Thursday, May 16, 2024
She makes a bunch.
“Last year, I did close to four hundred dozen. I had never counted it up before, but I guess if you multiply twelve times four hundred, you get forty-eight hundred. That’s close to five thousand.”
Sulema says she learned the recipe from her mother, who prepared Christmas tamales for her ten children.
“I carefully follow the recipe to the letter, measuring out the ingredients exactly so all tamales are exactly alike. I do it all by hand myself because I’m one of those people that want to make sure everything gets done right, you know.”
She makes pork and chicken tamales.
“I had always made only pork. Then someone asked me to make some with chicken. I did, and they turned out really well.”
She says tamales at Christmas time is a Mexican tradition.
“Now, I think it’s not just Mexican people who want them.”
Some people pick them up at her small building, but Sulema delivers most of them. She assembles the tamales, then freezes them. When she gets ready to sell them, they are put in a vegetable steamer to cook them, so they’ll be fresh.
“I sell the tamales for seventeen dollars a dozen.”
Sulema has had a catering business for thirty-three years and caters events all over the state. She does some big jobs in major cities. She was born in Pecos and has lived there all her life. She does volunteer work for local organizations. Sixteen years ago, she and her husband started a free Thanksgiving Day dinner for the community, held in the Pecos Community Center.
“Each plate has turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry, bread, and dessert.”
The desserts are either pumpkin or pecan pie.
“My cornbread for the dressing is made from scratch.”
She shops in Odessa and Midland for bargains on the things she needs. She’ll buy hundreds of turkeys. People make donations to pay for the event, which draws a large crowd every year. Last year, she bought twenty-five hundred plastic plates, used all of those and had to get several more.
