I have to agree this is a very vibrant color.

Here is a recipe I wrote for basic chili sauce and posted here eight years ago: Basic Chili Sauce 8 whole, dried chilies (Ancho, Pasilla, Guajillo combination*) 2 cups water 3 cloves garlic 1 tsp dried or fresh oregano 1 tsp red wine or balsamic vinegar (optional) Remove the stems from the chilies and slit open to remove seeds and membranes. Place the chilies in a saucepan with the rest of the ingredients (except the vinegar) and simmer covered for 20-30 minutes, or microwave for about 2-1/2 minutes and let stand for 20 minutes, microwave for one minute more and let stand another 10 minutes. Blend coarsely with a stick blender (or pulse in a blender), and strain the mixture through a coarse sieve (or food mill) to remove chili skins. Store in glass jar in refrigerator until ready to use. If you plan to store it very long, add 1 tsp of vinegar - I normally use it within 2-3 days, if not immediately, however. For two cups of water, I would use 3 Ancho chilies, 2 Pasilla chiles and 3 Guajillo chilies, all of which are dried, but you can vary the amounts. Using 4 Anchos and 4 Guajillos is also good. For the last chili sauce I made, I used fresh Poblano chilies (in place of Pasilla chilies) and smoked them, but you could roast them over a gas flame instead. I do not use any raw fresh chilies in chili sauce, and some people fire roast the dried ones before making sauce, but I have not found that to be necessary. I make a Habanero chili sauce with chilies from my back yard, and I grill them (in a grill pan) over mesquite charcoal/wood with some red bell peppers to make a Habanero sauce that is very potent, which is why I add the red bell peppers. I add quite a bit of vinegar and salt to my Habanero sauce so that it will keep longer, as it takes me a while to use it up. True chili sauce does not have tomato in it - if it does, it is then what I know as Adobo sauce, which I also make but use differently. Chilies have a very distinctive flavor that is best appreciated in a pure form to start with, and then you can combine them with other ingredients, but it is best to start with a pure chili sauce, and then it will be more versatile, and you will appreciate the true flavor of the chilies. The chilies I listed for the basic chili sauce are all very mild (by my standards), and so I generally add habanero sauce as needed for heat. If you want to use Arbol chilies, make a sauce with them by themselves - they do not blend well with other chilies. They are good in Adobo sauce and benefit by being diluted with tomato, but their flavor is so complex that I find them difficult to utilize. Where I grew up, you could order one alarm, two alarm, or three alarm chili (made with beef), and I never went beyond two alarm. I think in Minnesota, the one alarm chili in Texas would have been way too hot! I eat chili sauce every day, in one form or another, whereas I seldom use black pepper, although I do like it. I find the flavor of the various chilies to be more complex and interesting. Lars

I haven't made this but it's from the American Century cookbook & sounds really good: TAMALE PIE (serves 6) Cornmeal Crust: 4 cups water 3/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups cornmeal 2 TBL butter or lard (not shortening) Filling: 2 TBL bacon drippings or vegetable oil 1 medium yellow onion, peeled & chopped 1 small green bell pepepr, cored, seeded, chopped 1 1/4 lbs lean ground chuck 1 TBL chili powder 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes (I'd use Ro-Tel) 1/2 cup beef broth 3/4 tsp salt or to taste For the crust: Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 2 1/2 qt casserole; set aside. Bring water & salt to boiling in a medium heavy saucepan over high heat. Whisking vigorously, add cormeal gradually & continue beating until thick & smooth; beat in butter. Spoon 3/4 of mixture into casserole & with spoon, press over bottom & up the sides. Set aside. Keep remaining cornmeal mixture covered until ready to use. FILLING: Heat drippings in large heavy skillet over moderate heat 1 minute, add onion, green pepper & garlic & stir-fry until limp, about 5 minutes. Add beef, chili powder & cumin & cook, breaking up lumps until meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth & salt & cook & stir 5 minutes. Taste for salt & adjust as needed. Spoon meat mixture into cornmeal "crust" & cover with remaining cornmeal mush. Bake uncovered until browned & bubbly, 30-35 minutes.~~

Not to discourage you but... I made tamales. Once. They are a stinking lot of work. And the end product was that my masa layer was way too thick and the tamales didn't have enough filling...i.e., what I didn't want to happen ended up happening anyway. It is harder to do than it looks like it would be. No doubt that practice makes perfect but tamales are what I would call a labor of love and, though I like them, I don't love them enough to go through that again. Masa--easy to obtain the dried mix....Maseca is supposed to be the best (widely available) brand. I don't have any problems finding masa even here in central Wisconsin. It's in the Hispanic foods section. You will probably be able to find corn husks there, too, or in any Mexican food store. Alternatively, you can use parchment paper to wrap the tamales. Fresh masa is supposed to be lots better but I don't have a source for that. (That's a west coast California thing, I think.) If you're really adventurous, you can find instructions on-line to make your own. Essentially you make hominy and grind the fresh wet hominy. I make a lot of spicy chicken soups and quite often use masa to thicken the soups as well as add a wonderful flavor element. So dried masa is something that I consider to be a staple. You can also use masa to replace part? (maybe all?) of the cornmeal in cornbread/ hush puppies...just recently read about that....I think Lars mentioned it. I have not done that but plan to next time I make some cornbread. (Mentioning this so you will have some ideas on how to use up the remainder of that bag of masa.) I'm almost sure that I used lard...a local butcher shop renders fresh lard so I have a source for it other than the commercial hydrogenated stuff. Otherwise, it is easy enough to render your own from pork fat...either fat trimmings from a butcher shop or you can save excess fat trimmed from pork cuts and render it yourself. If ya' can, enlist some help making the tamales. With good company, it might turn into being a fun project.