My father and I used to enjoy outings to get hot tamales and I still remember those afternoons.

LOVE OF HOT TAMALES

My brothers really don't like hot tamales, so this was a special treat for me (when Dad was in the mood). He had a few favorite spots. Usually we would go pick them up and bring them home. I don't eat them that often anymore, but I've had some really good ones lately. My BFF went to Zwolle last week and had quite an adventure searching for some to bring home. She stopped at a feed store, a private home and several small town restaurants looking for the "best tamales in Zwolle". She came home with several dozen from a variety of locations. She brought me 2 dozen and I must tell you, they are great. I got to wondering where you could get hot tamales in Shreveport-Bossier.

BEST PLACES FOR TAMALES IN SHREVEPORT BOSSIER

B & R Tamales on Mansfield Road

Jester Gourmet Tamales operates a food truck in the area

Gullos on Flournoy Lucas in South Shreveport

Logan Farms on Pierremont Road

BEST TAMALES IN ZWOLLE

Zwolle, Louisiana is famous for its hot tamales. The debate rages about who has the best. the locals will tell you its Franks Tamales, but we also hear good things about L&W Tamales. In fact, it's hard to find bad tamales in Zwolle.

RECIPE FOR HOT TAMALES

Here's a recipe a friend gave me that she says is really good (I'm too chicken to try it).

1 lb ground pork
3 lbs ground beef
2 onions
2 (10 ounce) cans rotel (diced tomatoes in green chilies)
1 cup cornmeal (for filling)
2 cups cornmeal (for rolling)
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 bell pepper
4 stalks celery
4 garlic cloves (or 1/4 cup minced garlic)
8 (7 ounce) cans tomato sauce
5 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 cup salt (to taste)
1/2 cup oil (for the sauce)
1/4 cup chili powder (for the sauce)

Directions:

Run onions, celery, garlic, and bell pepper through your food processor until they are finely minced.
In a very large bowl, combine ground meat, minced veggies, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and salt. Mix together thoroughly using your hands. Add in the rotel, 1 cup of corn meal, and 1 can of tomato sauce; mix again. (You need to mix the wet ingredients in separately from the spices so that the spices don't all clump together in one spot.)
Lay out your papers beside two baking sheets or trays. Add 1 cup of cornmeal to one baking sheet, to roll the tamales in (the other one is to stack completed tamales on.)
Pinch off some of the meat mixture, and form into a ping pong sized ball. Roll it in the cornmeal, coating it as thick as you can. Place in the center of a tamale paper on one side, and roll. The ball should squish into a log, leaving an inch of the wrapper empty on either end. Press down the top of both empty ends, and fold the two sides of the ends in before folding them under the tamale.
Repeat with the remainder of the meat mixture. After a few, you get the feel of how much meat it will take to fill the wrapper up enough. We got 75 tamales out of one batch, it depends on how big you make them.
In a large dutch oven, pour in the 1/2 cup oil and 1 can tomato sauce. Cover with a layer of tamales, then a can of sauce, and a sprinkle of chili powder, repeating until you run out of tamales. Fill the pan with water until the tamales are just covered.
Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer 2 - 2 1/2 hours till done, adding water if necessary.

Good luck!!

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