Best Recipe Ever

(Warning, this is a way round-about story to get to a point that's probably only funny to a select few with a weird sense of humor like me)

My husband and father-in-law swear by these Relish Tacos. I've never much cared for them having grown up with the more traditional salsa, or for the kids, ketchup tacos. Yes, we put ketchup on our tacos growing up because the salsa was too hot. Anyways, my father-in-law would make these on occasion and my husband would just ooh and ahh over how great they were and how much he loved these growing up. Fast-forward to his birthday last year and he asked me to make the relish tacos for his dinner and so my parents could try them. We were at a restaurant eating dinner with his family the week before and so I whipped out a piece of paper and a pen and asked my father-in-law to share the recipe. Pappy, Brad's grandfather, piped up saying that he had the original recipe that Grandma use to make that was published in a cook book. She was on a committee at her Baptist Church in Texas in 1996 that published a little community cook book. Food for Body and Soul. Anyways, we left the restaurant, drove to Pappy's house and he ended up giving me a copy of the cook book. I made the relish tacos for Brad's birthday that year with mixed reviews from my parents. The book however was a complete success. It's a total gem of old-time wisdom and has some of the strangest recipes including a complete section on Microwave cooking. Since I gained the cook book, despite my declaration that I was going to go thru and make all of Grandma's recipes that were published in the book, it has sat in my cabinet for a year gathering dust.

Fast-forward again, to yesterday, I was at the grocery store and radishes were on sale 2 bunches for $1. They are a primary ingredient in the relish tacos so I called Brad and asked him to get the cook book out and read me the recipe so I could get the rest of the ingredients to make them this week for him. While he was flipping thru the book which is sprinkled with bible quotes compiled by good church going south Texas Baptist women with tastes circa the 1970's, he came across the following recipe. By far, my favorite! In case you ever needed to know, here's how to make

Elephant Stew:

1 Medium Elephant
1/2 ton onions
1/2 ton carrots
1/2 ton potatoes
salt and pepper to taste
2 Rabbits (optional)

Cut elephant into bite size pieces. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over open fire four weeks at 465 degrees. Add vegetables and continue cooking. This serves 3,800 people. If more people are expected, add the two rabbits. Do so, however, only in case of emergency because most people do not like "hare" in their stew.
(From Dorris Westbrook to Betty Morris)

OMG! How funny is that? It's just mixed in the recipes in the Meats and Main Dishes section. I Love it!