I have tasted both with lard and without....no way to compare the taste. The lard is very tasty and the oil, very disappointing.
Unless a person eats tamales with lard daily I think it would be a crime to use oil. JMHO

Lard it is then. I don't make them often enough for anyone to eat them daily! I happen to prefer my own to those I can buy.

I also make my own tamales & agree with Carol. The lard provides both traditional mouth feel & flavor that oil lacks. We limit consumption rather than sacrifice flavor. Heck, I even cook carnitas in lard stovetop to get that crisp exterior on the luscious little pieces of pork. Having friends for a tamale assembly line makes for a fun afternoon.

/tricia

Barnmom, would you care to share your masa recipe as well as your tamale filling recipe? I'd like to make some tamales in a couple of weeks. I have the lard, masa, and tamale papers ready and waiting.

TIA, jude

In the past I made turkey with mole. I was pressed for time so I used a jarred mole that I doctored to taste with some tomato sauce and other seasonings. So no recipe. The time after I made chicken with green chilies and queso fresco. I roasted and peeled Anaheim chilies The chicken was simply a dismantled roasted chicken with some onion inside and cumin and chili powder rubbed on it.

This weekend I am making beef with chili Colorado, pork with a verde sauce, and chicken with cheese and green chilies again. I am still figuring out the sauce recipes. The meats I cooked yesterday and the day before. All of the meats were done in the crock pot. The beef was a chuck roast I seasoned with tomato powder, a bit of sherry, some onion and cumin. The pork roast got some wine, onion, cumin and coriander, pepper and bay leaf. The chicken was rubbed with mole inside and out with a bay leaf inside the cavity and a splash of white wine. I am very much a toss it in and taste kind of cook unless I am baking or trying something really out of my comfort zone.

I use this recipe for the masa from About.com as I like it to have flavor of its own:

Ingredients:

6 cups masa harina and 5 cups chicken broth
2 cups lard or shortening
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

I add 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Not completely traditional but I like the lighter masa. I also nix the salt so I can send some to the ex. Everyone else can salt at the table if they feel the need. These tend to be flavorful enough without salt.

I'll get back here with the sauce recipes for these batches after they are done and if they are successful!