Trader Jose’s Beef Tamales (2 pk.)
Item Purchased: Trader Jose’s Beef Tamales (2 pk.)
Location Purchased: Trader Joe’s / 44 E. Ontario St. / Chicago, IL
Price: $2.29 + tax
Review: Okay. Don’t leave after you hear this first part. These tamales make your kitchen smell like urine when you cook them in the microwave.
Still there? Good, because despite that one small fact, these tamales packed full of cornmeal, beef, carrots and various other ingredients are pretty tasty, though a bit plain. Beyond the impressively consistent cornmeal, lies a stringy beef mush that is reminiscent of a Dinty Moore canned beef stew. At $2.29 for two, they make the perfect meal for the cap of a long day at work. For those nights you are too tired to cook and tired enough to disregard the momentary smell of urine, these will do just fine, but the cheese and green chile tamales that TJ’s proffers are better.
Rating: 3 / 5
May 9th, 2007 at 3:47 am
Well, I can say I’m impressed. While I typically dig the Trader Joe’s fare, they do have certain things that I’d probably steer clear of.
This might be one of them, although I will admit that I am a sucker for their frozen mini-pizzas. I should know better, but I keep going in no matter what judgment or history suggests.
I do note that there doesn’t seem to be much you ever pick up from their non-frozen pre-fab meal selection, but then Trader Joe’s has never been the place for keeping up with any sort of national distribution normalization (which is probably part of their formula for success) so I don’t know what your local one actually provides in that regard.
I do know that I keep looking at the fully-cooked (just heat and serve) rack of lamb that hit the deli case here recently and have been thinking long and hard about whether or not I’m willing to pay the somewhat premium (at least by Trader Joe’s deli case standards) price for it.
It could be a shortcut to gluttony.
May 9th, 2007 at 4:11 am
Funny you should mention Dinty Moore. They actually sell canned beef tamales that aren’t… well… horrible. A friend of mine enjoys them, and when invited to his place for dinner one night recently, I was treated to those as part of our incredibly not gourmet dinner. (If I recall correctly, it was Dinty Moore tamales and some canned ravioli. He doesn’t “get” to eat this way very often, and decided to take advantage of his wife being out of town. Before you get to thinking too badly about him, our typical his-wife-is-gone fare is either grilled beer brats or steak.)
I’ll admit that I was rather skeptical of these things, especially given that this guy actually claims to enjoy Pabst Blue Ribbon, but they were surprisingly not bad. I think you get six in a can for about the same price of the TJ’s 2-pack. And they don’t smell like urine, though be prepared for some interesting bowel movements the next day. Or later that night, depending on your metabolism.
I’ve been tempted to buy a can for myself once or twice, but have yet to give in. I mean, I’ve had worse, but I’ve also had better.
I’m sure they’d make great, “I’m drunk, hungry, and don’t actually feel like cooking, but it’s too late to order pizza,” fare.
Now that I think of it, maybe they were by Hormel… Enh… It’s all pretty much the same.
May 20th, 2007 at 9:37 am
[...] Good news! These tamales don’t smell like urine when you cook [...]