comunidad del valle. i'm damian trujillo. today we have our annual christmas. you'll meet the judges next. this is your comunidad spas del spas valle. ladies and gentlemen, the judges are now officially under way tasting the best darn tamale in the united states and we do mean the united states because a lot of the tamales came from across the country. let me introduce the judges for you. at the end of the show we'll

tell you who has the best tastingtamale. next to me is robert out of gilroy, cola. next robert. next she's munching away. next is mr. luis orchola. he's from the family vineyards in napa valley. he's brought some of his wines. we'll show those throughout the show. next to him is the voice of your world champion san francisco giants. welcome, all, to the show. we have a fifth judge. he's keechbld the tie-breaker. what does he call him? >> it's a secret. >> it's a secret. should we say? >> no. it's a secret. >> we'll bring him out. darlene. here we are, again, darlene. which is this? >> sixth annual. can you believe it.

sixth year we've been eating tamales. >> we have a list. there they are right now. texas, colorado, santa fe, san jose, los angeles, some from mississippi. tell us who came in? >> we have san antonio, mississippi. we have quite a few from all over the nation. mississippi, california. everybody makes them a little different. texas. if you look in here, texas has these nice little tamales here. >> i thought everything was big in texas. >> i know. the only little thing in texas is their tamale. and in colorado, they wrap their tamale in a tortilla. >> our secret judge called them burritos they're that big. >> they're called tomacos. i think they should be called a tomoritta.

these are like the tamales you normally see. these are from new mexico. they're made from hatched chi chilies. these are wrapped in banana leaves. and these tamales are actually interesting. i broke one. they're wrapping in parchment. there's a company that makes deer meat tamales and goat tamales. one is telling us he's cooking up sweet tamales for next year and some are wrapping them for next year. >> my mom brings ash tamales. they're very dry, very bland.

the aztecs eat them. they're not for me. >> right now we're going to irwin. they're tasting all-vegetarian first. there's some great vegetarian tamales this year, really good ones. you almost don't -- i'm a mediator. i'm always the mediator. there's a few companies -- there's one company in particular in fairfax, california, marin county, and she makes the most fantastic tamales. you don't realize they don't have meat. they have much flavor and they're very, very good. >> what's your tip of the judges? i'm looking at it and i want to taste everything. you've got to pace yourself. >> the first tip is turn your glass over and put some water in them. you're going to need to put water in between each tamale.

they're going to be tasting 25 tamales in this short period, half hour. >> we do have a minute left. i do want to talk about the annual ornaments you bring. you have fascinating ones. you have a pregnant mary. is that proper to say? >> yeah. >> you have a pregnant mary. some mexican sweet bread? >> yes. we have the reindeer. and with the pregnant virgin, yeah, people are going, what, what? i don't want john calling me and saying i've been calling it wrong. >> actually father rubio, another priest, i went to his office and he had a pregnant virgin mary. i thought it was so striking. that's what inspired me. i have to tell people it was immaculate conception. it was not an immaculate

pregnancy. she had to give birth to jesus. >> we're going to talk during our next segment as they're eating and drinking water. stay tuned and find out who has the best tamale in the country. they'll have the results posted on the website and we're going to have a special show coming up. stay with us.

"comunidad del valle" with our annual christmas. with me is a three-time world champion. you brought your championship belt. what's it like -- what's that adrenaline rush like to get in that ring and know that you're going to kick that other guy's butt? >> it's exciting. it's exciting to get in there, just to walk all the way from the dressing room until after the fight. i mean it's just going. sometimes i don't even sleep until the next day. >> wow. i want to do a special half hour with you at a future day if you agree to it. you did something that is --

made me and every other husband look bad because of the sacrifice you made for your wife. you gave up boxing for a while. >> yeah, yeah. i had to give up my title, give up some big fights. you know, it was all worth it though, you know. it's a husband's obligation to be by your wife's side all the time. i know when it does come down to somebody doing that, it's the right thing to do. >> you keep making me look bad. how is your wife doing? >> she's doing great. she's probably mad she's not here tasting tamales but i'm going to eat a lot. >> what is your feeling? >> so far it's competitive. it's come pet active. they're all good. you know, you've got to taste them all and see who's the best. >> everybody here is taller than me, so bear with me, folks.

former seniorita. for you what's it like to be in the grand coliseum and have the roaring fans cheering and cheering you on? what's that like for you? >> it's an amazing feeling. it's an experience you won't forget. anyone who wants to do it, definitely do it. it's a blast. once you're a part of it, you're always a part of it we have a saying. once you're a raiderette, you're always a raiderette. we always have a dinner when a new girl comes on the squad. it's like welcome to the family. >> latinos are well represented? >> yes, latinos are very well represented. every year they have a chorus girl and every year it's a latino. so, go latina. >> where in napa, and where can

we find you? >> we are the wineries in napa. it's between -- >> we can going snl. >> any time, you'll be welcome to visit us. >> i'm sure you've eaten tamales? >> my first time. >> first team eating tamales? >> no. i always eat tamales. >> i'm going to get you in trouble. how do you compare these to your wife's tamales? >> irwin, you have five. you're going to go for five champion wins. you just won with the giants. >> yes, i did. it's amazing what the giants did this year. you know, if anybody tells you

we saw this coming, they're lying you. i mean after 52 years, you know, since the giants moved to san francisco, i guess, it was worth waiting for snow how -- >> how do you say torture? >> tortura. [ speaking spanish ] >> what is a balk? >> the pitcher tries to deceive the runner at first base. >> how do you say it in spanish? >> i just say balk. [ speaking spanish ] there are certain things in sports you can't translate literally so you use the same terminology. aft after all it's an american pastime. >> are you as angry as i was that he went to the dodgers? >> yeah. he's the reason why i'm going to

get a fifth ring. so obviously for me it's going to be okay if he goes to another team, but the jojers? come on. >> we'll cheer him on for the first bat but after that he's going to get boos from us. as soon as they're done with their eating -- we're going to let them eat. we'll be back after these messages and tell you how to make another family tradition for the holidays, so stay with us

welcome to "comunidad del valle" on our annual tamale tasting contest. parsley, sage, rosemary, andtime. who said, no, it's not a law firm? >> lee wiemers. >> vince, thanks for coming here. tell us what you're going to make for us? >> we make this. during the holidays there always seems to be leftover bread and cookies and muffins. this is a leftover dish.

>> in english this is bread pudding? >> bread pudding, yes. >> go ahead. >> the most important thing, of course, is bread. you can use muffins, anything you want. you mix your bread. and then you get crazy with all the other ingredients. i have scrambled eggs here. we put a little egg in here. and then a little cream. >> what does the egg do it? kind of hold it together? >> it holds it together and also lightens it up a little bit. and then just about anything else you want to put in here. so we're going to put in a little brown sugar. we're going to put a little canilla -- cinnamon. ra raisins and almonds. you want to put in vanilla there too. >> was it your workers or your

upbringing that taught you how to make bread pudding? because i had no idea. i just eat it when my mom makes it. >> a little bit of both. my grandfather was a spanyard who moved to mexico and spent 25 years in mexico before coming to california and he brought along a lot of european recipes with him. >> that's all it takes? >> that's it. you let it soak. >> how long do you let it soak for? >> you can put it in a little more milk. you can let it soak for 30 more minutes before you put it in the or oven. over the top you can add something that will make this different. you can put some kind of cheese. that adds a creaminess to it that just drives you crazy. this will all settle in too. so this is a little queso. >> how warm?

>> 375 degrees. >> this is the end product? >> this is the end product. >> and the staff at kntv loves this because they get to taste it. get this. once you open the lid, the aroma came out. >> this one has a little red in it because we used some red velvet cupcakes that were leftover. like i said, anything we haveyo in the kitchen, throw it in there. >> prst.com is the site. where else will you have the recipe? >> on our facebook, no way jose. >> you can listen to the christmas music in the background. i bought mine on itunes. it's fabulous music. we'll be back to find out who

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♪ darlene, where did you find this? rubin, who was -- rubin found it on facebook and we started listening to this song, and we got it -- we were in the office all day going hot tamale, hot, hot tamale. >> that's hill hairous. we're back here on "comunidad del valle" with the annual hot tamale contest. here is our mystery vote. we needed him because we had tie breakers, right, darlene?

>> we had two tie-breakers. >> your thoughts on the 80 or so tamales you went through today? >> they were all good. some were quite surprising, even the way they looked. one looked like a burrito and another like churros. they were quite enterprising and quiet tasty, all of them. >> you had fwthe guava ones. the first bite was fine and after a few, you got the taste of them. >> the taste sort of hung on your tongue and it was just delicious. >> what sticks out in your mind? what do you think is best overall? >> i liked the barbecue chicken. it was part of the gourmet experimental one. i'm a traditionalist, but this group of gourmet tamales was

really good. >> all right. thank you, columnist and reporter with the san jose world news, what sticks out in your mind? >> there are different exotic one, ones i have never seen before. the guava was the best one. the first bite i took, i was sold. so pretty much knocked me out. >> that's not going to happen on the ring. we'll talk to you again in just a little bit. how about you, lucinda, what sticks out in your mind? >> actually two of them. the guava and the cream cheese one. i highly recommend that one. instantly when i i put it in my mouth, winner. and the vegetarian, which is funny. i love meat. i love beef. so the vegetarian kind of blew me away, but the first one that we ate. i don't know. which one was that called? >> it's the burrito one. >> it's the tomaco. >> the tomaco.

>> what's it light standing next to a big-time champion? >> good. just don't, you know what i mean? >> he gave me an upper cut. >> i'll tell yu one thing. they had exactly the same taste buds. they agreed on nearly exactly the same. >> this is the first time for me to taste so many tamales, but for me the guava is the one i liked. it's really, really, really good. >> is it better than your wife's sweet tamale? i'm going to get you in trouble? >> you know, it's not like that but that one is really, really good. i never tasted that many tamales. >> no kidding. talk about your wine for just a second. let me go back to irwin for a minute. which one sticks out in your mind? >> the vegetarian? >> really. >> yeah. it's kind of a surprise.

[ speaking spanish ] so many of them, so different types of tamales and different part of the -- i guess, the country where they make them. but the vegetarian ones are the ones that stuck with me. >> when do you get your world series ring and what is that going to be like for you? you're going to make me cry. >> don't cry. you're going to make me cry. we're hoping opening day 2011, which will be april 8th. >> let's repeat. we have a cab ber nay zin sfen dell and a chardonnay. what made you get into it? >> we've been grape growers. in one year i couldn't sell the grapes, so there was somebody who gave me a hand and i started making them. that's the way i started.

we make it every year. >> we recommend everybody buy a bottle of chardonnay and cabern cabernet. and so lucinda, once again, former raiderette, which one was a tougher competition. >> tougher competition, the vegetarian -- exactly like he said. i was thinking vegetarian, that's not going to -- no. they blew me away. that was tough competition. i didn't know there would be so many. texas and whatever. yeah. the vegetarian kind of blew me away as well. >> robert, are you going to be able to make way after all the tamales you ate? >> right now, no. hopefully my trainer ain't watching this. he's going to make me run extra miles. >> what's neck for you? who's next and this is it, man. this is big time for you. >> oh, yeah. i'm the number one contender. i'm going to fight manuel.

that's the biggest fight out there. i'm the number one contender. so pretty much i'm mandatory to fight him and looking forward to it next year to get the championship fight. >> when do you thing that will be and how soon to you start preparing yourself? >> it should be somewhere around march if it does go through. you know, beginning of the year i'll start. >> a buddy of mine was a wrestler at santa fe. what do you walk into? >> i walk into a bunch of different stuff. you know what moves me going to the ring, one of the ones i walk in with is -- >> there you go. >> i like to go in with that song. it really get ms. e going. >> give your wife the best from us and go get them. >> all right. i will. >> you're a good man. class act. joe, final thoughts on what you saw here today?

>> i saw an impressive array of tamales. i'm really surprised at the quality of all of them. they were all good. i hope to be back next year. >> absolutely. >> maybe, you know, in the next year i should learn how to make my own tamales. i would do probably the sweet and try gourmet. >> all right. let's try -- we've got about two minutes. darlene. >> okay. in the vegetarian category we have wally's tamales. it was a vegetarian like this wrapped in a tortilla. the second category, which was ho ho homestyle chicken was lucies. in the pork category these are the ones made from hatched chili. they're from santa fe, new mexico. these are the hatched chili. and from the gourmet they were made from chicken and gouda

cheese that won. i don't think i need to say who won from the dessert category? >> who made them? >> they're from mama's cafe in los angeles. across the board everybody loved those tamales. i love mama's hot tamale cafe. they're a training group as well. they help people off the street and train them how to make tamales. so that's a lot of love put into that one. >> are those all the winners? >> those are all the winners. and the grand winner -- i don't need to say it again. it was the guava tamale. >> next year we'll be back. you have tentatively some good names again. again, a similar panel of judges but we're going to surprise them later on. we can't say who they are, but

we do have amazing judges. thank you all, again, for coming here and coming down here and spending all this time a down here and eating all these wonderful tamales and enjoying the holidays with us. >> thank you. thanks for having us to dinner >> and we thank you all for sharing. wait a minute. who's your helper? >> oh, rubin. >> rue pin bin is also from gil >> this is rubin. this is rubin. he works with me. he's a designer, and he's a tamale helper today. and he got to eat all the tamales. there were a few tamale tasters who ate them every single day for a month to narrow it down. >> i can't tell. we're going to close the show with the close-up of the championship belt and the bottles of wine from the winery. ladies and gentlemen thank you

so much for spending time with us on our annual tamale contest. happy holidays. thank you very much. thank you.