Growing up in northern Washington Parish in the 70's and 80's, we did not branch out much when it came to fine dining. My mother stuck to those traditional meals of baked chicken or roast, fried chicken or pork chops, and the ever beloved (not really) casserole dishes. This could be anything from wieners and potatoes to tuna and noodles. And every time she put the mystery dish on the table covered in melted cheese, she would announce it was one of our favorites (not really).
The seafood we ate was baked or fried catfish or bass from the river, never the fancy stuff that came from the Gulf. And the Mexican food we ate was taco meat on fried cornmeal.
Granted, this was long before the fast-food chains hit our town. Eating out was a hamburger at the Palace or at Myles, or a pizza from the trailer called Pasquale's in the Winn Dixie parking lot.
It was after I married that I began to try new things. My mother-in-law made seafood gumbo with the fancy stuff from the gulf. And my husband's aunt made Hot Tomales.
There was something about those Bogalusa Hot Tomales that could not be matched. I'm not sure if it was a shared recipe, or just a knack those ladies got down, but I had a new favorite.
As it goes, I was stumbling through some old items I had thrifted in Bogalusa recently and just like finding that unchipped rare piece of Japanese Blue Willow I found a small stained folded index card that read: 12-25-1982 Hot Tomales=Yields 5 Doz. I think I found that Bogalusa recipe and here it is for my readers to enjoy!
#1=Cornmeal mixture: 1 ½ cups white corn meal, ½ cup cooking oil, 1 tsp. salt, 1 ½ tsp. Red Pepper, 1 ½ tsp. Chili Powder, 1 small can tomato sauce (mix 1/3 tomato sauce with water to = a cup of liquid to form dough) add more water if needed.
#2=Meat mixture: 1 lb. ground meat, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 large onion minced fine, 4 tsp. of chili powder, 1 ½ tps of red pepper, 2 level tsp. salt, 1 tps. Ground cumin, 1 cup of breadcrumbs, 1 egg, remaining 2/3 of tomato sauce.
#3=To make Tomales: On lower left-hand corner of tamale paper spread corn meal mixture to cover an area about 3"x4"x1/8" thick. (Note: do not spread thicker than 1/8" as it will be too thick when cooked.) Take about 1=tsp of meat mixture in your hand and roll it to the size of a small wiener. Place it in the center of the spread corn meal, roll the tamale paper and fold loose and under.
#4=Place tamales in a large pot with boiling water to cook/steam for 30/45 minutes.
That last part was marked out and written over a few times. It goes from boiled to steamed to covered to not covered with water. So, I would suggest looking up the options to cook once it is put together.
I am not sure if this was Aunt Billie Sue and Aunt Lisa's recipe, but it looks like just one more amazing thing that came out of that fine decade we cherish called The 80's!
