chicken tamales with whole chicken bones? What's up?

No the bone is not suppose to be in the tamale. Geez...I am Hispanic and in all my life have never heard of such a thing. It truly is lack of experience not just in ethnic food but in cooking all together.

I've had tamales with bones in. Usually smaller bones rather than whole thigh bones.

I prefer them without bones, though.

Central American tamales are more likely to have bones, or even chicken feet, than Mexican tamales are, in my experience.

They aren't supposed to have bones in. He should have been more careful when shredding the chicken. Bones, especially little ones, can be a choking hazard! Don't let it put you off though. Why not try making your own?

This recipe - http://www.squidoo.com/mexican-tamales-recipe - is very easy to follow, or you could try http://www.easyfishrecipes.net/Fish-Recipes/saltwa... for yummy fish ones.

Roast the chicken for a couple of hours in the oven. You want to make sure that it is cooked all the way through. Then once it's done. Take off the skin. And start to take off all of the meat off of the bones. Do it while it is still warm and it will shred easily.

It's not a recipe or technique. The person who cooked and shredded the chicken meat was careless or ignorant, that's all. Maybe it was the first time he made them, and the instructions did not specifically say to remove and discard the bones so he didn't!

I live in the southwest and have never had tamales with bones. This is not a new type of mexican dinning.