tamalada

While home in Austin over Thanksgiving, I opted to forgo the Black Friday shopping madness in exchange for an afternoon of tamale making with some of Austin's finest food bloggers. Blogger Megan of Stetted hosted a wonderful afternoon Tamalada, or tamale making extravaganza as I prefer to call it.

Each guest was instructed to bring a prepared filling as well as a snack for sharing and our gracious host provided the husks, masa and lard. Megan taught us how to spread, fill and roll the tamales and the remainder of the afternoon was a whirlwind of munching, chatting and tamale building. At the end of the afternoon everyone left with bags of assorted tamales ready to freeze and enjoy over the coming year.

This was my first cooking cooperative type party and it was such a lovely experience. For labor intensive recipes or those with high yields, getting a group of friends together is a great way to share the work load and take home a wider variety of items. This idea also works great for canning and sausage stuffing. Instead of dozens of jars of a single fruit, you can share the produce of multiple contributors. Don't need a freezer full of pork sausage? No problem, have guests bring a variety of poultry, venison or vegetarian blends. The possibilities for collaborative efforts in the kitchen are endless.

Have you hosted or attended a cooperative cooking party? Megan shares our tamalada over on her blog and you simply can't miss her tamalada tips and pointers over at the Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking. Hopefully you're inspired to throw a party of your own in new year!