Tamal de Masa Colada Tabasqueño

Tabasco, in the humid Gulf lowlands of Chontalpa and the river country around Nacajuca, is where this tamal lives. Banana leaves, achiote, sour orange, chile dulce, chile amashito, and hoja de momo make sense there because the land is wet, green, and full of plantain patches and cacao shade. This is not a northern tamal. This is not a corn-husk tamal from the center. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Masa colada means strained masa. You loosen fresh nixtamal masa with chicken broth, pass it through cloth or a fine sieve, then cook it with manteca de cerdo until it becomes glossy and pale, almost like a thick atole that knows how to stand up. The women who perfected this did not do it for elegance. They did it because straining removes the roughness and gives the tamal that clean, silky body you recognize the moment the banana leaf opens.

The filling is chicken in achiote, sour orange, tomato, chile dulce, and a little chile amashito if the cook wants that Tabasco point of heat. This tamal is not trying to punish your mouth. It is perfumed, earthy, and soft, with the leaf lending its green flavor around the edges. My mother was Jalisciense and did not make this at home, but in her notebook after a trip to Villahermosa she wrote, 'colada, no batida.' Strained, not beaten. She was right. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.