Guatemalan Cuisine: Pache
Tamales are an ancient American food, made throughout the continent for over 5000 years. How about that for trivia, thanks to Wikipedia. There are so many kinds of tamales that if one was to try one per day, it would take you over twenty years to try all the different kinds. That is right, I said twenty years. In Guatemala alone, there must be 100 different kinds if not more. Tamales are usually made with a cooked masa (maize dough), tomato sauce, and a piece of meat; normally pork, chicken, turkey, all wrap around in husks or banana leaves. When I say tomato sauce, I am being over-simplistic since this tomato-based sauce could be as difficult to make as an Indian curry, if not more.
Here I bring to you a very special kind of tamale made with potato dough instead of maize. It is called pache (short) and it is made in all other respects the same way as tamales. In Guatemala, paches are usually sold on Thursdays, I don’t know why, and “normal” maize tamales are sold on Saturdays, although if you know your way around you any kind of tamale any day you like.
You should read the overview entry of tamales in Wikipedia to get a feel for it. I should mention that I think the entry for tamales is very short and it should not. I will research more about the subject and I will update the Wikipedia with my findings.
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