I Sat Down to Write the Steps… and Hit a Wall

The seasoning and husks stopped me in my tracks. But maybe they don’t have to stop you.

As some of you know, the Boss and I made tamales yesterday — filmed some clips, took some pictures, and promised I’d start working on the full instructions today.

So I sat down, ready to type it all up.

But when I got to the part about the husks and my seasoning blends, I froze.
Not because I didn’t want to share.
But because this is the part that trips people up.

🌽 The Husk Headache

If you’ve ever bought tamale husks from the store, you know the deal:

• You pay for a bag of 100… maybe 50 are usable
• They’re every shape and thickness under the sun
• Half of them smell like a dusty barn
• And you spend more time soaking and sorting than you do cooking

The husks we use — Corazón husks — are consistent, clean, ready to soak and use.
But you can’t just go buy a few dozen of those. You have to order bulk — eight bundles (10 dozen each bundle) minimum — and they’re not cheap, they have just about doubled in price since I last ordered them.

🌶 The Seasoning Situation

Same thing with the spice blends.

• The meat seasoning I used has 7 different chili powders and a few other key ingredients.
• The masa seasoning has 3 more chilis and some other spices.

You could absolutely make these tamales using your favorite chili powder — but they won’t taste like ours did.

Now, I’m not opposed to giving out the exact blends.
But the truth is: if you go buy all that stuff, you’ll spend a small fortune and end up with enough seasoning to supply a restaurant.

I still have some of both blends in my freezer from our production days. But that’s not exactly helpful to everyone else.

💡 So Here's What I’m Considering...

This afternoon, I got in touch with two folks I haven’t talked to in a while — my original seasoning supplier and my husk supplier.

Told them what I was working on.
Told them I was thinking about helping people do this the easy way.
They’re checking into pricing for me now.

Here’s the idea:
I put together a simple tamale kit — nothing fancy, no upsells, just the hard-to-get stuff.

The kit would include:

✅ Pre-Seasoned dry masa flour — ready to mix
✅ Meat seasoning blend — the exact one we used
✅ Corazón tamale husks —4-5 dozen flat-packed and ready to soak
✅ Two Disposable steam table 1/2 pans and lids — like we used in our kitchen (reusable)

You’d still buy the pork, the poblanos, tomato paste, onion, and oil yourself.
But the rest? Done.

🗣 Just Feeling It Out…

I’m not trying to launch a full-blown business again.
But I do want to make this easier for folks who want to try their hand at it — and actually enjoy the process instead of spending a fortune.

So I’m putting this out there plain and simple:

If you’d be interested in a tamale kit like that, send me a message.
No payment. No waiting list. Just a quick “Hey Mark, I’d be in.”

If I get enough interest, I’ll move forward.
If not, no harm done — I’ll still share the instructions and walk you through it the best I can.

But if a little kit could help more people actually pull this off — without the seasoning math and husk disasters — I’m all for it.

Appreciate you sticking with me.

Let me know if your interested in a kit if we can put it together.

mark@markmyview.com