Phoenix has soul because.... (Tucson: work, health, title)

[gophins72]

for the fun of it i thought people would help to identify all the uplifiting things they feel and what makes phoenix, az the swankiest town they know.


i'll start:

it has a healthy mexican influence to the extent that people eat tamales on christmas!

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by gophins72

for the fun of it i thought people would help to identify all the uplifiting things they feel and what makes phoenix, az the swankiest town they know.

Well, Phoenix is not the swankiest town I know. It is not the swankiest town period.

But I like the fact that it has several professional ball parks in the Phoenix Metropolitan area, and there are theaters for live performances, and a lot of great places to eat.

Bill

[JeepGirl118]

Originally Posted by gophins72

for the fun of it i thought people would help to identify all the uplifiting things they feel and what makes phoenix, az the swankiest town they know.


i'll start:

it has a healthy mexican influence to the extent that people eat tamales on christmas!

Did you just arrive yesterday for the 1st time?

Tamales on Christmas? We do?

[artvandelay]

My wife and in-laws are Mexican, and we eat tamales on Christmas. Then they eat them for the next 20 days, but I can only do them once in a while, and not first thing in the morning, as it is traditional Mexican breakfast food. I love most Mexican food, but still can't get used to spicy, heavy stuff that early in the morning. It's also great exercise mixing and mixing the masa.

There is nothing swanky about Phoenix im my opinion, but I'm not rich.

But I do LOVE Halloween here. Kids don't have to cover their costumes with coats, I can stay outside to pass out candy, and the great weather results in way more kids than in the midwest.

[JeepGirl118]

ArtVanDelay- that is cool - the OP just makes Tamales look like it's a city tradition of Phoenix as a whole. Next 20 days? That's a lot of tamales! How long does it typically take to make tamales?

[artvandelay]

They take a couple hours or so to mix/construct, another couple hours to steam.

You have a huge pot, mixing the masa flour, water, melted lard (not that much), salt, sugar and food coloring for the sweet ones. And you mix, and mix, and mix some more, maybe 30 minutes worth, so that the mixture isn't grainy.

Then you have a huge stack of soaked corn husks, you start spreading the mixture in, and add the fillings: Chile verde, refried beans, chicken, carnitas, cheese are all common. Then you set them in a tamale steamer open-side up. You can pack several dozen into the pan. Cover with a towel, and let them steam a couple hours. You do 2 or 3 pans worth, and you can have 150 or 200 tamales easy. They freeze well though.

It is quite a bit of work, but most Mexican stores sell pre-mixed masa that is pretty good.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by gophins72

for the fun of it i thought people would help to identify all the uplifiting things they feel and what makes phoenix, az the swankiest town they know.


i'll start:

it has a healthy mexican influence to the extent that people eat tamales on christmas!

Oh, the discussion moved to food! I was wondering how else this oxymoronic title keeps going up... Sorry, nothing personal... as many of you know I think the same of Tucson.

[JeepGirl118]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

They take a couple hours or so to mix/construct, another couple hours to steam.

You have a huge pot, mixing the masa flour, water, melted lard (not that much), salt, sugar and food coloring for the sweet ones. And you mix, and mix, and mix some more, maybe 30 minutes worth, so that the mixture isn't grainy.

Then you have a huge stack of soaked corn husks, you start spreading the mixture in, and add the fillings: Chile verde, refried beans, chicken, carnitas, cheese are all common. Then you set them in a tamale steamer open-side up. You can pack several dozen into the pan. Cover with a towel, and let them steam a couple hours. You do 2 or 3 pans worth, and you can have 150 or 200 tamales easy. They freeze well though.

It is quite a bit of work, but most Mexican stores sell pre-mixed masa that is pretty good.

Thank you - my stomach is growling now. Can you make them Vegetarian or do you need the meat to kind of keep it packed together more firmly? I'd really like to try them if they can be made as Vegetarian and won't be all flimsy and soggy-ish w/o meat.

[artvandelay]

Meat is just one option I mentioned as common. Bean/cheese combo is common. Sometimes just a chile strip, or chile verde are good. I imagine most veggies would be OK, especially different types of peppers, spicy or not, onions, etc. They cook basically the same regardless of what I've put in them, though cheese has a tendancy to rise and concentrate at the tip of the tamale.

OP, Regarding the healthy Mexican influence here, I do appreciate that. It is the lack of other influences that make the Mexican influence really sort of overwhelm this area.

[Steve-o]

IMO, what gives PHX its soul is the Sonoran Desert. I have yet to find anything man-made in PHX that overly impresses me. However, seeing a Saguaro under the moonlit skies is very cool, the essence of Phoenix.