Well, at long last I have transcribed my notes. Here it is:

Big Ben's Carne Chango Tamales


Meat Prep
1 medium sized monkey, cleaned and dressed, for 8 to 10 lbs of meat,
or
6 lbs whole boneless pork loin and 4 lbs whole boneless chicken breast
6 tablespoons mild chili powder
3 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons file powder
2 oz dried New Mexican or Ancho pepper pods, cleaned, stemmed and de-seeded
1 cup oil
2 cups hot water

Divide meat into workable pieces. Place in large pot and cover with water (4 quarts). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 3 hours. Remove meat to cool and reserve liquid. While meat is cooling, gently heat pepper pods in oil. Remove from heat when pods are pliable. Pour pods and oil into blender and add the 2 cups of hot water. Blend until smooth and add chili powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, and file powder. Separate meat into shreds. Place meat in a large pan and pour pepper sauce over meat. Mix thoroughly in pan, cover and seal with aluminum foil, and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

Soak one package corn husks in hot water for 2 hours. While husks soak, prepare the Masa:

Masa Prep
4 lbs masa mix
4 tablespoons paprika
4 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon adobo seasoning powder
4 tablespoons chili powder
4 tablespoons garlic powder
4 cups vegetable oil
4 quarts broth (liquid reserved from cooking meat, plus water to make 4 quarts)

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add oil and broth and mix well. Dough should be the consistency of thick peanut butter.

Warm the meat in the oven for 15 minutes, when meat is warm and husks are soft, take husks one at a time and spread masa about ¼” thick patty in center, working towards long edge of husk. Place 1-2 tablespoons of meat in center of patty. Fold sides in so that edges of masa patty seal around meat, with the patty contained inside the husk as it is folded into thirds lengthwise to form a cone. Fold the small end up to close the bottom, then pinch the top of the cone so that the masa is sealed completely around the meat. The husk should also be tight around the masa, with the top of the husk staying open only slightly. Set the tamale aside so that the folded bottom end is kept against the tamale. Stack tamales together. Set up a steamer pot with a rack that will hold the tamales vertically up off the bottom of the pot an inch or two. Put as much water in the pot so that the level is just below the rack, then fill the pot with tamales set vertically atop the rack (all the tamales have the folded end down and the open end up, snugly fit into the pot). Put the lid on the pot and cook in steam bath one hour. Remove pot from heat and allow tamales to set up in the pot with the lid off as the pot cools (15 minutes) Remove tamales and pack in zip-loc containers. Makes about 5 dozen tamales.

Sounds good!
Now do I ask for monkey meat at the regular meat counter at the supermarket, or is it only in the deli section?
And is it OK to substitute parrot meat for the chicken meat?
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Actually I am assuming you could substitute almost anything for the monkey meat and still have it work, the same with the chicken and pork. The recipe seems like a good way to use up odd game like the porcupines, racoons and whatnot (stray dog?), so that it works as a wild game or scrounger's recipe.

Rock and Roll!

Thanks!

I'd pass on monkey, a pandemic illness believed to have originated in Monkeys initially passing to humans via ingestion.

Not to mention the monkeys in Panama were not that good in 1989. But lack of choices made them taste better.

Hey, who knows what kinda meat they are using in TJ these days? Could be parrot (carne papagayo), could be iguana, quien sabe?

The point is to cook the meat well done. It's really the only way to be sure... right Chris? When in doubt, add more tabasco I always say. A spoonful of tabasco helps the grubs go down.

Sounds tasty, I might have to get to the zoo and pick a couple up!