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Stuff it, roll it, steam it, eat it -- that's about where the comparison of tamale styles stops.
It's a dish with traditions and techniques varying by the country, region and family. In Louisiana, ask someone where to find the best tamale and the answer will change from person to person.
Zwolle has made a name for itself in the tamale department, making it official in 1975 by becoming the home of the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta.
"It was just something we loved and we made it into a festival and brings in people from all over the state of Louisiana. You can go anywhere and say Zwolle and they say, ‘Oh, tamales!'" said Becky Loupe, organizer of the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta.
Cooking the classy way
But it's not the only place to get your hands on one of those little deliciously wrapped bundles of joy.
Manuel Chinchilla sells a traditional Honduran tamale at Pow Wow Texaco and Deli in Ruston. And in Shreveport, Tina Marie Palmisano strays far from tradition, making new creations of meat, vegetarian and dessert tamales at her catering service Hot Tamale Tina's Gourmet Tamales.
Loupe, Chinchilla and Palmisano share some of the many ways to make a tamale while upholding old traditions and making new ones.
The traditional concept
No matter how you roll a tamale, the general definition is a mixture of ingredients enclosed in dough and wrapped in an outer layer. History places its creation to Mexico and the Mayans who are said to have used a starchy dough made of corn with a leaf casing.
Tamales were steamed in the leaf and, once cooked, opened and consumed.
The recipe caught on and over the centuries have evolved dramatically.
Chinchilla grew up in Honduras until the age of 18 and has lived in north Louisiana for an additional 18 years. In Honduras, located in Central America, there are four styles of tamales traditionally made.
"A Honduran tamale is more like a full meal," he said. "It’s a bigger tamale opposed to the little hot tamales you buy by the dozen. One Honduran tamale will satisfy the average individual."
At his deli, he offers his home country's favorite."It typically comes with meat — pork or chicken — and there's a mixture of boiled potatoes cut into cubes," Chinchilla said. "They put rice and usually a couple of olives, a mixture of vegetables — could be peas, green beans or corn — and most of the time they put in some raisins."A major contributor to the distinctive taste, he said, is the green plantain leaf that's wrapped around the tamale and tied by strings to close it before it's cooked. Similar recipes are used in Nicaragua and El Salvador, he said.
"In Honduras there are about four different types of tamales," he said. "This one is the most traditional one and more popular, especially around the holidays and Christmas time."Another style uses 100 percent corn kernels pureed and wrapped in corn shuck. They typically have a sweet flavor, Chinchilla said, so they are called "sweet corn tamales."
"One of the things that motivates me to do this concept is it's a way to educate people there’s more than the typical Tex Mex way they’re used to," Chinchilla said. "We’ve seen the different cultures. There s a rich culinary difference."
In Zwolle, tamales have a different cultural history and technique for the Loupe family.
Loupe remembers the days when her mother-in-law and generations before used meat from the head of the pig. A more modern way, she said, is to use the cut of the pig called the Boston butt. But even in a location known for its tamales, one can find many variations.
"Most of them are with the pork and corn meal," she said. "Some people put masa in them. Then it’s just a variation of different spices and peppers you put in it."Masa -- Spanish for dough-- is often made with corn meal.
The Zwolle Tamale Fiesta hosts a contest annually for contenders to present their best style and recipe to the judges.
"Everybody thinks, of course, their grandma’s or grandpa’s is the best," Loupe said. "We have contests at the festival grounds each year. They come from all over but the majority of the people are from Zwolle."
The festival sells more than 5,000 dozen tamales annually, she said, and people come from miles away year-round to get a taste of the famous Zwolle tamale.
"They became a thing that when you came home to Zwolle that’s what you wanted," Loupe said. "People began to clamor about grandmother’s hot tamales or aunt so-and-so’s hot tamales."
Cooking outside of the box
In Shreveport, Palmisano takes a different approach using the historical tradition as the foundation for her original creations.
"I was always fascinated with the Mayan culture and I learned about where tamales come from. I thought it was pretty neat that in different parts of the country -- like California -- they're different. In Honduras they're different and in Louisiana they're different. Even in New Orleans their tamales are different from Zwolle tamales. And the Delta tamales in Mississippi are incredible."
On the outside, Palmisano uses corn husks to wrap the tamales. But what's inside can be surprising. Some offerings from her tamale food truck are entree dishes, like the boudin, a vegetarian three bean with cheese and shrimp and goat cheese with lavender sauce made with lavender flowers.
Others fall into the dessert category -- white chocolate, mint chocolate, fried apple pie and sweet potato with praline sauce tamales -- just to name a few.
"It's a little more interesting," she said.
She began making the combinations as a challenge for herself and to push her imagination.
It took some getting used to when she introduced them to her customers who were used to the traditional styles, but now they're sought after and customers -- and staff-- look forward to what combination she'll come up with next.
"I love putting things together that don't belong together," she said. "Dessert tamales, it's more popular now in some of the bigger cities like New York and Chicago, and high-end restaurants will do them."
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Sometimes the vision doesn't always work out. Before she found the recipe for her sweet potato tamale, she tried to make with pumpkin but the texture wasn't what she desired. She tried sweet potato, adding cream cheese to the masa mix, and the results weren't favorable.
"Because I loved cream cheese I wanted cream cheese in my sweet potato," she said. "I made a real mess. I put the cream cheese and butter in the refrigerator. It was hard."
She fine-tuned the recipe and finally got to the smooth, glazed texture and sweet taste for the masa she wanted. In her sweet potato tamale she uses milk, butter and half-and-half and she tops it with a praline sauce before wrapping it in the corn husk and steams it.
Palmisano switches up the tamale selection to keep options fresh for customers. Some are changed seasonally. The sweet potato tamale is just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday season and the would pair nicely with Palmisano's turkey and dressing tamale topped with turkey gravy and with an optional port wine cranberry reduction sauce.
Tamale traditions
The process of making tamales has been a tradition for many no matter where they are in the world. Chinchilla and Loupe remember sitting for hours with their families talking while rolling dozens of tamales before cooking them and sometimes sharing with neighbors and friends.
Tamale night helped bring Palmisano's family closer together and create a spiritual bond, she said. On Christmas Eve, the women in Palmisano's family gathered in the kitchen to make the tamales and she's passed on the tradition to a new generation in her family.
"Now I understand the tradition of people getting together for the holidays," Palmisano said. "I didn't have as many kids around my house, but I'd get my step-daughter and all her friends and my son and his friends and we'd sit around and roll tamales. You'd be surprised at the conversation. We called it tamale confession night because someone would always let something slip out about another one."
There are electric tamale press machines to make the process quicker and arguably easier,which Palmisano often uses for her business and making large orders. But the bonding, the laughs and the memories made by bringing people together to hand roll the tamales is something modern technology can't replace.
Visit www.shreveporttimes.com to watch a video of Tina Marie Palmisano making her sweet potato tamales and beef stuffed tamales.
If you go:
What: Pow Wow Texaco and Deli
Where: 101 S Service Road W, Ruston
Info:(318) 513-9898
What:Hot Tamale Tina's
Where: Food truck based at Ernest's Orleans, 1601 Spring Street, Shreveport
Info: (318) 313-2979 or onthegodelivery.com
What: Zwolle Tamale Fiesta
Where: Zwolle, La.
Info: zwolletamalefiesta.com
318.459.9312
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