A delicious and warming stew.

[andsome]

This recipe has been on here before, but with so many new members on the forum, I thought I would post it again. It is an ideal recipe if you are expecting a lot of visitors.

ELEPHANT STEW

INGREDIENTS

One medium sized elephant

2 rabbits (Optional)

Gravy to cover the elephant in the stewpot.

Seasoning and herbs.

METHOD

Skin the elephant and remove the tusks and feet. Slice it up into bite sized chunks. Put the sliced elephant into a VERY large cooking pot, and cover it with the gravy. Bisto gravy with added beef or vegetable bouillon is excellent. Season it well with salt and ground pepper. Add fresh or dried herbs to taste. Cook the elephant at 180 degrees Celsius for about four weeks, or until tender. Serve with cooked vegetables or salad.

The above will serve up to 3,857 people. If more are expected you may add the two rabbits. Do this only if absolutely essential, as not everyone likes to find a hare in their stew.

[CurlyWhirly]

Elephant stew. Yuk!

[r4may]

Ugh :blink:

[Thos]

Good shaggy elephant story!

Thos. :biggrin:

[andsome]

Elephant stew. Yuk!

Ugh :blink:

You've obviously never tried it. It's very warming on a chilly African evening.

[Belatucadrus]

This post is silly, where are you going to get rabbits in Africa ?

How to cook elephant properly.

(Chapter XXI - Fertility of the country on the banks of the Rahad) Samuel White Baker

The African elephant is equally docile as the Indian, when domesticated, but we have no account of a negro tribe that has ever tamed one of these sagacious animals: their only maxim is "kill and eat." Although the flesh of the elephant is extremely coarse, the foot and trunk are excellent, if properly cooked. A hole should be dug in the earth, about four feet deep, and two feet six inches in diameter, the sides of which should be perpendicular; in this a large fire should be lighted, and kept burning for four or five hours with a continual supply of wood, so that the walls become red-hot. At the expiration of the blaze, the foot should be laid upon the glowing embers, and the hole covered closely with thick pieces of green wood laid parallel together to form a ceiling; this should be covered with wet grass, and the whole plastered with mud, and stamped tightly down to retain the heat. Upon the mud, a quantity of earth should be heaped, and the oven should not be opened for thirty hours, or more. At the expiration of that time, the foot will be perfectly baked, and the sole will separate like a shoe, and expose a delicate substance that, with a little oil and vinegar, together with an allowance of pepper and salt, is a delicious dish that will feed about fifty men.

The Arabs are particularly fond of elephant's flesh, as it is generally fat and juicy. I have frequently used the fat of the animal for cooking, but it should be taken from the body without delay; as, if left for a few hours, it partakes of the peculiar smell of the elephant, which no amount of boiling will overcome. The boiling of fat for preservation requires much care, as it should attain so great a heat that a few drops of water thrown upon the surface will hiss and evaporate as though cast upon molten metal; it should then be strained, and, when tolerably cool, be poured into vessels, and secured. No salt is necessary, provided it is thoroughly boiled. When an animal is killed, the flesh should be properly dried, before boiling down, otherwise the fat will not melt thoroughly, as it will be combined with the water contained in the body. The fat should be separated as well as possible from the meat; it should then be hung in long strips upon a line and exposed in the sun to dry; when nearly dried, it should be cut into pieces of about two inches in length, and placed in a large vessel over a brisk fire, and kept constantly stirred. As the fat boils out from the meat, the residue should be taken out with a pierced ladle; this, when cool, should be carefully preserved in leathern bags. This is called by the Arabs "reveet," a supply of which is most valuable, as a quantity can be served out to each man during a long march when there is no time to halt; it can be eaten without bread, and it is extremely nourishing. With a good supply of reveet in store, the traveller need not be nervous about his dinner. Dried meat should also be kept in large quantities; the best is that of the giraffe and hippopotamus, but there is some care required in preparing the first quality. It should be cut from portions of the animals as free as possible from sinews, and should be arranged in long thin strips of the diameter of about an inch and a quarter; these ribbon-like morsels should be hung in the shade. When nearly dry, they should be taken down, and laid upon a flat rock, upon which they should be well beaten with a stone, or club of hard wood; this breaks the fibre; after which they should be hung up and thoroughly dried, care being taken that the flesh is not exposed to the sun. If many flies are present, the flesh should be protected by the smoke of fires lighted to windward.

When meat is thus carefully prepared, it can be used in various ways, and is exceedingly palatable; if pounded into small pieces like coarse sawdust, it forms an admirable material for curry and rice. The Arabs make a first-class dish of melach, by mixing a quantity of pounded dried meat with a thick porridge of dhurra [sorghum] meal, floating in a soup of barmian (waker) [aubergine, eggplant], with onions, salt, and red peppers; this is an admirable thing if the party is pressed for time . . .

[CurlyWhirly]

You've obviously never tried it. It's very warming on a chilly African evening.

So youv'e tried it then? :ohmy:

[andsome]

You've obviously never tried it. It's very warming on a chilly African evening.

So youv'e tried it then? :ohmy:

We had a few friends round last week. We did not need the rabbits there were sufficient people to have a decent portion each. I must try the alternative way of cooking it when we have another dinner party. :biggrin:

[catgate]

This post is silly, where are you going to get rabbits in Africa ?

How to cook elephant properly.

The one necessity stipulated in all instructions on how to organise a successful safari, was a conjurer to bring rabbits out of a hat when needed.

The thing that has disappointed me with this post is that I will now not be able to try the method desribed for cooking the elephant foot. I painted our front gate with anti elephant paint some two or three years ago and we have not seen an elephant around here since. So much so that no one in the village even comments on their absence now. One positive side to this is that it appears to work on Wildebeast too.

[dadyassa]

This post is silly, where are you going to get rabbits in Africa ?

How to cook elephant properly.

The one necessity stipulated in all instructions on how to organise a successful safari, was a conjurer to bring rabbits out of a hat when needed.

The thing that has disappointed me with this post is that I will now not be able to try the method desribed for cooking the elephant foot. I painted our front gate with anti elephant paint some two or three years ago and we have not seen an elephant around here since. So much so that no one in the village even comments on their absence now. One positive side to this is that it appears to work on Wildebeast too.

Does it work on Inland revenue bills also ?