Tamales and Family Recipes

LET’S CHAT ABOUT IT

I’m an avid Youtube watcher with tastes ranging from makeup tutorials to David Dobrik’s vlogs — which tend to be more like comedy sketches and are for sure aimed toward younger viewers, but my point is that I’m into pretty much every type of content that Youtube has to offer. High up on that list are cooking and food videos.

Eater is one of the main sources we use in Taco Literacy and I was excited to see it on the syllabus because I had just recently discovered it myself, adding their videos to my late-night watchlist after seeing the one where Brad Leone (my favorite personality from Bon Appetit, hands down) makes Taylor ham (I’m from Jersey, what can I say?).

I usually stick to their Omakase series which focuses on sushi chefs, but when I saw the video above about Fernando Lopez’s tamales, having this class and Mexican food in general fresh on my brain, I didn’t hesitate to click for a second.

Now, I’ve never had a tamale. That might be sinful to even say but I assure you that, after watching this video, I cannot wait to try some.

What I liked most about this video was Lopez’s constant reference to family recipe and tradition. As I’ve said before, I come from an Italian family and I know how important the family gravy recipe is, how special making Christmas manicotti has felt my entire life, and how I cannot wait until my mom’s food becomes my own. Hearing Lopez speak about his family — how the mole tamales are his mom’s recipe and how his dad taught him to mix the dough by switching hands — made me feel nostalgic for my own family traditions.

This video, despite its educational and hunger-inducing subject matter, made me look forward to trying smaller and more traditional Mexican restaurants because they’re ultimately just family recipes being doled out on a larger scale. It no longer seems like just going to get a taco to me, but much more like when someone new comes over for Christmas.

Also, yes, I will be hunting down Factory Tamal and trying that mole tamale because now that I’ve seen it I can’t stop thinking about it, like wow.