Tamales de Puerco

And because we wouldn't want to skimp on what we had for breakfast today, here is our view of the tamal de puerco that accompanied the tamal de rajas, the crispy, succulent pork in chile rojo sauce bursting from the chile-tinged masa like an eager cocotte's bosom from a too-tight corset.

The End Result

Here is the end result after cooking. Note how the cheese has melted and spilled forth and gone toasty and golden in spots, with the pasilla peppers soft and swooning into the cheese's embrace, and the corn husk glistening from the richness of the masa.

Ecco Tamalem

B ehold the product of perfection, the lord of delicacies, el Señor Tamal (yes, tamal is the singular of tamales), just before cooking.

Chiles & Cheese

First, the cheese. It should be queso mexicano, preferably from the state of Jalisco, aged just enough so that it has a rind, but retaining the soft, fresh, cool, devotional interior of a French pain de mie, akin to the sacralized sensation of burying your face in the beloved's neck.

Next, the chiles. Our favorite is a combination of fresh pasilla peppers (the ones used for chiles rellenos) and fresh jalapeños.

Finally, the corn husks. They must be dried corn husks (fresh or green cornhusks are used for tamales de elote or green-corn tamales, and the leaves of the corn plant are used for tamales de ceniza, or corundas if you hail from Michoacán). The dried corn husks are soaked in water until pliant, and cleaned of all stray strands of corn silk. Then they are spread with the masa, blessed with the cheese and peppers, and folded up into purses of pleasure.

Tamales de Rajas

B ehold the wondrous alchemy of rich, creamy, homemade cornmeal masa, queso mexicano, and fresh pasilla and jalapeño peppers, steamed in a cornhusk--as perfect and simple a food as ever woman conceived.