For lunch today I had quite possibly the worst tamale ever. From the
outside, it looked okay. Was in the corn husk and all.

But when I opened it? There was perhaps a 2" thick hunk. There was a wad
of very solid meat. Not sure what to call the meat. It was beef. But it
wasn't steak, ground beef or even shredded beef. Just a very solid chunk of
tough, seemingly unseasoned beef. Around it was a thin, partial shell of
very solid mass tough masa. They didn't even bother to fully cover the
meat. The masa also didn't seem to have much flavor. Maybe it was old? At
any rate, I will never order this again. I believe that the menu said there
was a special sauce but there was seemingly no sauce.

So... What would make the tamale tough like that? This isn't a restaurant
where we dine a lot. My first meal there was terrible. But everyone else
raved about it. So we tried it again and the food was great! Until now.