The Queen of Tamale Making

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Serving Tamales

 

 

 

Goya Pina

The Tamale Queen

Goya Pina, the Tamale QueenI grew up on a remote ranch in West Texas.  Not far down the road from where I grew up lived a family that worked on the ranch. The Mom was named Goya, and she was the best cook in the world.  She is pictured at left in a photograph made in 1963.  Goya taught me how to make tamales.  It is her recipe that I have described on this site.

Goya and her  family lived in a very small cinder block house.  The house had a tiny kitchen that barely had room for a stove.  Some of my fondest memories are walking over to Goya's house.  As you got near her house you could always smell something wonderful cooking in that tiny kitchen. She was almost always making flour tortillas.  These are not the kind that you buy in the store today, but the kind made from scratch, and cooked quickly on a hot griddle.  I can remember when I would walk up she would always greet me with a smile and a warm hello.  She would throw me a flour tortilla right off the griddle. She would toss it just like a Frisbee.  Never since have I ever been able to find a tortilla that tasted as good as those she would throw me off that griddle.

Goyas Little HouseGoya would also make hot tamales.  I will always remember how good her tamales tasted.  Luckily, she taught me how to make tamales, and it is her special recipe that is presented on this site.  I hope to ad more of Goya's recipes as time goes on.

Goya was the Tamale Queen.

 

 

 

This site is dedicated to the Loving Memory of Goya Pina, who taught me how to cook tamales, and many other delicious Mexican Food dishes.  She died in 1998 at the age of 78.

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