"Travis McGee" > wrote in message
...
> On 7/6/2014 12:26 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> "barbie gee" > wrote in message
>> crg.pbz...
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, 5 Jul 2014, Julie Bove wrote:
>>>
>>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Microwaving a cooked tamale can totally ruin them. They can dry out
>>> and get hard. Steaming is really the best way to reheat them, or with
>>> very low power, wrapped in a wet papertowel over the corn husk, if the
>>> husks are already kind of dry.
>>
>> This husk was totally dry. I have bought them from the Texas Tamale
>> Company. They come frozen. I do heat in the microwave, wrapped in a
>> damp paper towel.
>
> Do they have "XLNT" tamales in your neck of the woods? They are usually
> pretty good. Look for them in the freezer case.

No. Tamales are not big here. We only recently got the Texas ones. I had
mail ordered them previously. Most of the frozen ones we can get are not
what I would call authentic. They are individually wrapped in plastic. No
husks. Costco sells some. Can't remember the brand. I do have to be
careful with tamales though as for some reason they often contain chicken
broth. I can't have chicken. Or they contain dairy and I can't have that
either. I get the black bean ones from Texas Tamale. Good, but not cheap.