The weather in San Francisco, the city where I live in, is rather cold nearly the whole year round, which makes it a must to wear jackets, hoodies, coats and scarves almost every day. Some days ago a friend, who happens to be my co-worker too, and I were getting ready to go to a café. She was putting on a coat over a down jacket. The coat looked so tight on her that my thoughts slipped out: Pareces un tamal, which in English means: You look like a tamale. This a very common phrase used in Cuba to say how tight a piece of clothing looks on someone. She looked at me in shock for a second and then we both burst out laughing.

Speaking of tamales, Cuba and Mexico both have tamales. Seemingly the same, but are certainly far from it.

My quest for the perfect tamales

When I arrived in the U.S. I learned there were Mexican tamales and as I love the Cuban version, I looked forward to trying the so acclaimed Mexican dish since everyone gave them so much credit I was really eager to taste them.

One day I had one, but I’m sorry to say, they didn’t do it for me. My palate was not that pleased and a bit disappointed. Maybe the reason being that I am used to savoring the Cuban tamal, and much to my regret, Mexican tamales didn’t meet my expectations.

Different corn, different results

Mexican tamales are made from cooked dried hominy corn while Cuban tamales are made from regular fresh corn, not the sweet corn that can be found almost everywhere in the U.S.

Regular fresh corn is hard to find anywhere in the U.S. but in Florida, my guess is that the Cuban community is larger there than elsewhere.

It is all about how it smells

I learned a lot from my grandmother when she made her delicious dishes. I share her belief about corn, which might sound a bit nasty but held to be true! She always said that good ground corn, for tamales, had to smell like farts, or rotten eggs! I never knew why, but she was right, when the corn dough wasn’t smelly, tamales didn’t turn out the best.

Though tamales require a lot of prep and cook time, they are so delicious that they are worth all the hard work and time. Cubans love tamales so much so that there is even a song from the 1950s praising this delightful dish being sold by a street vendor in Cienfuegos, my home town.

For those who like cooking and indulging in good healthy homemade meals, here is my recipe for Cuban tamales.

The key for great tamales: if the corn dough isn’t smelly, tamales won’t turn out the best. (Photo Shutterstock)

Cuban tamales

Time: about 2 hrs

(Serves 12-16)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds pork
• 2 cloves peeled garlic
• 3 cups grated or ground fresh yellow corn
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 a can tomato paste
• 1/2 cup water
•  juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 26-34 corn husks

Directions

Cut the pork into small pieces. Add a little salt and put it in a sauce pan. Pour water to cover most of the meat. Add two peeled garlic cloves. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer until all the water has boiled away. Do not allow the meat get crispy.

Slice the corn kernels off the cob. Finely grind the corn until it’s well blended. Mix the corn with 2 cups of chicken broth.

Stir fry the onion and bell pepper in olive oil on medium heat. Once the onions are soft, add garlic and continue cooking for about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste previously mixed in with 1/2 cup of warm water. Simmer for about 7 minutes.

Mix the pork and the corn in a large pot. Add lemon juice to taste. Add salt, cumin, oregano and black pepper, and stir to blend all the ingredients.

Take one corn husk in your hand and make both right and left ends meet, then fold the lower part as if making a cup, keep it in your hand and fill it with the corn mixture, then get another corn husk and repeat the procedure, but upside down in such a way, that the upper cup-like corn husk overlaps the bottom one and tie them with a string. Then put the tamales in a half filled pot of water; cover the pot and bring the water to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 1 ½ hour. Take one out and open it and serve out of the corn husks.

For me, Cuban tamales are the best tamales ever. Ha, of course, I would say that! No insult to the Mexican Tamales though. We like what we like.

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