For years, tamales remained in the realm of the take-out, the lunch-cart and the taco truck. But then everyone from Mary Sue Milliken / Susan Feniger (the Two Hot Tamales) to Bobby Flay pushed it into the realm of gourmet restaurant food. Nowadays, you can’t get through a menu at an upscale Mexican restaurant without coming across “Blue Corn Tamales filled with Goat Cheese and Filet Mignon” or whatever.

I still favor the old school tamales, and if you play your cards right it can be Cheap Eats as well. Many places now sell bags of frozen tamales for fairly cheap. You can keep them in the freezer like frozen burritos and then pop them in the microwave for a snack.

But my favorite type are the freshly made ones that you can buy at a lot of smaller mom and pop restaurants. I guess I should get into what exactly a tamale is for those who haven’t had them. You probably want to have a look at the wikipedia entry. Basically, think of a wet corn meal muffin, elongate it, stuff it with meat, chili, sauce and/or cheese, wrap it in a corn husk, and steam it. Ok, it’s not exactly like that but that’s the general idea.

Here’s one I sliced in half:

The corn meal flour is called “Masa” and is basically just special ground corn meal mixed with water and then formed on the corn husk before being filled. What I love about tamales is their portable nature. As said before, you can freeze the fresh ones you get in bulk from restaurants and then microwave for a snack. You can buy them in the morning and take them on a picnic. You can pack them in your brown bag lunch and heat them up. You can have a Tamale Stupor Bowl Party. Oh wait, I meant Super Bowl.

Tamales are one food that I think I’ll leave up to the experts; the preparation seems rather involved though I’m sure there are a bunch of people who make their own. I think the key is to find a place where you can buy them freshly made in bulk. Like I said, they have all sorts of “gourmet” varieties now, but I like the basic tamales filled with pork or beef. The gourmet ones will run you as much as $3 a piece (they’re often sold at farmer’s markets). The pre-made frozen ones are OK but definitely not as good as if you can get a bag of them fresh.

Size also does matter… make sure to check out how big the tamales actually are. I’ve had tamales that I thought were unbelievably cheap, but they were these tiny little bundles maybe half the size of normal ones. Also, a lot of places have stopped using corn husks as the steaming wrapper and use some sort of plastic wax paper instead. I stay away from those places if possible. I think if you can get a dozen fresh tamales for $10-12 and they’re a good size, then you’re doing all right.

Price: Varies, $0.75 - $3.00 ea.
Found At: Various restaurants and markets
Cheap Eats Score: 7/10