the edges of the corn husk that are not covered with dough. Bring the edges toward each other and push the sides of the masa dough together to encase the filling. Gently press the side of the tamale to form a firm, solid tube shape. Tightly twist each end of the tamale wrapper and tie with a soaked corn husk strip. You can also use kitchen twine to tie the tamales. Repeat until filling and dough are gone. About halfway through the tamale making, turn on the eye where your tamale pot is to get the water hot for the steaming process. 

Steam the tamales 

Place the tamales in the steamer basket and steam for at least 55 minutes or up to 1 hour, 5 minutes. Check the pot occasionally to make sure that the water has not completely evaporated; add more hot water as needed. Test to see if the tamales are ready by removing a tamale and peeling back some corn husk. Fully cooked tamales will be tender but solid, not wet. Remove the entire basket from the pot, place on a dinner plate and let stand, covered, for at least 15 minutes to cool. Handle the tamales carefully as they will be very hot. Serve the tamales with any chili sauce, plus beans, rice or salad, if desired. Don’t eat the corn husks! Tamales can also be frozen. Cool the tamales completely, then stack them into plastic bags and freeze them for up to a few months. Frozen tamales can be microwaved until hot. 

Tamale Trivia 

1. True or False: It is well known where hot tamales came from. 

2. Where is the Hot Tamale Capital of the World? 

3. Who was the king of the very first Delta Hot Tamale Festival? 

4. True or False: Hot tamales and the blues go hand and hand. 

5. True or False? There is only one right way to eat a Hot Tamale. 

6. Originally, the hot tamale mixtures included which two types of meat?
7. True or False: You can buy hot tamales from a restaurant, shack or even the trunk of a car.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Cookbook Thursday: Don't visit the Delta without this comprehensive book!

            One of my favorite places to visit is the Mississippi Delta, heading north from Jackson into towns such as Greenwood, where “The Help” was filmed, and Indianola, home to B.B. King, and on up to music-rich Memphis. In addition to the fertile blues scene — as one can imagine since the blues originated here, later birthing rock ’n’ roll — there’s an interesting culinary history.

            Susan Puckett travels this cultural heartland in “Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Traveler’s Journey Through the Soul of the South” (University of Georgia Press), offering readers a guide to Delta foodways as well as the people, places, music and events. With photographs by Langdon Clay, “Eat Drink Delta” serves as a comprehensive travel guide to Memphis and the Mississippi Delta, as well as a restaurant guide with recipes to try at home. There’s the Delta Tamale Trail, explanations on the popular and varied “Comeback” dressing, catfish dishes due to the plethora of catfish farms and specialty drinks and foods enjoyed during Delta fox hunts (which actually involve coyotes).
             If you’re a food lover like me who enjoys traveling, “Eat Drink Delta” is the perfect combination; don’t leave home without it.

Delta Magazine honors region with new book

             Delta Magazine commemorates 10 years of publishing with a gorgeous coffee table book that honors the people, land and traditions of Mississippi.

            “The Delta: Landscapes, Legends and Legacies of Mississippi’s Most Storied Region,” edited by Melissa Townsend with a foreword by Luther Brown, compiles essays, magazine features, interviews and exquisite photos from the first 60 issues of the magazine starting in 2003. The book veers from an essay by renowned artist William Dunlap to a photo of Robert Johnson’s grave, from remembering blues legend “Son” Thomas and Delta writers and artists to showcasing “Delta characters.” And the “Classic Delta Cuisine” chapter will make you want to jump in your car and head to Mississippi.

            What readers will learn is that so much of America’s culture derives from the Delta, whether it’s a tale told by William Faulkner, a film starring Morgan Freeman or Muddy Waters singing the blues. Aretha Franklin’s father pastured a church in Sunflower and Michelle Obama’s great grandparents sharecropped near Lamont, reminds us Brown in the foreword.

            “It’s a story that should be more widely told, about a great place filled with creative and persevering people who take pride in their home and their lives,” Brown writes. “It’s a Delta story that is an American story.”

            For more information and to purchase a copy, visit Paul Michael in Monroe, or the magazine’s web site, deltamagazine.com.

Arcadia history

            Arcadia Publishing has two new books out involving Louisiana history — “Louisiana’s Oil Heritage” and “Scott,” both part of the publisher’s “Images of America” series.

            “Louisiana’s Oil Heritage” by Tonja Koob Marking and Jennifer Snape takes readers from W. Scott Heywood’s first successful oil well on the Mamou Prairie, now Jennings, to the Caddo Oilfield. The book looks at the state’s industry origins within the different regions, oil transportation (including by mule and small boat), life in the camps and celebrating the oil industry with special events.

            Arcadia’s “Scott” was produced by the Scott Historical and Genealogical Society and follows the history of the town from a farming community to arrival of the railroad and its being named “Where the West Begins.” Photos of early settlers are included, as are famous residents such as Zachard Richard, as well as businesses, landmarks, homes, schools and churches. There are nods to sports and those who served in the military and a nice chapter on “everyday life.”

            Both can be found at local bookstores and online at www.arcadiapublishing.com, but here’s a great way to get a free copy of “Scott.” Can you identify the person in the photo above? If you can, you win a free book! Email me at chere@louisianabooknews.com with who you think is pictured and the first person to correctly identify the man wins.

Acadian history

            There are three new books published on Acadian history.

            UL Press has published “Histoire des Acadiennes et Acadiens de la Louisiane,” authored by musician, author, documentarian and cultural activist Zachary Richard of Scott. The French edition is intended for French immersion students in Louisiana studies but is also an excellent guide to Acadian/Cajun history and culture.

            For those who want a guide to Acadian history in English, Oxford University Press has published “The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History” by Christopher Hodson, assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University. The book focuses on le grand derangement of the Acadians from the Maritime Provinces of Canada beginning in 1755.

            Journalist Richard Holledge first heard of the Acadians and their history when he was on assignment for The Times of London, writing a piece about Tabasco. His exposure to Cajun Country resulted in his novel, “The Scattered,” about the Acadian Diaspora, available on Amazon.com.

            “A few years later, by chance,” Holledge writes in the book’s foreword, “I was reading ‘Crucible of War,’ an account of the battle for power in North America between France and Britain by historian Fred Anderson, who described the expulsion as ‘chillingly reminiscent of modern ethnic cleansing’ operations…executed with a coldness and calculation rarely seen in other wartime operations.”

            In “The Scattered,” Holledge follows a group of exiles from Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, to France and eventually Louisiana. 

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Cheré Coen is the author of “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at chere@louisianabooknews.com.