Make the filling:

• Roast the fresh chilies and the tomatillos (husked) under a broiler until charred. While the chilies and tomatillos roast, sear the pork in a hot pan with a little oil to brown it. 
• Put the chilies in a bowl, covered, for a few minutes to soften the skins further. Remove the skins under running water. Deseed the chilies. 
• Place the chilies, tomatillos, cilantro, garlic cloves, the onion, the juice of the lime, cumin, and the hoja santa in the jar of a good blender. Blend until smoothish. Taste for salt and add some, but under-salt it—it will concentrate during cooking. 

• Pour the green sauce over the pork in the pan and bring to a boil. Simmer until the meat is very tender and shreddable, about 60–90 minutes. If the sauce gets too dry, add water to compensate and keep cooking. 
  • For a shortcut: if you have some leftover pulled pork or some carnitas, add them to the sauce and cook until the sauce no longer tastes “raw” instead of cooking fresh pork until it falls apart. 

• Shred the pork in the sauce and test for salt one more time. Now is the time to salt correctly. 
  • While the pork filling is cooking, soak the corn husk wrappers in plenty of very hot water. Shred one or two of the husks along the grain to make long, thin strips you can use as ties. 

Make the masa for the tamales:

• In a stand mixer, combine the masa harina, salt, and baking powder. Add the rendered lard and mix. 
• Add the chicken stock and continue to mix, whipping to a light consistency. 
• Check a pinch of the dough to see if it rises and floats in a cup of water. If not, keep whipping. If even that doesn’t help, add a little more lard. 

• When the masa is ready, start making the tamales. 

Fill and steam the tamales:

• Remove a husk from the hot water, let it drip off. 
• Spoon a couple tablespoons of masa onto the husk, centered about 2 inches from the wide end of the husk, in the center of the width. Smooth it out into a rectangle that ends 1/2–1 inch from the edge of the base of the husk triangle.  Do not spread all the way to the edges. 
• Spoon about 1 tablespoon of pork filling onto the filling. Fold the right side, then the left side of the husk over the filling. Fold the tip of the triangle husk over and tie it in place with one of the husk strips you made earlier. 
• Set that tamal aside in a stockpot steamer basket. Make the rest of the tamales.

• Once they’ve all been made and stowed in the steamer basket, heat the water in your steamer pot to a boil. 
• Set the basket of tamales in the steamer and cook. Set your Extra Big & Loud timer for 1 hour. 
• Starting after about 30 minutes, check the internal temperature with your Thermapen ONE just to be sure they’re passing the 158–168°F (70–76°C) mark. (This shouldn’t be an issue, but if you double or triple the batch, it might be!)
• When the timer sounds, remove the basket of tamales, transfer them carefully to a serving platter, and serve, with love, to your adoring family and friends.