[HPFGU-OTChatter] More about Au cooking than I ever knew I knew.

[storm]

Hey Mary Ann

re ANZAC biscuits -

> Thanks, Megan, these look really good.  Now could I be an absolute
> pain in la derriere, and ask what that bit of history actually is?  A
> national food with a story behind it is just what I'm looking for.

The  history (or alleged history) is that women made them for the men who were
at galloplli (where the british sent the ANZACs - Austalian and New Zealand Army
Corp - to die). They are supposed to keep well and thus could stand the sea
voyage in a care parcel. They never last that long in my house <g>. One of the
really good things about Anzac biscuits is that when you add the bi-carb to the
butter/goldern syrup is bubbles up (if it's the right temp and clean enough and
all that) which I always find impressive.

Convict/squater (sp) cooking contians what was availble to those ppl at the
time: meat, flour, salt and sugar. Maybe milk if they had a milking cow, no
vegies because they were not good at growing them, no spices or herbs because
they didn't believe in them. Goodness knows how any of them survived. It was
pretty bland - and a lot like the worst of english cooking.

Something we used to make when I was a brownie is damper. Only good if you have
an outside fire it is a mix of flour and water with a pinch of salt, twirled
around a stick and stuck in the fire. It winds up burnt on the outside and
undercooked on the inside. When it is suitabley burnt you pull it off the stick
and fill the inside with goldern syrup. I never saw the attraction myself.
something to consider for summer camp.

Pavalova history is disputed (as we have seen <g>) but is supposed to be a dish
created in the 40's for the dancer.

Pumpkins scones are a dish made (famously) by Flo Bejocker (sp)-Petersen, the
wife of Joh P-B, former right wing premier of Queensland and a formal federal
senator herself. Joh, of course, is a NZ blow in (but won't go back). A recipe
would be avaible on line, they are not hard. If you are lucky you might find her
home site and get a dose of the politics too.  /irony marker off/

vegimite (of course) is good, I can't remember if you can get vita-wheats in the
UK but lots of kids go off to school with vita-wheats (which have little holes
in them) and vegiemite - press two together and you get 'worms' coming out of
the biscuits. What about SAOs, iced vo-vos or finger buns? - It's hard to
remember what is avalible in the UK and what is AU specific...

If you have a BBQ be sure to have a boring potao salad and an iceburg lettece
and tomato one as accompaniments and NOTHING else. Maybe pineapple in one or
both of the salads. In the 40s the Qld (?) Pineapple Board paid the Women's
Weekly to do a special cook book on Pineapple and Au cooking has been filled
with odd dishes with pineapple in them every since, salads, stews, desserts. Is
the pineapple fritter (pineapple, battered and deepfried and covered in icing
sugar) popular OS? If you have burgurs put beetroot on them, canned of course. I
understand this is not a staple OS (who knows why?).

Modern Au cookings is still fairly simple I think, the dumbed down version of
various italian, greek, vietnamese, thai or indo dishes. You can't have too much
fat or sugar. But maybe that's just cheap sydney food.

storm