Home › One-Dish Meals › Tamale Pie
Tamale Pie
2 cups corn meal 2 teaspoons salt 6 cups boiling water 1 onion 2 tablespoons shortening 1 pound meat (chopped) 2 cups tomatoes 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vinegar 1/4 teaspoon mustard 1 small green pepper Make a mush by stirring the cornmeal and salt in boiling water. Cook over hot water 45 minutes. Brown the onion in the shortening, add the meat and stir until the color disappears; add the tomato and other seasonings. Grease a casserole, line with the mush, put the meat and vegetables in, cover with a corn mush cover. Bake 35 minutes in a hot oven. Brown the top under the broiler if it doesn't brown through. This may be served with a simple green salad. Serves 8.
A 1930s home-economics take on tamale filling baked between two layers of cornmeal mush. The mush is the whole structure of the dish, so give it the full cooking time it asks for.
- Hot ovenA "hot oven" in books of this period is generally reckoned at about 400-450F. At that heat 35 minutes should be enough to set the mush lid and heat the filling through, since everything goes in already cooked.
- Cook over hot waterThis means a double boiler, or a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. It takes 45 minutes because the gentle heat keeps the mush from scorching or lumping; direct heat needs constant stirring and is far less forgiving.
- The mush is the crustTwo cups cornmeal to six cups water gives a stiff mush that will hold a wall. Spread the bottom and side layer while it is hot and spreadable, and keep back roughly a third for the lid, thinned with a spoonful of hot water if it has set up.
- Corn mealUse plain yellow or white cornmeal, medium grind, not self-rising cornmeal mix and not coarse polenta unless you extend the cooking. Masa harina is a different product and will not behave the same way here.
- "1 pound meat (chopped)"Ground beef is the usual reading; ground pork or a mix works. "Stir until the color disappears" means cook only until no red remains, a few minutes, since it finishes in the oven.
- TomatoesTwo cups of canned tomatoes is about one 15-ounce can plus a little, juice included. Let the filling simmer down until it is thick and no longer soupy, or it will soften the mush walls.
- SeasoningsThe recipe does not say when the green pepper goes in; the natural reading is with the tomatoes, the vinegar, mustard and cayenne being the "other seasonings." Half a teaspoon of cayenne is assertive; start with a quarter if you are unsure, and taste for salt, as the mush already carries two teaspoons.
- CasseroleA greased 2- to 3-quart baking dish. Shortening here can be lard, vegetable shortening or oil, whichever you prefer for browning the onion.
- ServingEight servings as written. Let it rest ten minutes out of the oven so the mush firms enough to cut into squares rather than collapsing onto the plate.