Hey, Ben And I Are Hosting An Event...Tamale Open!

A Cinco de Mayo event: Tamale Open

I have mentioned before that I love history. That’s why the celebration of Cinco de Mayo in the U.S. intrigues me. In Mexico it is not a big deal (only in the state of Puebla where the battle was fought) Cinco de Mayo is not even an official holiday. Maybe it was a big celebration in Texas because Ignacio Zaragoza, the general that defeated the French army, was born there when that state was still part of Mexico. Or maybe the fact that Napoleon III’s imperial forces lost for the first time was the biggest world news at the time (however, the French came back with more forces, took over the country and replaced the president Benito Juarez with an emperor) Whatever the reason Cinco de Mayo is a big deal in the U.S. we join the celebration, not with more history lessons, but with a food event. After all, food is what this blog is about.

My good friend Courtney from Coco Cooks made mole and tamales a couple of weeks ago. And that gave her a great idea, to celebrate the upcoming Cinco de Mayo with a Mexican food event, more specifically tamales.

She asked me if I’d like to co-host the event and I had to say yes. How could I say no to a brilliant idea like that? After several emails and idea exchanges we came up with the name (actually her Certain Someone did) the date and the rules for the event. If you are interested in participating in this event, this is what you have to do:

Make a dish using tamale dough. It doesn’t have to be just tamales. Tamales (like most Mexican dishes) are made and wrapped in many different ways and the dough is also used for casseroles, stews, and other kinds of dishes. So be creative when making your dish. Just remember that it has to be done with a corn-based dough.
For more information about tamales and tamales recipes visit these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamales
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/tamales.htm

Please include somewhere in your entry a link to Courtney’s blog and Ben’s blog and mention the event so we can get more people to participate.
Feel free to use the badge in your entry or sidebar of your blog with a link back to this post.
Send your entry to cococooks(AT)hotmail(DOT)com or ben.herrera(AT)whatscooking(DOT)com before April 30 including:

Your name
The name of your blog
Your blog URL
Your entry permalink

The roundup will be published on May 5,2008.
Update: Prize offering

After the roundup on May 5, vote for your favorite until May 10. Winner announced May 11.If winner resides outside the US , and there are shipping restrictions for the spice element of the prize, we will replace with another piece to go with the Indian Spice Box. See prize below.

The winner will recieve this great Indian Soft Hammered Spice Box and 8 spice blends(Tandoori,dried Thai Chilies,Sansho seven spice blend,Himalayan Pink Salt,Quatre Epices,Ras-El Hanout,Chipolte Chili Powder, and Panch Phoran). All can be used or stored in this nifty spice box which can also serve as your Mise en place when cooking.