Pork Tamales

Preparation

For the meat:
Add pork, onion, garlic, bay leaves, water and salt to a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 4-5 hours or until meat is tender and falls apart easily. Remove meat from pot and transfer to a large bowl and shred with two forks. Or when cool, use your hands to shred.

Strain broth, let cool, and place in the refrigerator. Skim the fat off the broth.

For the sauce:
Toast chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat (about 25 seconds). Toast garlic and onion. Transfer chiles, garlic and onion to a pot with about 6 to 7 cups of warm water and bring to a simmer over medium low heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until chiles are soft.

Transfer contents to a blender with about 5 cups of the water from the chiles. Blend for 1 minute (do this in 2 batches).

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. When hot, strain the chile sauce into the pot. Stir, cover and cook over medium low for about 15 minutes. Season well with salt.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce for the masa. Add the shredded pork to the remaining chile sauce and stir well.

For the masa:
Soak the corn husks in hot water for 1 hour.

In a large bowl, add the maseca, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add the broth and remaining chile sauce and mix well, making sure the dough is moist.

In another bowl, beat the lard with a mixer until it is fluffy (a couple minutes). Add the masa to the lard and continue to beat for 3 minutes.

To assemble the tamales, spread a heaping tablespoon of masa over a corn husk. Add a heaping tablespoon of the pork onto the masa. Fold each side of the husk and then fold the bottom part of the husk up.

Fill a steamer with water and add the tamales standing up. Bring the water in the steamer to a boil and lower it to medium low. Cover and cook for 1 hour.