First, place the corn husks in a large bowl and cover with hot water. Allow them to soak for at least 30 minutes.

Place the meat into a pot and cover with plenty of water. Add the garlic, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook until the meat is very tender—you should have about 3 to 4 cups of cooking water remaining.

Transfer the meat to a bowl and shred it using two forks while still hot, or let it cool and use your hands. Set aside.

Clean the chilies, if you don’t want the sauce to be hot cut them and discard the seeds and veins.

Place chilies into a bowl and cover with hot water leaving them to soak for at least 20 minutes.

Place chilies in a blender, add tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin and salt. Add 2 cups of meat cooking water and blend for 4 minutes on high until you will have a smooth sauce. Reserve 1 ½ cups of the sauce and set aside.

In a medium pan, heat 1 tablespoon of pork lard over medium heat. Add the sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Add the meat, mix well, and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Adjust salt to taste, and allow the mixture to cool down.

Place Masa Harina in a large bowl and add salt. Pour the sauce you reserved before and start mixing by adding some cooking water until you achieve a smooth dough.

Melt the Jenson lard and let it cool slightly. Add lard to the dough and knead until combined. Taste the dough and adjust salt if needed.

Make tamales Drain the corn husks and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Make some strips by tearing 2-3 husks. Place 2 spoonsful of tamales dough in the middle of a husk and spread it a little bit (read note 2).Using the same spoon, make a small hole in the middle and spoon in the pork mixture. Carefully fold the husk to cover completely the filling and end with some sort of burrito. With the corn husk strips you made before, tie both sides of the tamal and then tie in the middle (read note 3).

Prepare a large stockpot with a steamer basket. Fill the pot with water just before it touches the basket and place pork tamales in layers. Bring the water to a boil, cover the pot and cook the tamales for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, checking occasionally and adding more water when is needed.