New Mexico Group Claims To Have Cooked World’s Longest Tamale

Not the world’s longest, but tamales nonetheless. (rvacapinta)

Fans of oversized food, prepare to tell your stomachs to shut up: A group in New Mexico is claiming the world record for longest tamale after cooking 116 feet (and seven inches) of the steamed dish in a special device made especially for the occasion.

The group had planned on the tamale being 120 feet long — with a local company making a special aluminum steamer of that same length to cook it — with 30 chefs using an estimated 120 pounds of masa and 50 pounds of chile. According to the Associated Press, Saturday’s 116-footer should still beat the current Guinness World Record of 66 feet, assembled in Cancun, Mexico in 2011.

The tamale debuted during a three-day celebration of New Mexico heritage and culture, in the town of Belen. The founder of that event says his 12-year-old son came up with the idea of breaking the tamale record.

In order to break the record, the group had to document everything, following a 29-page booklet of rules from Guinness.

“We have to get it up to temperature, and it has to be up to code, so the state of New Mexico will come in and say, ‘Hey you’re good to go’ and then we’ll be breaking the record,’” the festival’s founder told KRQE before Saturday’s event.

A representative from the ABQ West Chamber of Commerce says the group is preparing to submit all the documentation needed to verify their claim on the longest tamale ever assembled.

New Mexico plans to cook up world’s longest tamale [KRQE]
New Mexicans say they dished out world’s longest tamale [Associated Press]