Wednesday Walk Tamale Edition
My friend Erv and I had important business in Sommerton, Arizona this past Saturday. Erv's business was a chance to drive the new Ford Ranger. My business was eating Tamales.
This is in response to a Challenge by @tattoodjay to take photographs of things on a walk. Things you don’t normally see. I really like the challenge and the challenger so here I am again.
We were there WAY before the start of the Tamale Festival, because Erv doesn't like crowds any more than I do. FoMoCo said that he could sign up for his test drive at 10:00 am and so he did. This is the scene on the main street of Sommerton at that time.
This is the scene about 45 minutes before the official start of the festival. It's a pretty ordinary Sommerton view, pretty quiet and laid back. Food was purchased via tickets, so there was a (short) line at the ticket booths. My careful research had told me that it would take one ticket per tamale so I bought 10.
Meanwhile Erv had gotten signed up, infact he was the first driver out. For those of you that don't know, the new Ranger is a big deal. They haven't made a Ranger for 7 years, and this is the early release, they weren't officially in dealerships yet. Erv is very interested in leasing one.
There are over 40 booths set up to serve tamales. This one, booth #4, jumped the start time by about 10 minutes, being the first to serve. There was a guy on a golf cart rolling up and down the street announcing to the booths how much time was left until they were open for business...
This is sort of a random pre opening picture, but booth #43 served me my favorite of the day. Hot, fresh, good not overwhelming spices! It got real busy real fast when the place opened. Obviously some of the booths were well known to the patrons because long lines came out in a hurry at a few booths.
This picture was taken at almost precisely 11:00 am, the official start time. You can see the crowds starting to form. Within 10 minutes it was a mob scene. I managed to eat 3 on the street and took 7 home with me.
I tried to take some pictures in close on the individual booths, but there were just too many people right away. I don't know how many tamales they serve, but last year the foundation gave out $300,000 in scholarships as procedes of the Festival. That's a LOT of Tamales.
I also tried to take pictures of my food as served. Didn't work. Balancing the Nikon and the plate and eating just wouldn't cut it, and the tables seemed far away. So these last pictures are next day reheat pictures.
It's hot, it's got salsa on it, ready to eat. For the record, the ones I took home didn't seem up to the standard that I got on the street the day before.
That's some gooood eating. This was my first Tamale fest in Sommerton (there is one in Yuma later in the season) and I'll probably go back.
But this is really about our walk, the #wednesdaywalk. I really do enjoy this challenge and am grateful to @tattoodjay for sponsoring it.
All words and photos in this post are mine. For better or worse.
You want some really cool stuff? Check these authors, they will not disappoint.
@broncofan99 Sports Teaching Fishing BBQ. Not necessarily in that order.
@morkrock Music Games Stinging Politics. Don't go here with thin skin.
@princessmewmew Food Antiques Food Life Food Cats. Anything of beauty could show up here.
@soyrosa Great Photographs and Insights for us All
@sultnpapper All the truth you can stand.
Adsactly is a society for freethinking people. Interested? Click Here to join our Discord channel.
In the bottom of the page type in: adsactly-witness and select vote.
All small letters and without the @ sign
Or give us a direct vote here
Thank you!
Now tamale is something I've never eaten nor seen here in South Africa, but sounds like something I would really enjoy! Judging from the queues they must be good, interesting way of cooking! That must have been a heck of a lot of tamales but a great amount achieved!
Tamale is popular all over Mexico and particularly in the Sonora region (which I am darn near in). They can be quite different from cook to cook, and include all meats and even some fruits. A desert tamale made with pineapple is the one we tried.
Gosh I'm going to have to go look at granny Google's recipes, can't imagine a dessert cooked in corn husks ;) Thanks for that!
I love tamales!! You really need to see about making some so you can try them. I've seriously thought about making my own. I understand they can be a bit tricky to wrap, but probably not to an old pro like you. They freeze beautifully. Just heat them up ... oven / microwave, whatever ... pour sauce over / sprinkle w/ grated cheese -- and voila. Lunch!! I've recently come up with a great sauce recipe if you're interested.
I'll let you know what it was like if I ever do make my own tamales. We usually buy several weeks' worth from a door-to-door guy, too. But I'm feeling adventurous. I've been cooking lately like I'm auditioning for a place in the military.
I'm definitely interested in the sauce, must be all the cooking posts you have to curate that's rubbing off, I'm sure @catweasel is not complaining ;)
I must try making Tamales when I get some corn husks, it sounds so delicious!
That is pretty awesome. I don't think I have ever had a tamale before, but I am a big fan of Mexican food, so I would be open to trying them. My tastes have evolved over the years too so what I probably wouldn't have liked years ago, I might now. The Ranger looks pretty cool. The concept pictures of the Bronco I have seen look pretty cool too. I am GM guy since both my father and father in law retired from there, but I do own some Ford stock.
Erv and Nancy own a Lincoln MKX. He said the Ranger 'feels like' that. Pretty high praise.
He was going to lease one but between the time they announced and the time they got them out he found a 2011 with 12k miles on it for a significantly reduced price. That's what he's driving now.
Anyway, the new Ranger looks pretty tasty. This was a 100% Factory show (no local dealers even represented) so they were all top of the line trim models.
Towing capacity is rated at 7500 lbs, if you can imagine.
Wow, that is the same capacity my 2007 1500 has, so that isn't bad at all. My wife has a Buick, but they are going to stop making the Lacrosse, so when she is ready for a new ride we might check out a Lincoln. I really like the look of them.
love, love tamales @bigtom13! You had me salivating just reading your post and seeing the pictures! Definitely worth the drive, I'm sure you looking forward to the next festival in Yuma....I wonder if you could freeze them? Take a cooler...stock up lol :)
I actually have a guy that stops in at my house a couple times a month with tamale and burritos. His wife and daughter make like 30 dozen each per day. And they are way tasty. His price to me is half the rate of the festival. A huge winner, with everything but my diet.
Oh my word....that would be very dangerous. But as I always say, I exercise so I can eat :) I would really love that, I certainly haven't found that in southwestern Florida, lol I guess that is a benefit of living in Arizona!
$300,000 in scholarships - that is a LOT of tamales. Thanks for sharing your walk! :)
I was just amazed at that number. But when things were really humming we figured they were serving 25,000 per hour. It's amazing how well it works.
Looks like you had a good time on your walk!
We really did have fun. A big change for the two of us, we are often kicking around on the desert of up in the hills.
I had not heard of the NEw Ranger,I must mention to a friend who has an old one and always talks about wishing they made a new one
What a cool festival and the food looks so good, but i suspect it may be a bit spicy hot for my tastes i am a very plain eater
Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk !tip
Sonoran cooking tends to be quite bland (no hot spices) and you add the heat that you want. The ones that I took home were quite bland, I used salsa AND some Tapito sauce to warm them up.
OK then it would be good for me, I would probably add some ketchup and enjoy it then :)
(Ketchup on tamales. @enchantedspirit just fainted.)
I love tamales, looks really tasty @bigtom13!
/FF
Man, you have no idea. Sommerton is a tiny town and they really knocked themselves out on this festival.
I feel like I could eat like at least 10 tamales right now... =)
/FF
Oh man, don't I know it! It's been 5 days and I'd be ready for a resupply right now!
@bigtom13
I like chicken tamales the best...
With salsa verde, YumYum...
/FF
The place looks festive and happy and that food well, interesting :D Glad you had such an interesting day 💚
It's a classic local food. I didn't mention that every one has an uppitted olive in it for fun!
I wasn't really big on tamales until I learned you had to unwrap them to eat them ;). Now I am a tamale loving fool. There is one little local chain of tamale restaurants down in the Rio Grande Valley are and I can't think of the name at the moment but it starts with a "D" , damn good tamales there.
That festival looked like a lot of fun and the numbers per hour are staggering on tamales served. I would bet the beers were probably not far behind the tamale numbers if it was like lost Mexican food festivals.
You know I don't drink, but you are absolutely correct. The beer was sold by tickets, too and the beer line was longer than the food line the whole time I was there. They had a band going on each end of the street, and you can bet the action really picked up later in the day! It was a typical Mexican Festival.
I have been to a few Mexican festivals in my day so I pretty much knew I was spot on with that beer comment. Even when I lived in a dry county the beer would flow at them, of course you had to buy a membership for $1.00 to the "private club" in order to purchase beer but that was a mere formality.
Beautiful photographs
Posted using Partiko Android
Thank you!