Masa

Sam O'Dell's recipe for tamales reminded me of my wife's parents' tamales ("Recipe," by Ann Herold, The Generations Issue, April 30). There was just one step omitted that I have never seen in any recipe: to test that the masa is ready, you drop a small bit in a glass of water. If it sinks, you add more shortening and more elbow grease. Even when we switched over the years from lard to vegetable shortening, we used this trick to make wonderfully light tamales. I never knew if we were testing for enough air or fat, but it was the point when the whole family sat down to assemble the masa, hojas (corn husks)

Ever consider making your own tortillas? It's really easy: All you need is masa (you can find prepared masa at almost any Latin market, or mix up some masa flour with water and a little salt until soft and smooth), a tortilla press and a griddle or flat cooking surface. Oh, and maybe an hour or so of your time. We published an article a few years ago on the best tortillas in Los Angeles, including a tutorial on making your own . And if you're interested,  on reinventing the taco at home . And yes, recipes are included (at the end of the story)

With eager enthusiasm I began reading your cachapa article ("The Eternal Cachapa," Sept. 29). I was quickly disappointed! I am a native Venezuelan living in this country for the past 31 years. I go to Caracas often and have never seen or tasted (for that matter) a cachapa made with "instant corn masa mix." I remember the first time I made cachapas in this country. I was recently married and did not know that the fresh corn here was so "watery." Needless to say, it was really messy.

Soon after America Bracho started a health nonprofit in Santa Ana 18 years ago, a student in her diabetes self-management class needed eye screening. He didn't have enough money to pay for it, so Bracho and the class decided to raise the funds — by selling tamales. The man had the screening, and Bracho had a new motto: We will build a healthy community, even if we have to sell tamales. That motto now guides Bracho, a Venezuelan-born doctor, in her work as president and chief executive of Latino Health Access, an organization with a roughly $3-million budget dedicated to disease prevention and health promotion in underserved communities of Orange County.

  2001 Giorgio Primo Chianti Classico La Massa I know wine buffs who have been buying up cases of the 2001 Giorgio Primo Chianti Classico since they found out how cheap it has gotten. Produced by Giampaolo Motta at Fattoria La Massa in Panzano in Chianti, the 2001 Giorgio Primo is a beautiful expression of Sangiovese with notes of dark berries, leather and forest woven together. Elegant and restrained, this is a Chianti that deserves a special meal — a Kurobuta pork roast, a rack of Sonoma lamb or a massive bistecca . And the price?

Today I, like every other parent, worry about my children's and grandchildren's economic future. Job security is a thing of the past. Education is becoming the pursuit only of the rich. Then I read about the $34 million auction of the estate of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and noted the prices that people paid for a well-used rocking chair, golf clubs, even costume jewelry. In the 1960s, Chicanos followed Jack Kennedy because he gave them and a nation hope.

HOW to choose among the seemingly endless array of tortillas available in Los Angeles? The Times tasting panel met last week to give it a try. Joining me on the panel were food editor Leslie Brenner, assistant food editor Betty Hallock, staff writer Charles Perry, test kitchen director Donna Deane and recipe tester Noelle Carter. We tasted handmade corn tortillas purchased from area markets, tortillerias and taquerias, including Los 5 Puntos on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, El Parian on West Pico Boulevard, Olvera Street's La Luz del Dia and Tonny's in Pasadena.

  Total time: 40 minutes Servings: Makes about 5 quarts(20 1-cup servings) Note: Adapted from Patricia Rubalcava. Abuelita and Ibarra Mexican chocolate tablets are available at most grocery stores. Champurrado can be garnished with cinnamon sticks, if desired. 2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks 1/2 pound fresh masa (1 heaping cup), divided 4 (3.15-ounce) Mexican chocolate tablets, broken into small pieces 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk 1 (15-ounce)

A Salvadoran friend talks glowingly about her mother's tamales pisques--tamales filled with beans rather than meat seasoned with chile sauce. The corn for this type of tamal is not cooked with cal (hydrated lime), a substance that is used in preparing masa for other tamales. My friend's mother lives in El Salvador, but tamales pisques are available here too. The Panaderia Sabor Latino, which specializes in Central American baked goods and Salvadoran products, sells them.

Ever consider making your own tortillas? It's really easy: All you need is masa (you can find prepared masa at almost any Latin market, or mix up some masa flour with water and a little salt until soft and smooth), a tortilla press and a griddle or flat cooking surface. Oh, and maybe an hour or so of your time. We published an article a few years ago on the best tortillas in Los Angeles, including a tutorial on making your own . And if you're interested,  on reinventing the taco at home . And yes, recipes are included (at the end of the story)

For a lot of Angelenos, the holidays bring a craving for tamales - fat, corn-husk-wrapped packets of tender steamed masa filled with gooey melted cheese or shredded fall-apart pork or chocolatey chicken mole. This time of year, places such as Liliana's in Boyle Heights or Tamara's in Marina del Rey are swamped with orders. Luckily, L.A.'s a world of tamales: the Michoacan uchepo and Belizean ducunu, or even a Puerto Rican pasteles (which isn't made with masa but with plantains steamed in banana leaf)

Here are the basic ingredients for writing a tamale story: a kitchen table, indigenous maize metaphors, forced-sounding Spanglish. Cue the stock characters: the prima who went to college (only one!), the goody-goody prima , the crazy one, a raunchy tia and Grandma. The main ingredient is family tension emphasized — or cured — by spending time with las mujeres . It usually goes like that, but not always. Our grandmother was the only one we wanted to teach us how to make tamales.

  2001 Giorgio Primo Chianti Classico La Massa I know wine buffs who have been buying up cases of the 2001 Giorgio Primo Chianti Classico since they found out how cheap it has gotten. Produced by Giampaolo Motta at Fattoria La Massa in Panzano in Chianti, the 2001 Giorgio Primo is a beautiful expression of Sangiovese with notes of dark berries, leather and forest woven together. Elegant and restrained, this is a Chianti that deserves a special meal — a Kurobuta pork roast, a rack of Sonoma lamb or a massive bistecca . And the price?

The way it used to be, on almost any given evening an irrepressible assemblage of Mexican food vendors would flood a Boyle Heights parking lot in what seemed like seconds. Empty tables suddenly were covered with tubs of masa and astringent salsas, and griddles glowed with immediate heat. Before you knew it, diners would be perched on plastic chairs and crumbling curbs, their fingers stained an inky, huitlacoche -rich black. Couples quickly huddled around cups of goat consommé as kids eyed the cinnamon-dusted ridges of freshly fried churros.

Michelin three-star chef Masayoshi "Masa" Takayama, who owned Ginza Sushi-ko in Los Angeles until he moved to New York to open Masa and Bar Masa in 2004, is set to debut his first Las Vegas ventures on Dec. 17: another Bar Masa and Shaboo, a shabu-shabu restaurant. He joins fellow three-star chef Pierre Gagnaire of Paris (who has opened Twist, his first restaurant in the U.S.) as well as Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Michael Mina, in the $8.5-billion CityCenter on the Vegas Strip.

  Total time: 40 minutes Servings: Makes about 5 quarts(20 1-cup servings) Note: Adapted from Patricia Rubalcava. Abuelita and Ibarra Mexican chocolate tablets are available at most grocery stores. Champurrado can be garnished with cinnamon sticks, if desired. 2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks 1/2 pound fresh masa (1 heaping cup), divided 4 (3.15-ounce) Mexican chocolate tablets, broken into small pieces 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk 1 (15-ounce)

Holding a tiny, white string, Lynn McMahan carefully tried to tie the ends of a fresh beef tamale she had just made. But despite her efforts, she poked a hole on the cornhusk, allowing the beef and chile colorado sauce to spill onto a tray. "It's truly a technique to tie the knot," said the Ventura woman, who on Friday attended a how-to-make-a-tamale demonstration at the Joannafinas Mexican Cafe in Ventura. "But I think with practice, I could learn how to do it."

For a lot of Angelenos, the holidays bring a craving for tamales - fat, corn-husk-wrapped packets of tender steamed masa filled with gooey melted cheese or shredded fall-apart pork or chocolatey chicken mole. This time of year, places such as Liliana's in Boyle Heights or Tamara's in Marina del Rey are swamped with orders. Luckily, L.A.'s a world of tamales: the Michoacan uchepo and Belizean ducunu, or even a Puerto Rican pasteles (which isn't made with masa but with plantains steamed in banana leaf)

HOW to choose among the seemingly endless array of tortillas available in Los Angeles? The Times tasting panel met last week to give it a try. Joining me on the panel were food editor Leslie Brenner, assistant food editor Betty Hallock, staff writer Charles Perry, test kitchen director Donna Deane and recipe tester Noelle Carter. We tasted handmade corn tortillas purchased from area markets, tortillerias and taquerias, including Los 5 Puntos on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, El Parian on West Pico Boulevard, Olvera Street's La Luz del Dia and Tonny's in Pasadena.

Sam O'Dell's recipe for tamales reminded me of my wife's parents' tamales ("Recipe," by Ann Herold, The Generations Issue, April 30). There was just one step omitted that I have never seen in any recipe: to test that the masa is ready, you drop a small bit in a glass of water. If it sinks, you add more shortening and more elbow grease. Even when we switched over the years from lard to vegetable shortening, we used this trick to make wonderfully light tamales. I never knew if we were testing for enough air or fat, but it was the point when the whole family sat down to assemble the masa, hojas (corn husks)