I made both chicken and pork tamales three weeks ago. I find that you want to either: make your own rendered manteca (lard) , or , go to the local mercado and buy the "real" stuff (the unfiltered brownish grey stuff!) I also use black beans, or chorizo and queso fresco (Mexican farmers cheese kind of like feta) As fillings. If you have a tortillaria in town, ask them to sell you fresh masa for tamales *you have to specify this because the grind is different. I find that fresh masa (which is perishable, but can be frozen) is far superior to the dry version. Now that we have so many hispanics living in America, just about every major city has a tortilla factory! You can get the masa for a buck a lb or so. Also, if you can ever find bananna leaves, you can make some killer "dinner size" tamales that are square and larger. Mmmmmmm! Bananna leaf turkey tamales with a good mole is KILLER!!!! They are not as much work as you think and the result is wonderful Mexican "comfort food"