7 Things Mississippians Know About Delta Hot Tamales That Surprise Everyone Else

The hot tamale you buy at a Delta doughnut shop might have been made in someone else’s kitchen.

Mississippians know that’s normal. Everyone else is still wondering why a doughnut shop sells tamales.

Here’s what Mississippians know about Delta hot tamales that surprises everyone else.

1. Robert Johnson’s 1936 Record

The Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) lists a blues record in its essay on Delta hot tamales: Robert Johnson recorded “They’re Red Hot” in 1936.

The Mississippi Encyclopedia calls the song his homage to hot tamales, a popular food in his native state.

2. Origin Theories

SFA lays out several theories for how hot tamales reached the Delta, and you won’t find one agreed answer.

One theory credits migrant laborers from Mexico who arrived to work the cotton harvest in the early twentieth century.

The Mississippi Encyclopedia points to that one, and historians believe local cooks picked up tamales through contact with Mexican Americans, probably farmworkers from Texas, around the turn of the twentieth century.

Another goes back to the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846 to 1848, when soldiers brought tamale recipes home.

A third argues that tamales date back to the Mississippian culture of mound-building Native Americans.

A fourth says Delta tamales may have grown out of cush, a Black American dish that a vendor describes as seasoned cornmeal.

3. Pushcart Vendors

Hot tamales were a street-corner food in the Delta, and Black vendors sold them from pushcarts and stands, according to SFA.

Warm tamales were easy to carry to chilly cotton fields during the fall picking season, a lunch you could take with you.

Solly’s Hot Tamales in Vicksburg started with a pushcart too, and it has been a Vicksburg tradition since 1939.

Henry Solly developed the recipe and sold tamales from a cart until they got popular enough that he opened a storefront.

A 2006 interview calls Solly a native of Cuba, but a 2009 story in the Jackson Free Press reports that his grandson says he wasn’t Cuban.

Black Americans are the primary keepers of the Delta’s tamale-making tradition.

4. Pork, Beef, or Turkey

Delta hot tamales don’t come with one standard filling, so you may meet pork at one counter and beef at the next.

SFA calls pork the traditional filling, though some cooks use beef and others prefer turkey.

The Mississippi Encyclopedia lists pork, beef, or chicken fillings seasoned with a spicy mix that includes chili powder.

A two-day tamale tour described in a 2009 Jackson Free Press story landed on both sides of the question.

The group ate beef tamales at The Tamale Place in Vicksburg, then got pork at Abe’s in Clarksdale, the only pork tamales of the trip.

5. Smaller, Grittier, Spicier

Delta hot tamales run smaller than Latin-style tamales.

They have a gritty texture that comes from corn meal instead of corn flour.

You'll taste considerably more spice too, and the Mississippi Encyclopedia says they're often spicier than their Mexican counterparts.

Small doesn't mean mild.

6. Chili, Cheese, and the Fryer

Hot tamales don't have to be eaten plain, and some people smother them in chili and cheese.

Some cooks even fry them.

The 2009 Jackson Free Press story describes deep-fried tamales on the menu at Hot Tamale Heaven, a trailer on Highway 1 in Greenville.

SFA's 2006 interview with Solly's describes a menu item called the Fiesta, which it compares to a taco salad.

If you've only eaten a hot tamale straight out of the shuck, you've tried one version of several.

7. Shared Kitchens

Hot tamales at one Delta stop can come from another stop's kitchen.

If you grab a hot tamale at a doughnut shop or a general store, your lunch may have come from a trailer in Greenville.

Onward General Store reheated its tamales in a microwave after receiving them frozen from Hot Tamale Heaven in Greenville, the 2009 Jackson Free Press story reports.

A Shipley's Donuts on Clay Street received frozen batches from Hot Tamale Heaven too.

Crystal Grill in Greenwood bought about 100 dozen tamales at a time from Willie Harmon, who managed Hot Tamale Heaven's wholesale operation.

One Greenville operation supplied all three.

Airport Grocery in Cleveland took a different route.

Its owner reportedly paid $200 to Joe Pope, the former owner of the White Front Café in Rosedale, for the recipe.

A Trail Built on Interviews

SFA created its Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail with Viking Range Corporation, a project it published in 2005.

If you're mapping a tamale road trip, the trail's route runs from Tunica to Vicksburg.

Its interviews cover how cooks acquired their tamale recipes and how those recipes evolved.

Its profiles include Abe's Bar-B-Q, in the same location since 1937, and Solly's, which dates to 1939.