How did you cook the pork and what seasonings did you use in the meat mixture? There are lots of recipes out there and I have sort of combined them and do my own but first I put the pork butt into a big pot of water. It will cook quicker and more thoroughly if you cut it into pieces...they don't have to be real small just big pieces. In the pot I toss a chopped onion, some garlic and some cumin and a little chili powder, salt and pepper...Cook until tender and then I cool and shred the meat and remove all the fat. A lot of people like the fat but not me...I take out as much as I possibly can...after it is shredded, I pulse it in my food processor and then I taste the seasoning and adjust it to what I want it to taste like...usually add oregano, salt,pepper,onion garlic, lots of cumin and chili powder ...You can also just buy a package of tamale seasoning in my area...It's very good just not hot enough...we like ours spicy....Ok then I brown the meat, usually I have to do this in batches and then I make a little roux with some fat and flour and then I thin it like gravy with some of the broth from when I boiled it..just so that it is nice and moist but you want it to be mostly meat and not soupy or wet...not gravy...that's the meat..I make my tamales in stages even when I am not sick and this is the first stage. I store it in the fridge till I am ready to put them together. Also, did you not tie them and if not how did the corn husk not come undone after you rolled them? Well I have never seen a real tamale tied...I think that comes from the food network and all the fancy chefs ...truthfully I just roll them up and stack them like you see in the bowl and they stay tight...I just use a big pasta pot to steam because that is all I have but the big tamale pots are not expensive and every year I say I am going to buy one and never do ...You can use your water bath canner to steam them as long as you can raise them up above the boiling water...If the pot isn't full of tamales, then I wad up enough aluminum foil to hold the tamales up straight. One year I made so many I used my big nesco roaster to steam them. I steam mine for about 90 minutes but it really depends on the thickness of your masa...I make mine about 1/8 inch thick but many people put 1/2 in theirs... Here are the two recipes that I have used and that a friend shared with me and some notes as well...I never use beef but they are very good. You can also buy/make chicken tamales in my area and they are wonderful as well but I just love pork. I use lard because that is traditional but you can use oil or a lot of people use very little fat and mostly broth for the tamale dough... Tamales Filling: 8-pound Boston butt pork roast 10-12 garlic cloves 1 1/2 cups chili powder 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste) Cut pork roast into chunks and boil with salt in water until done (approximately 1 1/2 hours). Reserve broth. Grind pork and garlic cloves into large pan. Add chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper and "massage" into meat until color is even. Masa dough: 4 cups instant masa harina 3 cups pork broth 2 cups warm water 1/2 cup chili powder 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper Mix all ingredients in bowl until smooth. 3 or 4 packages corn husks Soak husks overnight (at least 3 hours) in warm water. Separate and clean. To make tamales, spread a generous amount of masa mixture in center of husk, but toward one end. Use the back of a spoon to spread. It doesn't have to be even or "pretty"-it evens out pretty well while cooking.Put about 2 tablespoons of meat mixture along the center of the masa. To roll, pull the side edges of the husk together and fold just above the tamale and wrap. Fold the "tail" up. Place rolled tamales in pot with steamer grate in bottom. Open end should be up. (Laying the pot on its side to fill makes it pretty easy and pot should be at least 8 inches deep). Fill pot until fairly full so that when upright, tamales do not shift. If you don't have enough to fill the pot, use crumpled aluminum foil to hold tamales upright. Carefully fill pot to about 1 inch below top of tamales with remaining pork broth and warm water. Cover and cook on high until bubbling. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the husks peel away from the husk easily. The recipe said 45 minutes but that hasn't ever been enough for mine. Tamales Filling: 2 pounds lean, boneless beef, pork, chicken or venison 3 tablespoons cooking oil 1/4 cup flour 1 1/2 cups water 2 beef bouillon cubes 1/2 cup canned green chilies, chopped 4 large cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 2-3 tablespoons ground chili pepper 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1/4 cup tomato sauce 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper In a saucepan, cook meat in water until tender. Grind meat; brown in hot oil. Sprinkle flour over beef while stirring. Dissolve bouillon cubes in water and add to beef. Add remaining ingredients in order listed. Cover and simmer 45 minutes. Masa dough: 1 1/2 cups lard 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 4 1/2 cups masa harina 2 2/3 cups warm water....I use broth....makes them richer In a large mixer bowl, beat the lard and salt until fluffy. Mix together masa harina and water and add to lard mixture, beating well until the ingredients are combined. To assemble tamales: To soften corn husks, soak them in warm water for several hours. Place 1/4 cup tamale dough in center of each husk and spread it into a rectangle. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the meat filling down the center of the dough. Lift the sides of the dough to the center and press dough edges with fingers to seal, then finish by putting the edges of the husk together and folding around the masa, folding up the "tail" at the end. Cover and steam tamales over medium heat for 1 1/2 hours. Yield: 6 dozen. One more thing....the masa recipe for the first recipe makes a much lighter masa filling than the second one in texture as well....so I really like that texture for the masa the best....I buy masa at Wal-Mart and truthfully I use the recipe on the bag for my masa dough... These are notes from a friend of mine regarding making tamales Making tamales is not difficult but it does take a little time. The meat and chili filling should be made the day before you assemble them. For assembly it is best to have at least two people. This recipe can be halved. If you dont plan to freeze them you can also eliminate the parchment paper wrap. I never did this until the past few years. It does make a difference in storage. I have used this to teach with and it is very similar to what I was taught as a kid. Because we make so many I have found it very convenient to use my large electric roaster. Tamales Filling 5 pound pork butt 5 pound beef blade 4-6 cloves garlic 2 large onions, chopped 2 tsp. cumin 2 tsp. Salt 4 oz. Hot dried New Mexico chiles or c. ground or to taste 4 oz. Mild dried New Mexico chiles or c ground or to taste 4 T. oil 4 T. flour 2 cloves garlic, pressed 1 tsp. ground cumin, or to taste 1 tsp. Salt Place meat in separate pots to cook. Cover with water, skimming foam from the surface as it cooks. Add half the onion, garlic, cumin and salt to each pot. Reduce heat and simmer until very tender 2 to 3 hours. Drain and save broth. When cool shred meat with fingers or a fork. Mix pork and beef together. Red chile Wearing rubber gloves remove stems and seeds from the chiles. Rinse, put in pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until soft about 20 minutes. Remove chiles from pan and reserve water. Using tongs, place 1/3 of chiles in a blender add one cup of the chile water and puree. Put through a colander or sieve pressing until all bits of peel are removed. Process the rest of the chiles in the same manner. In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the 4 T. flour. Stir over medium heat until browned. Do not scorch the mixture. Add the puree, pressed garlic, cumin and salt and simmer for five minutes. The puree will be very thick. Add the remainder of chile water or broth until the consistency of tomato sauce. Combine shredded meat with red chile and refrigerate overnight. Next day 10 pounds of wet masa 2 pounds of lard 1 or 2 packages of dry cornhusks 1 jar of green or black olives, optional 1 can sliced jalapeno, optional raisins, optional Note If wet masa is not available in your area you will need a large bag of dry Masa Harina and follow the directions on the package. Put the cornhusks in hot water. Remove silk or debris. Let soak for one hour. Shake water from husks and dry on paper towels. Using a mixer, whip lard in a mixing bowl until it is light and fluffy. Remove from bowl and divide into thirds. Divide masa into thirds. Using the mixer blend 1/3 of masa and 1/3/ of lard at a time. After all three batches are mixed put it in a large bowl and using your hands mix well. Slowly add small amounts of warmed reserved broth until you reach an easily spreadable consistency. Add a little salt if needed. Assembly Hold the corn hush in the palm of your hand pointed end toward you. Spread about two tablespoons of masa on the top part of the husk, leaving about a one-inch border all around. Put two tablespoons of the meat mixture on the top of the masa. If desired top meat with an olive, a couple of raisins and a strip of jalapeno. Bring up both sides of the husk, press them together and then fold over the top to make an envelope. At this point you can leave your packets as they are or place in parchment paper and fold into another envelope covering the whole tamale. Tamales can then be frozen on a flat cookie sheet then placed in ziplock bags for storage. Note. It may be necessary to overlap cornhusks to be large enough to fold. Steaming tamales Stand tamales on end on a rack over water in a large pot. Cover with additional corn husks. Bring water to a boil, reduce heat cover and steam at least two hours or until the masa pulls away from the husk easily. If the tamales are cooked fresh not frozen they should cook in one hour. You can see that the recipes are basically the same and there are many others out there as well but keeping it simple is good for me....I'm 70 and even in good health don't have the stamina I used to have. They are fun to make and fun to eat. I love having them in the freezer...I use them in Tex Mex casseroles, when we have chili I put a couple in a bowl and add the chili ...I just run them under the faucet to wet them, wrap in a paper towel and nuke them and they taste like I just made them. This morning I made them for breakfast, nuked 3 each, covered with warm chili gravy and cheese and for my husbands I topped with two over easy eggs and more chili gravy....He was groaning with pleasure cause he said it was so good.<?B>

I have pictures of pork skin crackling in my other "Dork's Pork" thread. I said "The skin was made into a sheet of priceless cracklings. It was almost worth throwing away the meat just to have the skin. " In fact, recently I went to a fancy birthday party; one of the dishes was a whole roasted suckling pig. They only served the crispy skin which was considered a divine delicacy. They did not serve the meat. They just cut up the meat for whoever wanted to take it home. "----------- The skin is so thick and tough, almost impossible to cut with a knife. How does it end up crispy and fit to nibble on when it's just roasted?" The skin is not that tough, just very resilient. You do need a razor sharp knife to cut into it. Yes, RAZOR sharp. I actually use a surgical scalpel I got on eBay to do the scoring. That makes it very easy. You don't have to fry the skin. There are many recipes for roasting crispy pork rind on the WEB and on youtube. Don't throw away the best part of the pig!!! dcarch

I use a basic method for getting the ribs tender before placing them on the grill for their final hurrah... Place ribs (don't separate them yet unless they're the big country ribs)in a single layer on a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides, and sprinkle with salt and pepper...you can give them a light rub of your favorite dry run here, but it's not necessary). Cover them tightly with foil, poking a couple of holes so some steam can excape - and put in a 300-325° oven for 2 - 3 hours. Carefully move the cooking sheet to a cooling surface (there may be a lot of liquid in the pan), and VERY carefully remove the foil (avoid those steam burns). Let the meat sit for 30 minutes (it will fall off the bone if you move it while it's this hot). You can prepare up to this point and finish up later on the grill. Get a grill nice and hot, then move the ribs to the grill and heat. Last 5 minutes, put on your favorite BBQ sauce (I like Bullseye) or marinade, and finish them off. Sue

The problem with pork today is that they have manufactured the pig to be too lean. The modern assembly line birth to processing without ever seeing grass or dirt pig filled with chemicals to make it grow faster animal just does not taste good. I buy my meats at a butcher and he saves out the cuts for me with good marbling and fat content. This is where the flavor is and since fat is not tied together with fibers it makes the meat tender. The insistence on a lean fat-less chunk of meat is like buying a piece of cardboard and throwing $15.00 away. Here is a link that might be useful: traveling and cooking with grandpa