Cantina La Martina is making 40-pound tamales this weekend
“It was around 20 pounds of masa, 10 pounds of chicken, 3 pounds of nopales, 2 pounds of onions, and 6 pounds of salsa,” chef Dionicio Jimenez says of his first zacahuil’s ingredient bill.
James Beard-nominated and Inquirer 76 restaurant Cantina La Martina is always a must-visit, thanks to its sublimely tender goat barbacoa, sweet-spicy cocktails, and 18-inch-long quesadillas (order the pastor negro). But there’s an especially good reason to get there this Sunday, along with 14 or more good friends: It’s probably your only chance to try a 40-pound tamale in Philadelphia.
Called a zacahuil, this supersized tamale is so big, it needs to be ordered in advance. It’s a traditional Mexican dish from La Huasteca, a large region that borders the Gulf of Mexico. Cantina La Martina chef-owner Dionicio Jimenez didn’t grow up on them, but he said that he’s had plenty at weddings, religious holidays, and special occasions. When marketing consultant Kerri Sitrin reminded him about the upcoming National Tamale Day on March 23, Jimenez figured it was as good a time as any to try something new.
Little did he know his first zacahuil would wind up taking seven hours just to cook through.
As you might guess, making a zacahuil is a challenge, requiring plenty of sturdy banana-leaf wrappers and a really big oven.
“We think it’s around 35 to 40 pounds,” Jimenez said. “We didn’t weigh it but I think that’s the average. It was around 20 pounds of masa, 10 pounds of chicken, 3 pounds of nopales, 2 pounds of onions, and 6 pounds of salsa.”
Tamales are taxing at baseline, Jimenez said, constructed in many steps, from cooking the filling and the dough to stuffing and steaming. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, why are your tamales expensive? It’s just a tamal.’ Yeah, but the labor included on that is really hard,” Jimenez said.
Even though you’re only making one tamale, the sheer size of the zacahuil increases the difficulty level. “It’s little harder, but it’s fun,” Jimenez said.
To make it, Jimenez and the Cantina La Martina team prepared a sauce with dried cascabel and guajillo chiles, cumin, clove, allspice, and anise; that was incorporated into a loosely mixed masa, giving the nixtamalized corn dough a turmeric hue. They layered several banana leaves together to form a foundation, then spread enough of the masa on top to form a roughly 2½-foot-long rectangle. That was topped with marinated chicken, red onions, nopal strips, salsa verde, and even more masa.
Next, they rolled it all up in the banana leaves and foil, chained it together, and lowered it into an underground, brick-lined barbacoa oven that Jimenez installed in Cantina La Martina’s patio in 2022. (Tamales are typically steamed, but zacahuils need to be baked because of their girth, giving the masa a texture with more crumb than usual.)
The result that emerged, seven hours later, was a well-baked zacahuil with nutty-sweet fresh corn flavor, crunchy edges, and a creamy, savory, sauce-filled center. “When you combine everything, it’s like when you use gravy or something with your corn bread — that’s what it reminds me of,” Jimenez said, clarifying that this rendition is not a fully accurate reproduction of what you’d find in Mexico due to differences in ingredients.
Still, the zacahuil is perfectly suited to the restaurant’s mission. “What Cantina does is try to show the pre-Hispanic food. And zacahuil is one of [those],” Jimenez said. “It’s really interesting to try that tamal; it’s definitely one of the projects we really like.”
How do you eat a 40-pound tamale? “You get a spatula and a knife, and cut the cake,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s like a big tamal cake.”
If you’re up for trying a zacahuil, you have until Thursday to reserve one. A single zacahuil sells for $200, but Jimenez estimated that one can feed more than 20 people. He strongly recommends dining in but is open to preparing it for takeout. (There will be leftovers.)
So get a dozen or so friends together and plan on spending Sunday taking down a giant tamale and delicious margaritas. Just don’t wear your Sunday best.
“It’s gonna be messy,” Jimenez said.
A zacahuil can be preordered for Sunday, March 23, by emailing cantina@cantinalamartinaphilly.com. Cantina La Martina, 2800 D St., Philadelphia, PA 19134; 267-519-2142; cantinalamartinapa.com