"My brothers and sisters
and I pooled our 'red
wrap' quarters from
Chinese New Year and
bought a couple," Lily
Wong Fillmore recalled.
"Then we took them home,
cut them into pieces and
ate them with
chopsticks."
Although she just turned
75, the memory of that
day is still fresh.
"I was hooked," Wong
Fillmore said. "With
that first bite, I vowed
that I would learn to
make tamales myself."
And she did learn, from
many people, from many
parts of Mexico. Wong
Fillmore, a working
linguist and retired UC
Berkeley professor of
education, estimates
that she has made more
than 75,000 tamales. And
she has staged a
tamalada, or
tamale-making party, for
55 consecutive Christmas
Eves. She became smitten
with this traditional
Mexican holiday feast
when she was living in
Gilroy teaching the
children of migrant
farmworkers.
It's the sort of
cross-cultural twist
that is second nature to
Wong Fillmore, a
nationally known expert
on bilingualism and
second-language
learning. She once
celebrated Chinese New
Year with Native
children along the Lower
Yukon River in Alaska,
and cooks 80 pounds of
fried rice in New Mexico
every July at the
Cochiti Pueblo tribe's
annual feast day. And
when her mother-in-law
was alive, Christmas Day
was straight out of
Norway.
"When Lily met my
mother, she picked up
certain Norwegian
Christmas traditions,
such as the
potato-pancake thing
called lefse, a
jellied pork-and-veal
thing called sylte,
and various kinds of
Christmas cookies,
including something my
mother called Chinese
chews," said Charles
Fillmore, a retired Cal
linguistics professor
who, like his wife,
still lectures, writes
and does research.
"This was long before my
mother could have
imagined that there'd be
anything Chinese in her
life."
Wong Fillmore hosted her
first tamalada
in 1953. It was, and
still is, an elaborate
undertaking, and anyone
who has witnessed one
will never take a tamale
for granted again. Her
friend Susan
Ervin-Tripp, a retired
Cal professor of
psychology, compared it
to a quilting bee.
"A tamalada is
a very social event,"
said Ervin-Tripp, who
trades tamales for
peanut brittle. "Making
peanut brittle is very
nonsocial. I burned
myself once when someone
talked to me.
Tamaladas don't
have any of those
moments."
Although Wong Fillmore
does a lot of
preparation in advance,
alone or with two
Mexican friends, her
tamalada still
manages to be highly
communal.
On a typical Christmas
Eve, Wong Fillmore gets
up at 6 a.m. and turns
off the stove, where a
big pot of pork
shoulders has simmered
all night. Tomatoes and
poblano peppers have
already been roasted.
Then she starts cooking
chicken thighs. After
that, she tackles 50
pounds of masa, or fresh
corn dough. By 9 a.m.,
it's time to cut up
cheese and clean and
sort the hojas,
or dried corn husks,
that will wrap the
tamales.
By noon, Wong Fillmore
is making tamales. Along
the way, she cooks
beans, mole, zucchini
and corn.
In early afternoon, the
guests - anywhere from
10 to 40 - begin to
materialize. They drink
wine and beer, snack on
guacamole and chips, and
make tamales. You can
always tell who the
rookies are: Their
tamales are often too
puny, too pudgy or sadly
misshapen.
"Quality control kind of
falls apart," Wong
Fillmore said. "It's
always a challenge for
me to get enough made so
that I'm not a control
freak."
By 6 in the evening, the
last tamale has been
wrapped. They steam for
90 minutes, and rest for
15 more. Around 8 p.m.,
it's time for dinner.
"It's like being
expected home every
Christmas Eve, but
without the dreaded
family run-ins," said
tamalada
regular Annie Nakao, a
former San Francisco
Chronicle and Examiner
reporter. "There are
only the first morsels
of Lily's warm tamales
in your mouth, the
ceremonial passing of
the husk bowl and being
surrounded by people who
are luxuriating in the
same glow."
Wong Fillmore was 18
when she attended her
first tamalada.
She and her
then-husband, Frank
Chinn, had been invited
to the home of Gordo and
Gomacina Espinoza. It
was Christmas Eve 1952.
The tiny house in Gilroy
was unimaginably
crowded. The children
separated the hojas,
the women stood around a
huge wash tub beating
masa, and the men played
guitars, sang and drank
beer. By 10 p.m., the
tamales were steaming,
and everyone went off to
midnight Mass. When the
churchgoers returned,
the tamales were done.
"It was quite possibly
the best Christmas Eve
I've ever spent," Wong
Fillmore said. "I
decided it would become
my Christmas tradition,
too, because I'd never
had one. We had Chinese
New Year instead."
Her Christmases had been
spent working at the
Star Cafe, a restaurant
the Wong family owned in
Watsonville (Santa Cruz
County). It was always
open on Christmas to
serve the bachelor
farmers who ate there
every night and had
nowhere else to go.
Although Wong Fillmore
loves pork, she never
uses pig heads, as the
Espinozas had done, with
the snouts, ears and
eyes intact. "They just
look at you so
balefully, so
accusingly," she said.
"I couldn't handle it."
The tamaladas
have been a constant in
a life full of change.
After Gilroy, Wong
Fillmore lived in San
Jose; on the Stanford
University campus while
getting her doctorate;
Berkeley; Alamo; and now
San Francisco's Richmond
neighborhood. Her
daughters, Fran Chinn
and Angela Woodbury,
have done their own
tamaladas. Her son,
San Francisco Chronicle
photographer Paul Chinn,
prefers to just eat the
tamales, which can be
pork, chicken or cheese.
"The tamales were always
the reason why the
family gathered at our
house for Christmas
Eve," said Woodbury, a
lawyer in Austin, Texas.
"A whole house full of
Chinese people eating
tamales!"
Over the years, the
tamalada grew to
include friends,
colleagues, neighbors
and students of Wong
Fillmore and her
husband.
"When Paul and Fran and
I were kids, we had
joong as much as we
had tamales," Woodbury
said. "It's kind of
interesting that we
called joong
'Chinese tamales,' and
didn't call tamales
'Mexican joong.'
"
One pound of masa yields
a dozen tamales, and
Wong Fillmore is
accustomed to working
with as much as 80
pounds at a time.
"It is a bit of a
marathon endurance
event," said Fran Chinn,
a San Francisco doctor.
"I would always make the
tamales bigger and
bigger as the day wore
on, just so I could get
to the bottom of the
bowl of masa faster."
When Chinn did a
"starter tamalada,"
she was amazed at how
much easier it was when
she didn't have to
contend with a mountain
of masa. "Of course I
wanted to have more
tamales when it was
over," she said. "I'm
sure that I will succumb
to tradition."
Year-round, Wong
Fillmore makes tamales
for special occasions,
and she has done so all
over the globe,
including Finland,
Canada, Switzerland,
England and Alaska. And
she always keeps a stash
frozen. Once she gave a
batch to a visiting
linguist, who took them
to his Amazon River
village in Brazil, where
he shared them with his
family and some Indian
friends.
"That's how I've made
them world famous," Wong
Fillmore said. "You've
got to have some ploys."
--
Lily's Tamales
Makes 30-36 tamales
Making tamales is an
elaborate
undertaking, and
anyone who has
witnessed a tamalada
will never take a
tamale for granted
again. Lily Fillmore
Wong, who has been
hosting Christmas
Eve tamaladas since
1953, has provided a
step-by-step guide
for her delicious
holiday feast.
Before you
get started:
I get my
masa (dough made
from dried corn) and
hojas (dried corn
husks) from La Palma
Mexicatessen in San
Francisco (2884 24th
St., at Florida).
1. There are two
kinds of hojas -
ordinary and limpias
(clean leaves),
which are nicer but
more expensive.
2: Freshly ground
masa comes in two
grinds: fina, mostly
used for making
tortillas, and
quebrada (coarse
ground), the kind
used for tamales.
3: Masa also comes
in two states: masa
preparada, which is
ready to use, and
simple, which is
unprepared. I prefer
unprepared masa, and
the recipe below is
based on it. It
would be a major
mess if you followed
the recipe for
preparing the masa
using masa preparada!
Ask for "masa
quebrada simple" to
get unprepared masa
for tamales
(pronunciation: MAsa
KayBRAda SIMplay).
4: The broth will be
the only source of
real flavoring for
the masa - so
ideally, it will be
really rich and
nicely seasoned. I
would recommend
making a chicken
broth with chicken
backs, celery,
onion, garlic and a
bunch of peppercorns
- and reducing it to
double strength for
maximum flavor;
otherwise, Pacific
brand is fine.
5. This recipe for
cheese tamales makes
about three dozen
4"X 2" tamales.
The wraps
Ingredients
1/2 pound dried corn
husks
To prepare
In a large pan of
warm water soak the
husks for 30 minutes
or until soft. When
soft and pliable
remove from water
and set in a
colander over the
sink or a bowl to
drain.
The masa
Ingredients
3 pounds masa
quebrada simple
2 teaspoons kosher
salt + more to taste
2 tablespoons baking
powder
1/2 to 1 cup chicken
broth or stock
12 ounces shortening
or lard
To prepare
Using your hands mix
the masa together
with salt and baking
powder. Add the
broth 1/4 cup at a
time, mixing well
with each addition,
until the masa
becomes the
consistency of soft
mashed potatoes. Set
aside.
Whip the shortening
using the whip
attachment in a
stand mixer or with
a handheld mixer on
high speed for 3
minutes, scraping
the side of the bowl
occasionally. The
shortening should be
shiny and stiff
resembling meringue
when done.
On medium speed, add
the masa to the
shortening in
fourths, mixing well
and scraping the
bowl after each
addition. Whip
together until the
color of the masa
mixture changes from
slightly shiny to a
dull beige, about
3-5 minutes. Set
mixture aside. If
your kitchen is hot,
put the mixture in
the refrigerator;
otherwise, room
temperature is fine.
The filling
Ingredients
9 Roma tomatoes
(about 1 1/2- 2
pounds) or 3 cups
canned Muir Glen
fire-roasted
tomatoes
12 fresh poblano
chile peppers
2 pounds Monterey
Jack cheese
To prepare
Preheat oven to
broil. Place all the
tomatoes on baking
sheet and bake under
the broiler for 5
minutes on each side
or until charred on
all sides. Core the
tomatoes and
quarter, then remove
to a colander over a
bowl to drain.
Wash the chiles then
place 2 or 3 at a
time directly over a
gas burner. Turn the
chiles when the skin
is black and
peeling, about 3
minutes on each
side. When the
chiles are
sufficiently charred
place in a pot with
a tight lid and let
sweat while the
others are charring.
Rinse the sweated
chiles under running
water and rub off
skins with your
hands. Cut a slit in
each pepper and
discard seeds and
stem. Tear each
pepper into 1/2-inch
wide strips and set
aside.
Cut the cheese into
about 3-inch by
1/2-inch sticks. You
will need about 36
sticks.
If the masa was
refrigerated, put it
back in the bowl of
the mixer and whip 2
minutes to lighten.
If the masa was not
refrigerated, skip
this step.
Assembly
Place the corn
husks, masa mixture,
tomatoes, peppers
and cheese within
reach.
Choose large corn
husks without tears
or holes for the
tamales. Holding the
husk in the palm of
your hand spread
about 1/3 cup of
filling onto the
middle of smooth
side of the husk.
Using a small
spatula spread the
masa into about a 4
inch square and
about 1/4-inch
thick.
Top the middle of
the masa with 1 or 2
pieces of tomato, a
few pieces of pepper
and 1 stick of
cheese, leaving
about 1 inch masa on
each side exposed.
Lay the husk onto
the counter and fold
one side of the husk
onto the other and
roll up as you would
a roulade. If the
husk doesn't overlay
by at least an inch
wrap another husk
with the middle over
the seam. Wrap
kitchen string twice
around each end,
pull tight and tie.
Trim the ends of the
string, if
necessary. Clip off
the end of the
husks, leaving about
1 inch past the
ties.
Steaming the tamales
Place a large
steamer, bamboo
steamer, or stockpot
outfitted with
ramekins in the
bottom and a cake
rack on top over
high heat. The pan
must have a tight
fitting lid. Add
enough water to
almost touch the
rack. Stand the
tamales on a tied
end either straight
up if there is room,
or slightly leaning
against each other.
These should be
packed in loosely
but close enough
that they hold each
other up.
Bring the water to a
boil and cover
tightly with a lid.
Lower the heat to
medium and cook for
90 minutes. Add
boiling water as
necessary to keep
the pot from going
dry.
Let tamales rest
with the lid on for
15 minutes before
serving. For
leftover tamales,
reheat by steaming
for 15 minutes. You
can also microwave a
couple at a time by
wrapping in wet
paper towels and
microwaving for
about 2 minutes.
Cooked salsa
for cheese tamales
Ingredients
About 2 tablespoons
olive oil
1 medium onion,
pretty finely
chopped
4 large cloves of
garlic, finely
chopped
5 or 6 large
jalapeno peppers
(stem, seeds, and
core removed),
finely chopped
28-ounce can whole
tomatoes, juice and
all, roughly chopped
(pulse maybe 4 or 5
times in blender)
1/2 cup cilantro
leaves, chopped
Salt to taste
(canned tomatoes are
usually salted, so
taste the salsa
before adding more)
To prepare
Heat the oil in a
frying pan large and
deep enough to hold
the chopped
tomatoes. Add the
onion, garlic and
jalapenos and cook
over medium heat,
stirring, until
onions are
translucent (a
couple of minutes,
maximum).
Add the chopped
tomatoes, stir, and
then turn up the
heat to fry the
salsa. Stir, and
cook for about 4 or
5 minutes, until the
sauce is thickened
and cooked.
Add the cilantro
leaves, stir and
taste. Add more
salt, if needed.
You can serve this
salsa at room
temperature. It
doesn't keep for
longer than a day or
so, but it gets used
up pretty quickly.
