For many of us, the gifts we look forward to unwrapping the most during the holidays don't come wrapped with gift wrap but in delicate layers of corn husk and banana leaf that reveal plump forms of tender masa stuffed with stewed meat, cheese, and vegetables. In other words, tamales.
Today, we're talking about L.A.'s best tamales you can order to feed your family and friends, or just to store in your freezer to eat one-by-one whenever you feel like it because you made it through another year!
It's that particular time of year known as "tamal season," which roughly begins the day after Thanksgiving and lasts until New Year's and Dia de La Candelaría on February 2nd (that's the holiday when whoever gets the plastic baby Jesus figurine during Dia de Los Reyes has to treat everyone else in that group to a tamal feast).