4 lb chuck roast, fat trimmed off and cut in large chunks
1 tsp beef bouillon or one cube
2 c water
1 sm onion, cut in half
4 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
Cook in a crock pot on high for 6-7 hours. Throw away bay leaf. Strain, reserving the broth. Shred the beef.
Sauce:
2 pasillas, 2 ancho, 2 gualillo chiles
Remove seeds and stems & rinse. Place in a pot of water and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes to soften the dried chiles.
Place 2 cups of the reserved broth in a blender. Add the cooked onion and garlic and half of the chiles. Blend and taste. Add more chiles until the heat is to your liking. Reserve 1/3 c of the chili sauce to use in the masa.
Add the remaining sauce to a pan along with 1-1/2 tsp salt and the shredded beef. Simmer a few minutes.
Masa:
4 cups instant masa
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 cup lard
1/3 cup reserved chili sauce
2 cups reserved beef broth
Additional water as needed to get the masa to the consistency of wet cement.
Assemble:
Soak the corn husks in water for an hour or more. To assemble, blot a corn husk dry with a towel. Place the corn husk on a flat surface with the natural curl facing upward. Put a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center and spread like so:
Fold the tamale over so the edges of the masa meet each other. Fold the bottom up, then fold the edges over to make a nice little package. Rinse, repeat, until you have about 3 dozen tamales.
Place a rack in the bottom of your tamale pot. If you don’t have a rack, add wads of crumpled up aluminum foil to keep the bottom of your tamales out of the water. Add water to the bottom of the pot. Place your tamales standing up in the pot, bottoms down. Bring to a boil and steam for 1-1/2 hours. Add water to the pot as needed or it will boil dry, burn, set off the smoke alarm, and ruin all your hard work. Most likely you will have to add water at least twice.
When done, remove from the heat and let the tamales stand in the pot for at least 15 minutes before eating so they can firm up.
If you like them saucy, top with some enchilada sauce if you’re lazy or make the sauce below. They can be wrapped in foil and frozen. To reheat, place in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes if thawed, 30 minutes if frozen. Flip over half way through so they heat evenly.
Sauce:
Melt 1 stick salted butter in a skillet (1/2 cup)
Add 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp paprika, 4 Tbsp chili powder & stir to combine
Add 1/2 flour and cook 3-5 minutes while stirring
Add 4 cups cool water. Cook and stir until thickened.
If you don’t need this much, just cut down the recipe.