Specifics:
Food: Grady’s Tamales, Grady’s Restaurant, Fort Worth, Texas
Wine: The Estates Merlot (2007), Milbrandt Vineyards Columbia Valley, Washington
Pam Smith was the presenter (perhaps Pam doesn’t work on Tuesdays?). As sometimes happens, there was no representative from the winery, so Pam did the job.
You might not think that a Washington State wine would go with cowboy food – after all, when we think of Washington State, we think of Seattle and rain and dampness. But, not all of Washington is like that. The other side of the state (the east side) is a desert – this is the area where grapes are grown for wine; the eastern part of Washington is wind-swept and dry. Milbrandt has been a grape supplier for approximately 40 years and they’ve been a winery for about 10 years. The grapes for this wine are grown on the Wahluke slope of the Yakima region (Columbia Valley).
The Estates Merlot is 82% Merlot, 6% Malbac, 6% Cabernet, and 6% another wine grape. Pam is “quite in love” with this wine. According to Milbrandt Vineyards website …
2007 THE ESTATES MERLOT – A smooth, sophisticated, plump and juicy Merlot with bits of cassis, boysenberry, blueberry, chocolate and smoky oak. It is well structured with mouth-filling richness, ripe fruit flavors and rounded tannins.
This was pretty much the exact description given during the presentation. Our impressions of the wine without food…
- Aroma – nick says that it smells good, nora says that it’s very fruity with warm, rich scents
- Taste – nora says that it reminds me of my favorite (Robert Mondavi Private Selection Cabernet Sauvignon), not very acidic, very rounded
Pam introduced Chef Grady…
Chef Grady is usually at the Food & Wine Festival during the last week and we think that they said this is the first year he’ll be involved in the Party for the Senses. He didn’t attend cooking school, he was managing a restaurant and the chef just walked out during dinner service, Grady jumped into the kitchen and discovered that he enjoyed the creativity of cooking… “my cooking career is a matter of survival.” Grady is the Chef for the Houston Texans (he had on a Texans ball cap and claims to have a tattoo of the team’s logo); frankly he looks a little like Hugh Laurie from House.
Cowboy food encapsulated:
- contains fat (this recipe contains lard, you can make it with vegetable shortening if you’re vegetarian)
- conglomeration of texas, cajun (from the proximity of Louisana), german (from the Texas hill country), seafood (from the gulf coast), and from tex-mex
Today’s tasting is a basic tamale that you can fill with anything. Unlike most tamale recipes, these are not stuffed before cooking; he likes to split them and add stuffings after they’re ordered. In other words, this is a backward tamale that’s very easy and very versatile. These tamales freeze very well after they’re steamed and are agreeable to reheating/steaming in the microwave oven. He personally doesn’t have a microwave at home or in his restaurants, but concedes that they’re good for reheating things that are best steamed.
Tasting Notes
- Wine
- tastes fruitier with the tamales
- Pam says this is a “daring pairing” — we thought it was “okay” but weren’t massively “wow!” by the combination
- Food
- presented on colored plates
- the sun-dried tomato cream and avocado cream on top of the tamales gave them some moisture and tastethe tamales taste like tamales, nothing WOW or outstanding
- our tamales had ground meat in them (supposedly there were beef, pork, and chicken tamales) – we couldn’t identify which was in ours; nick said they were pretty flavorless and nora agreed
Overall Notes
This culinary demonstration was rather poorly organized.
- what we were served wasn’t really what the chef demonstrated nor what was included in the recipe (our tamales were filled)
- Chef added the cilantro to the masa + lard rather than to the pan because he didn’t want to sweat the cilantro nor have the flavor muted
- there were no red peppers or corn kernels on stage for him to include in the recipe
- again! the presentation was over very quickly and
- again! the portions were much smaller than in 2010
Recipe – Grady’s Tamales
makes approximately 36 tamales
- 4 cups masa harina (very finely ground corn meal, texture is like flour)
- 3 cups of chicken stock, warmed (can use vegetable stock or simple water if making a vegetarian version)
- 2 cups lard (“got to have fat”, can use vegetable shortening if making vegetarian)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 red bell peppers, seeded & diced (these were missing from our demonstration)
- 4 jalapeños, seeded & minced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 2 cups fresh corn kernels
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- kosher salt to taste
- about 50 corn husks, soaked in warm water
- additional 6 corn husks, soaked in warm water OR butcher twine
- Put masa harina in a large bowl and reconstitute by adding warm chicken stock. Beat with a wooden spoon until the dough is stiff but smooth. Add a little more stock if necessary, but be sure to keep the mixture firm.
- In another large bowl, beat the lard with a mixer fitted with a paddle until it is very fluffy, about 3 minutes. Continue to beat at a medium speed and add the masa a little at a time until well combined (Grady added the cilantro at this stage). The texture should be kept light and fluffy. To see if the mixture is blended well enough, drop a teaspoon of the dough into a glass of water. If it floats, it’s well mixed. If not, keep beating. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat and cook the bell peppers, jalapeños, and onion for 4 to 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to soften. Add the corn (and cilantro), season with salt, and remove pan from heat. Gently fold this mixture into the prepared masa until well combined, being careful not to overwork.
- Choose several softened corn husks (this is those additional husks) and tear into 72 thin strips. These will be used to tie the tamales into “little tootsie rolls” – our tamales were folded, not tied. ON a clean, dry surface speed out 42 softened corn husks and spoon approximately 2 to 3 tablespoons of the prepared masa mixture into the middle of each husk. Roll each tamale lengthwise, tightly, then twist at both ends, much like the wrapper of a Tootsie Roll. Securely tie each end with a strip of the corn husk or butcher twine. Set aside.
- Prepare a steamer or a pot of steaming rack, cover and steam the prepared tamales for approximately 1 hour or until the tamale is firm to the touch. Remove and serve warm with your favorite filling or let cool, wrap well in plastic, and freezer for future use.
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