Turkey Tamales with Mole Negro

Have ready a steamer arrangement.

Remove the banana leaves from the package; gently unfold and wipe clean with a clean damp cloth. With kitchen scissors, cut out eight 12 X 10-inch rectangles. Tear off long thin strips from the remaining leaves to serve as "string" ties for the packets. Set aside.

Place the turkey pieces in a medium-size saucepan with the onion, garlic, peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste).

Add enough water to cover (about 4 cups) and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, partly covered, until the meat is falling off the bones, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove the turkey pieces from the broth (which can be strained and saved for another purpose); when cool enough to handle, remove the skin and tear the meat into long shreds. You should have about 2 cups. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the mole to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the shredded turkey. Set aside.

Place the lard in a mixing bowl or the large bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed. With a wooden spoon or the mixer blades, beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until somewhat aerated. Begin beating in the masa a handful at a time, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. At this point you must make a judgment call — whether or not to add a little liquid. The consistency should be that of a very thick, pasty porridge. When working with masa made from masa harina I sometimes find that I need to add 5 to 6 tablespoons of water or chicken stock to achieve this consistency. With other batches, I don't need to add any liquid. When the desired consistency is reached, beat in the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.

Prepare the banana-leaf packets. Briefly hold each of the cut rectangles over an open flame to make them more pliable, or place for a few seconds on a hot griddle. Stack them by the work surface.

Place a heaping 1/2-cup dollop of the masa mixture on each. With the back of a spoon, flatten out the masa slightly into an oval shape. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the turkey mole-filling over the masa.

Fold over the right and left edges of one rectangle toward each other, overlapping slightly. Fold the top and bottom edges toward each other. You should have a neat flat packet (usually about 5 X 4 inches if you start with a 14 X 11-inch rectangle). Tie securely with leaf "string" ties.

Place in the steamer. Banana-leaf tamales should lie on a flat platform such as a wire rack raised well above the level of the boiling water. Arrange them in layers as necessary, seam side up.

Place some extra banana-leaf pieces on top to help absorb steam.

Pour boiling water into the bottom of the pan to a depth of 1 to 2 inches, cover tightly, and steam over medium heat for 1 hour. Keep a kettle of water hot on another burner; occasionally check the water level in the steamer and replenish as necessary, always shielding your face from the steam. When they are done, remove the lid and let the tamales stand for 10 minutes before serving. Each guest unwraps his own.

•Banana leaves can be found frozen in Latin American grocery stores. Martinez recommends buying an extra package in case many are too badly split to use (which is fairly common).•For this recipe, the mole paste should be thinned to the consistency of a creamy soup before measuring. To get 1 1/2 cups sauce, use approximately 1/2 cup mole paste and 1 cup chicken stock, preferably homemade (see below). The mole recipe makes approximately 4 cups of paste — the remainder can be frozen and used as a sauce for turkey or chicken.•Oaxacan lard has a distinctive, nutty taste and semi-liquid consistency that are a far cry from the fluffy, hydrogenated commercial products available in the U.S. In tamales, where lard is a principal ingredient, the difference is huge. According to Martinez, lard made at small Latin American or Eastern European butcher shops makes a decent substitute, but rendering it yourself will produce the best results. To home-render lard, start with 3 pounds fresh (not salted or smoked) pork fat, cut into 1/2-inch dice (chilling or partially freezing the fat will make this task less messy).

Place the fat in a large, deep roasting pan or shallow Dutch oven with thick sides, taking care not to crowd the pieces together. Cook over low heat, stirring often, 20 to 30 minutes, until the fat is partially rendered and the diced pieces are somewhat crisp but not completely cooked.

Remove the pan from the heat and let cool slightly.

Pour off the clear liquid into a tall, narrow container and set aside the cracklings and any grainy residue. The residue, called asiento, makes a delicious spread on tortillas. The cracklings can be further rendered to produce a second batch of nuttier lard. (For more information, consult Martinez's web site, www.zarela.com.) You should have about 3 cups of clear, pale-tan lard. Refrigerate until solid, cover tightly, and store up to a week in the refrigerator or indefinitely in the freezer.•Masa is a dough made from dried corn that has been treated with an alkali substance such as slaked lime and water and then ground. Fresh masa, which will give this recipe an authentic flavor and texture, can be found at some Mexican grocery stores and at tortilla factories. Because it can be labeled in many different ways, masa can be confusing to buy. Several things to bear in mind are: 1). Be sure to buy course-ground masa (labeled "masa para tamales") not fine-ground masa, which is for tortillas, not tamales. But also avoid masa labeled "masa preparada para tamales," which has lard already mixed in. 2). If you can't find fresh masa, you can reconstitute it by mixing masa harina (dehydrated powdered masa, also called corn flour or "instant corn masa mix for tamales") with water or chicken stock. The brand Maseca, available at www.mexgrocer.com, is the most authentic. The Quaker brand, available at many grocery stores, is also acceptable, but be sure to buy the coarse-ground "Masa Harina de Maiz," not the fine-ground "Harina Preparada Para Tortillas." 3). Regular corn meal cannot be substituted for masa.•Clickhere here for a recipe for chicken stock. If you prefer not to make your own, Martinez recommends the brands College Inn or Kitchen Basics.

Reprinted with permission from The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes from Mexico's Heart by Zarela Martinez. © 1997 Macmillan, a Simon & Schuster Macmillan Company