The recipes are in, even one for Elephant Stew.

Groves Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Center have collected 190 recipes with pecans as the main ingredient for inclusion in a special cookbook to be showcased during the 2006 Texas Pecan Festival.

Barbara Smithy with the Chamber of Commerce said there is something submitted in every category including appetizers, salads, breads and rolls, main dishes and vegetables, candy and cake, pies and desserts and miscellaneous.

The special stew recipe falls into the miscellaneous category, she said.

The tongue-in-cheek recipe comes from former Groves Mayor Jack Dorgan.

“Cut elephant into small pieces and cook until tender. This will take about two months. Add enough gravy to cover. Simmer on kerosene stove for about four weeks at 465 degrees. Best cooked in September or October when you can sit around the fire and crack pecans. Roast pecans on side of fire to be added with the stew is served.

Yield: About 4,000 servings. If more people are expected, add two rabbits. (This should only be done if absolutely necessary because most people do not like to find hare in their stew). Note: Especially good to serve at the Groves Pecan Festival, church gatherings and family reunions. Roasting pecans on the fire makes everyone hungry,” Dorgan concludes in his recipe.

“I’m a hunter, I hunt up in Colorado and east Texas mostly and at deer camp I could always cook for 10 but not for two. That’s my wife Elizabeth’s job,” Dorgan said via telephone. “That’s how the elephant recipe came into being.”

The comical recipe has been around for about 20 years, the couple said, and has been included in church cookbooks and other community cookbooks in Sam Rayburn and Jasper. Dorgan added pecans to the fictional recipe to tailor it to the submission requirements.

“This has been a fun joke recipe,” he added.

The real deal

Smithy said persons submitting recipes were given a number and recently officials picked numbers at random for prizes.

The winners of gift certificates were: Elizabeth Hollier, Helen Landry, Mary Lynn Showalter, Doris Thomas and Christa Hollier. 

They will also receive a copy of the cookbook when it is published. 

The gift certificates were given courtesy of The Courtyard Cafe, The Collection and Le Belle Maison.

Besides the Elephant Stew recipe, other miscellaneous pecan recipes to be included in the book are for candied pecans, party pecans, fairy dust pecans, spice holiday pecans and Swedish pecans.

Cookbooks will be sold for $10 with the anticipated date of arrival near Labor Day. Chamber officials plan to sell the book at the annual Texas Pecan Festival in late September.

For more information, call the chamber office at 962-3631.