In the kitchen with a woman who makes hundreds of tamales for the holidays

Virginia Hernandez’s tamales are considered the best by her friends and family. She makes them with pork, poblano peppers or chicken. There are even the more distinct ones called sweet tamales — or tamales dulces — with raisins, coconut, pineapple, pecans, cranberries and sugar.

The Hammond, Indiana, resident uses a recipe handed down from her grandmother in Mexico.

“It’s what I used to see. There’s no actual physical recipe that’s written down. You grow up seeing it and you guesstimate what you’re going to put in it, how much chili you’re going to use for your meat,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez’s tamales have become so popular for people near and far that many have offered to buy them from her. She won’t allow that.

“You can’t pay us enough to sell those tamales,” she said.

Marc Monaghan/WBEZ

But making 500 to 1,000 tamales can be a lot of work, so Hernandez recruits family and friends to help in the kitchen for an annual Christmas tamale-making session-turned-feast. It’s dubbed the once-a-year “mega tamales-making event.”

On one day each December, about a dozen people show up at her ranch-style house to help out. Each person has a role — akin to a Mexican version of Santa’s elves.

Hernandez travels to different stores to buy ingredients to stuff into the corn husks — a variety of chili peppers, meats, spices and masa, or dough.

One person spreads the masa on the corn husks with a spoon. Some are boiling the pork shoulder in a pressure cooker, or slow-cooking a whole chicken. Others steam the tamales in a big, stainless steel pot, called a tamalera.

“Because my kitchen is so small, my husband would set up a burner outside to help steam the tamales outdoors. I also put another table in another room,” Hernandez said. “More people have offered to help, but I can really only handle about eight people in my kitchen.”

Despite the work that goes into making hundreds of tamales, the effort doesn’t feel burdensome because the entire day is infused with Christmas and salsa music. Plus, the most delicious aromas of peppers fill the air.

Marc Monaghan/WBEZ

Barbara Peggs loves to help. She never knew how to make tamales until Hernandez invited her over to learn.

“One day she gave me an invitation and all this is new to me. I call it tamales (tah-MAL-eees) and she let me know it’s called tamales (tah-MAL-esss),” Peggs said while laughing.

Nowadays, when Peggs’s family wants tamales they don’t head to the store. They wait for Peggs to head to Hernandez’s house.

“What I like is the diversity,” said Peggs, who is African American. “And I’m learning so much that I might be bilingual by now.”

Jennifer Woods, of Munster, has been helping Hernandez make the tamales for 14 years.

“It’s just like a labor of love. And we share those things with our family and friends and we’re carrying on that tradition,” Woods said.

After a day’s worth of tamale cooking, people wrap up the goodies and head home with gifts in hand.

“Everyone walks away with three, four, five, even six dozen each and we give them to our friends. And we use it for our Christmas. It’s a really nice gift when you give it to somebody because they say, ‘Oh my God, you made this for me?’” Hernandez said.

Once the tamales are done steaming in the large pot, she conducts a taste test to make sure they’ve come out perfect.

“When you do your first batch, you steam them for about 45 minutes. When you open the husk and if the masa falls off, it’s ready and ready to be enjoyed. The masa needs to be able to pull away from the husk,” Hernandez said. “It smells so good. The steamed masa smells so good, like fresh tortillas.”

Like many Mexican Americans, Hernandez said she does buy tamales from a store from time to time. The difference, she feels, is when you’re selling tamales for money, you’re going to use less meat and the same amount of care won’t be the same.

“When you’re making them for your family or friends, you’re going to make sure they taste good because they are made with love,” she said.

Marc Monaghan/WBEZ