Hormel – Beef Tamales in Chili Sauce

Bitter: 🟡○○○○

Salty: 🟡🟡🟡🟡🟡

Sour/Tangy: 🟡○○○○

Sweet: 🟡○○○○

Umami: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Heat: 🟡○○○○○○○○○

Quick Flavor Notes: Salty, savory, beefy, smoky

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Soft with some cornmeal resistance

Ingredients: Water, Beef, Tomatoes (water, tomato paste), Corn Meal, Corn Flour, Contains 2% or less of Modified Corn Starch (contains erythorbic acid), Masa Flour (ground corn, trace of lime), Salt, Chili Powder (chili peppers, flavoring), Paprika, Spice

YouTube’s algorithm can be strange sometimes, and mine has been sending me a lot of struggle meal content lately. I’m lucky enough that these days I don’t have to worry about how much I spend on food and groceries but I’ve certainly had my days in the past where that wasn’t the case. My go-to back then was a box of the good-old Kraft blue box mac and cheese mixed with a can of tuna and a healthy amount of hot sauce, usually something relatively simple back then like a Louisiana style sauce. That also got me thinking about some of the “lazy meals” my dad (who was actually a great cook) would make on those nights when time was short and that got me thinking about these Hormel tamales.

Hormel canned tamales and canned corned beef with potatoes were always staples in the home cupboard for quick and easy meals. It had been quite a while since I’d had either but having one of those cravings I ordered a can of the tamales and was surprised to see the claim of “no artificial ingredients” on the label, I’d assumed they’d be a chemical soup. Even more surprisingly that claim is mostly correct with these being made from beef, tomatoes (or rather diluted tomato paste), corn meal and flour, masa (another form of corn meal), salt, chile peppers, and spices. The ingredients that would not quite fit “all natural” to me are the modified corn starch, which is corn starch that’s chemically treated in order to change its properties, and the erythorbic acid, a close chemical relative of vitamin C but one that’s made industrially and used as an antioxidant. There’s also a rogue “flavoring” in there, which always makes me suspicious. While the spices aren’t disclosed good bets are cumin, garlic powder, and black pepper. Overall however I am impressed at the cleanliness of the ingredients for a canned tamale, though I will say that the sodium levels are a bit crazy at 970mg per serving.

The immediate reaction to canned tamales, from Hormel no less, might be that these are just inauthentic white-people Mexican food on the same level as Old Ortega taco kits, and that’s both correct and incorrect. While these are in no way traditional Mexican style tamales, which are typically steamed in corn husks and sauced after (if at all) these are very close to traditional Mississippi Delta tamales. The origin of Mississippi Delta tamales is a mystery with theories ranging from them evolving from a local Native American dish to Mexican immigrant farm laborers sharing the recipe with local farm workers and it adapting over time. Regardless of the history the Mississippi Delta tamale is often wrapped in parchment or waxed paper instead of a corn husk, is made predominantly of corn meal instead of masa, and instead of being steamed its simmered in a rich chili sauce containing beef drippings, cumin, oregano, garlic, and more so that is suffuses the corn meal and the beef filling also seeps into the sauce. While the majority of shops selling Mississippi Delta tamales are in, well, the Mississippi Delta they also spread along the gulf coast and, with the spread of the blues, to Chicago where they became a part of the Mother-in-Law sandwich.

While traditional tamales have a dough made from masa that’s flavored with lard and stock, the cornmeal dough in these is unflavored when raw and infused with flavor from the chile sauce it’s cooked in. Because of that the dough in the Hormel Beef Tamales in Chili Sauce has great flavor, especially when more of the sauce is spooned over it. The meat filling isn’t as flavorful as it could be, and doing these homemade or from an authentic Delta tamale spot will definitely get superior results, but again being simmered in the chile sauce broth does help it as well as keep it moist. The broth has a nice umami depth to it and the flavors of the beef, tomato, cumin, and garlic come through. Also very prominent is the salt, which is perhaps the most first flavor you notice. As a kid somehow I hadn’t noticed how salty these are, and perhaps back then they had less sodium, but these are absolute salt bombs. The heat level is minimal, not even enough to bring out a bit of chile warmth, which again is a difference between these as the ones on the Tamale Trail as cayenne is often used to give a kick in Mississippi. Nonetheless these were satisfying and hit the nostalgic spot in my stomach and heart.

I’d be happy to recommend giving Hormel Beef Tamales in in Chili Sauce a try. They’re inexpensive, last forever in the pantry, cook up in a matter of minutes, and give a unique take on what a tamale can be. I’m also impressed at how clean their ingredients list is for a canned product, especially compared to the complete disaster that was Campbell’s Ghost Pepper Chicken Soup. Just be warned that you may need to chug a lot of water after a can of these to flush some of that salt out of your system.