The Secret to Masa Making

Sam O’Dell’s recipe for tamales reminded me of my wife’s parents’ tamales (“Recipe,” by Ann Herold, The Generations Issue, April 30). There was just one step omitted that I have never seen in any recipe: to test that the masa is ready, you drop a small bit in a glass of water. If it sinks, you add more shortening and more elbow grease.

Even when we switched over the years from lard to vegetable shortening, we used this trick to make wonderfully light tamales. I never knew if we were testing for enough air or fat, but it was the point when the whole family sat down to assemble the masa, hojas (corn husks) and filling--as many as 20 dozen tamales at a sitting.

I am sure my in-laws, Angel and Clara Rodriguez, and their 20-odd brothers and sisters all learned this from their parents, and I hope it was passed on to all my wife’s 56 first cousins. I am Mexican only by virtue of marriage into this wonderful family, but now I pass it on to you.

Dan Kronstadt

Shadow Hills