Hot Tamales and Other Ways to Cook with Fire
Smokey Tastes and Traditional Bakes
Sep 21, 2009 Mallory Giunchigliani
Now, imagine you are at your gas stove. You are about to make pasta, so you turn the knob to ‘light’, then to ‘high’. The fire can measure up to 300 degrees F. In less than ten minutes, the water will be boiling, at 212 degrees F. The temperature of this water will cook your pasta in as little as 3 to 4 minutes. Next, you want to barbeque something. The minimum amount of heat needed to thoroughly cook a steak is 325 degrees F.
A traditional and wonderful, but not always practical, way to cook with fire is in a dirt oven. In Tahaiti, this is known as an “ahima'a”, and in Hawaii, it is called an “imu”. Anyone who has ever attended a luau or eaten kahlua pork is familiar with the taste of something cooked in an imu. It’s delicious, right?
There is a way you can get the taste of an imu at home, without digging a giant hole in your backyard. You can use a steam or pressure cooker, and make something like tamales, bar-be-que vegetables or even an excellent chili (recipes follow).
One of the most popular ways to cook with fire is barbequing. For parties, for dinners, for trips to the beach, to tailgating before a football game, there are hundreds of barbeque recipes. I have included some of my favorites, including Hawaiian Teriyaki Beef and Lemongrass Pork Chops.
Of course, if you want to be really traditional, you can make your own imu. The hole needs to be 2 to 4 feet deep. Kindling goes on the very bottom, covered with wood, then stones and vegetation. It is labor-intensive, but pretty simple. For more details, visit http://www.primitiveways.com/Imu1.html. This is the most comprehensive site I have found for how to build your own imu.
Try one of these recipes for a traditional taste, and top it off with a beer or a mai-tai.
Recipes:
Tamales
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- ¼ tsp chili powder
- 2/3 lb. masa (a Latin American paste)
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 c lard (or you can substitute shortening)
Directions:
- Put all ingredients in bowl and mix well. Soak shucks in hot water so they will be soft enough to use. Clean shucks before soaking. There are dried silks in the shucks.
- Add hot water until mixture is thin enough to spread on shuck. Spread masa mixture on shuck, roll meat mixture the size of fat cigarette and place in center of shuck under one end.
- Place in pressure cooker or steam kettle. Cook in pressure cooker for 1 hour or steam kettle for 2 or 3 hours. You can use slow cooker and cook overnight.
- Be sure and put rack, pie pan or other shallow pan in bottom of pot. Add water below tamales. Be sure to have enough water so that pan will not go dry, but steam the tamales.
BBQ Zucchini with Tomato and White Wine Balsamic Vinegar
- 6 zucchini, sliced lengthways into 3
- 1 oz salt
- 2 tomatoes, skinned and cut into slices
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 3 springs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ chili pepper, de-seeded and sliced
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 fl oz white balsamic vinegar
Directions:
- Slice zucchinis lengthways into 3. Salt evenly and allow to stand for 20 minutes. Wash salt off zucchini and pat dry.
- Coat with a drizzle of olive oil and grill on hot grill pan or BBQ until just colored. Take zucchini off grill, allow to cool, and slice diagonally into 1 in pieces. I
- In a separate pan, add olive oil, herbs, chili and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add zucchini, toss till warm and then pour in the vinegar and tomatoes. Add some salt and pepper and serve warm.
Lemongrass Pork Chops
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp black peppercorns, coarsely ground
- 2 lemongrass stalks, bottom 6 inches sliced into very thin rings, bulbous ends removed
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- Four ¾ inch-thick center-cut pork chops
- Cilantro sprigs for garnish
Directions:
- Combine the garlic, sugar and pepper in a bowl and mash with a fork. Add the lemongrass, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine. Stir to mix. Pour the marinade over the pork chops and coat each one well. Let them marinate for at least 3 hours.
- Prepare your grill and cook the chops over hot coals or in a grill pan for 5 to 7 minutes per side. Serve garnished with the cilantro sprigs.
Variation on Alton’s Chili
- 3 pounds beef, cut for a stew
- 2 tsp peanut oil
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 bottle of beer (medium ale works best)
- 16 oz salsa
- Tortilla chips
- 2 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, chopped
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce (from above container)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp hoisin sauce
Directions
- Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and toss with the peanut oil and sauce. Set aside.
- Heat a 6-quart heavy-bottomed pressure cooker over high heat until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl.
- Once all the meat is browned, add the beer to the cooker to deglaze the pot.
- Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the meat back to the pressure cooker along with the salsa, tortilla chips, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, ground cumin and hoisin sauce and stir to combine. Lock the lid in place according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
- When the steam begins to hiss out of the cooker, reduce the heat to low, just enough to maintain a very weak whistle. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully release the steam. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.
Hawaiian Imu
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