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SwELT Tamales

A corn-based tamale made with lard, sugar, raisins, almonds, and anise seed, steamed in husks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

SwELT Tamales

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Soak the prepared corn overnight in water.

  2. Grind the corn on a metate or in a mortar.

  3. Mix the ground corn with warm water and salt, then gradually add melted lard while heating with your hands.

  4. Continue heating until a small ball of dough floats in water.

Assemble and steam

  1. On each washed corn husk, place a generous spoonful of dough.

  2. Add desired fillings like raisins, almonds, and anise seed, then tie up the husk.

  3. Steam the tamales for about four hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Almond + anisetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Corn + anisetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Raisin + anisetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Prepared corn
Forms the masa base that gives the tamales their body and structure.
Melted lard
Adds fat for a tender, moist texture in the dough.
Warm water
Hydrates the ground corn so it can be worked into a smooth dough.
White sugar
Adds sweetness to the dough.

The step that matters

Heating the dough until it floats. Heating the dough while working in the lard lets the starch gelatinize and the fat emulsify, giving a light, workable masa. The float test is a common check that enough air has been incorporated, so the dough will be light after steaming.

Swap the anise

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, sugar, raisin, almond):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Anisethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, sugar, raisin, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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