Green Chile Tamales

Name: Green Chile Tamales
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: Makes 24
Ingredients: 4 cups masa harina; 1⅓ cups lard; 3 cups warm broth; 1 tbsp baking powder; 2 tsp salt; 2 lb pork shoulder, shredded; 1½ cups roasted green chile; 24 corn husks, soaked

Carlos A. Perez—A family recipe — corn masa, pork & roasted green chile—2026

Some recipes never actually got written down — they simply lived in someone's hands.

This is my honest version of one of them, cooked twice to be sure, finally set on the page. Half the original card is measurements and half of it is notes to nobody in particular, scrawled in the margins over years of Christmas Eves. What follows is how it comes together in my own kitchen, as close as I can get it.

Hands-on

45 min

Cook

90 min

Makes

Makes 24

Ingredients

4 cups masa harina
1⅓ cups lard
3 cups warm broth
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 lb pork shoulder, shredded
1½ cups roasted green chile
24 corn husks, soaked

Method

Soak the corn husks in warm water at least thirty minutes, until they bend without cracking.
Beat the lard until genuinely fluffy — three or four minutes. Do not rush it; it is the whole difference between light and dense.
Work in the masa, baking powder, and salt, then the warm broth, until the dough is soft and spreadable. A pinch should float in water.
Fold the shredded pork together with the roasted green chile, and season it generously.
Spread the masa thinly on each husk, spoon in the filling, roll, and fold the bottom up.
Steam upright for ninety minutes. They are ready when the masa pulls cleanly away from the husk.

Made from scratch, and a little from memory.

Bend, Oregon — July 2026

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