The sad looking roast Wallaby shown above, is recipe No 2858, from the Australian supplement in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1890 edition. Ward, Lock and Co. (For a similar unappetising recipe, see Parrot Pie, below)
The following recipes appeared in Australian publications between 1890 and 1976. I have come across these over the last few years of reading vintage Australian papers etc, and felt in the spirit of Christmas cheer, I should share them.
Nick Murphy, December 2023
Pacific Grill, 1976, Dame Edna Everage
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
I know someone who made this. It was for a Australian house party to celebrate Charles and Diana’s wedding in July 1981. Of course it was really just another excuse to get stuck into internationally-acclaimed, award-winning Australian wine.
INGREDIENTS
6 lovely plump pork sausages; Dripping; 6 large mushrooms; 6 golden slices of freshly tinned pineapple; Tomatoes, halved; salt and pepper to taste
METHOD & RECIPE
Fry up saussies in a little fat until browned all over (turn well to avoid those horrid grey tummies). Removed from fat keeping them nice and hot somewhere. In the same dripping (already flecked with deliciously crisp sausage oozings) fry the pineapple rungs on both sides until cooked through and soggy. Drain on kitchen paper and keep hot while you sizzle up the peeled mushrooms and tomatoes, adding a dollop of extra fat if necessary, but be careful they do not break. Thrust each hot plump sausage cheekily through the hole in each pineapple slice and garnish with halved tomatoes seasoned with salt and pepper. A spicy tomato sauce is optional. [1]Source: Dame Edna Everage/Barry Humphries (1976) Dame Edna’s Coffee Table Book. P76. Australasian Publishing Company
Baked Meat Ring, 1956, anon
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
In my Australian childhood, the importance of eating copious amounts of meat was taken for granted. But why you would go to the bother of doing this, I can’t imagine.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
Here’s a hearty main-course dish – and no one would dream it’s made from “left-over” meat… A savoury treat :
INGREDIENTS:
1lb minced left-over meat; 1/2 cup milk; 1 minced onion; 1 dessertspoon Bonox; 1 egg; 1 cup breadcrumbs; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; 2 finely chopped mint leaves; 1/4 teaspoon salt; pepper.
METHOD & RECIPE
Combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Grease a small ring mould or loaf tin and pack the mixture into it. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F) for one hour. Turn out and serve with tomato sauce, and vegetables in season.[2]The Australian Women’s Weekly 25 Jan 1956, P36
Rabbit in aspic, 1946, Gwenda Wilson
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
Long before she became famous on BBC radio’s The Archers, Gwenda Wilson was making this dish for guests in Australia.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
With nightly performances, matinees, and rehearsals, the Don Sharp’s (Gwenda’s husband) naturally have little time for entertaining, but they love having people in for Sunday night supper. Here are some of the dishes Gwenda serves her guests on such occasions…
METHOD & RECIPE
One rabbit, cut up and cooked with enough water to cover. Add few bacon rashers and small chopped onion. Season to taste. When cooked remove all bones. Measure liquid and dissolve 1 dessertspoon gelatine, 1 cup liquid. Place hard-boiled eggs and green peas around inside mould, then arrange cooked rabbit and pour over liquid, and leave to set. Turn out and garnish with parsley or chopped mint.” [3]The Argus (Melb) 8 Jan 1946 P8
Recipe for hair dye, 1940, Nancye Stewart
[Do not eat this – it is a home-made hair dye]
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
This definitely belongs to the era when one made things rather than buying them, no matter how time consuming. Why a well known actor would spend time preparing this mixture rather than buying something off the shelf is unknown.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
Miss Nancye Stewart, well-known actress, tells how to darken grey hair with a simple home-made mixture. The Australian actress—whose artistry has won her many prominent theatrical roles gives the following advice on grey hair and how to darken it.
METHOD & RECIPE FOR HAIR DYE
Anyone can prepare a simple mixture at home that will darken grey hair and make it soft and glossy. To a half-pint of water add one ounce of Bay Rum, a quarter ounce box of Orlex Compound, and 1 ounce Glycerine. These ingredients can be bought at any chemist’s at very little cost. Apply to the hair twice a week until the required shade is obtained. This should make a grey-haired person appear 10 to 20 years younger. It does not discolor the scalp, is not sticky or greasy, and does not rub off. [4]The Advertiser (Adel) 12 Sep 1940 P6
Eggs pickled in beetroot sauce, 1935, Elissa Landi
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
Another time consuming recipe – in this case for colouring hard boiled eggs, so they look a “gay shade of red.” This is typical of celebrity recipes from Hollywood wheeled out by Australian papers at the time. Landi’s Hollywood career came to an end at about this time, after she refused a role.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
This is a dish particularly suitable for our climate. For the outdoor buffet luncheon, one of my pet recipes, says Elissa Landi, is for eggs pickled in beet juice.
METHOD & RECIPE
Boil about a dozen carefully scrubbed beets in a kettle of suited water. Pour off the liquid and cool. Have ready the desired number of cold hard-boiled eggs, and, after removing the shells, drop them in the cold beet water. Add a tablespoonful of vinegar several bay leaves, and some slices of onion. Let the eggs soak in this mixture, in the icebox, about 12 hours.
Then remove, allow to drain, and serve on crisp lettuce leaves. They should be a gay shade of red, and will taste as good as they look. [5]The Herald (Melb) 3 Oct 1935, P36
Fried Fish a la Russe, c 1931, Lupe Velez
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
Another recipe very much of its era – fried fish with a lot of cream, butter and fat. Australian newspapers were likely given such tidbits on up and coming stars by US studios and Velez did not visit the country. Velez did work with Australian Leon Errol in the Mexican Spitfire series. The author finds it hard to believe she ate this very often, if at all.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
Lupe Velez, the fascinating talkie star, is an enthusiastic cook, and likes trying out new recipes. Here are some which she got from a celebrated New York chef. She made them for some of her friends, and she declares they were pronounced excellent.
METHOD & RECIPE
Take two large slices of any large fish. Cut fillets, saving the skin and bones. Sprinkle fillets with pepper and salt, and pour over them one-third of a cup of white cooking wine.
Cover, and let stand thirty minutes. Drain and dip each piece separately in heavy cream, then in flour, and fry in deep fat.
Cook the skin and bones removed from fish with five slices of carrot, two slices of onion, a sprig of parsley, a bit of bay leaf, a few peppercorns, and two cups of cold water, until reduced to one cup of liquid.
Make a sauce of two tablespoons full of butter, three tablespoons full of flour, the fish stock, one-third of a cup of heavy cream, adding the yolks of two eggs, a dash of pepper and salt, and white wine to taste.
Arrange fish on a serving dish. Cover fish with a half-pound of sauteed mushrooms, and pour the sauce over it.[6]Table Talk (Melb) 9 Jul 1931 P32
The Candle Salad, c1930, Eileen Robinson
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
Eileen Robinson worked for several extended periods in the US. Unusual though it is, I tend to the view this recipe is real. The French dressing may have been a novelty in Australia at the time.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
From her extensive collection of recipes, gathered during world travels, Miss Eileen Robinson, of the Theatre Royal, supplies the following tasty dish, one which is exceedingly popular at luncheons in America. It is simple to prepare, and amply repays the trouble of making it.
METHOD & RECIPE
For each person allow a slice of pineapple and half a banana. Pare down the banana on the crooked side so that it will be straight and look like a candle. Set each section of banana into the hole in the pineapple, and place a maraschino cherry on top to represent the flame, pouring over a little paprika French dressing. Drain for a few moments, and then arrange individually on salad plates, with a garnish of lettuce.
To make the paprika French dressing take 6 tablespoons of pure olive oil, 2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice, 1 teaspoonful of salt, ¼ teaspoonful of pepper, ½ teaspoonful of paprika. Pour the oil and vinegar (or lemon) into a bowl, add the dry ingredients, and beat with an egg beater until thoroughly mixed. Then serve as recommended.[7]Sunday Mail (Bris) 2 Feb 1930, P18
Parrot Pie, c1890, Mrs Beaton
AUTHOR’S COMMENT
The idea of eating Parakeets or Budgerigars in a pie stretches the imagination. They are quite small and mostly comprised of beak, feather and bone. Still, the recipe was being prepared in England and possibly Mrs Beeton’s publishers were unclear about what a Parakeet was. (Mrs Beeton had died in 1865 but her publisher maintained the rights to use her name for many years)
INGREDIENTS
1 dozen paraqueets, a few slices of (underdone cold beef is best for this purpose), 4 rashers of bacon, 3 hard-boiled eggs, minced parsley and lemon peel, pepper and salt, stock, puff-paste.
RECIPE & METHOD
Line a pie dish with the beef cut into slices, over them place 6 of the paraqueets, dredge with flour, fill up the spaces with the egg cut in slices and scatter over the seasoning. Next put the bacon, cut in small strips, then 6 paraqueets and fill up with the beef, seasoning all well. Pour in stock or water to nearly fill the dish, cover with puff-paste and bake for one hour. Time- 1 hour. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.[8]Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1890. Ward, Lock and Co. P1259-1260
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Source: Dame Edna Everage/Barry Humphries (1976) Dame Edna’s Coffee Table Book. P76. Australasian Publishing Company |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | The Australian Women’s Weekly 25 Jan 1956, P36 |
| ↑3 | The Argus (Melb) 8 Jan 1946 P8 |
| ↑4 | The Advertiser (Adel) 12 Sep 1940 P6 |
| ↑5 | The Herald (Melb) 3 Oct 1935, P36 |
| ↑6 | Table Talk (Melb) 9 Jul 1931 P32 |
| ↑7 | Sunday Mail (Bris) 2 Feb 1930, P18 |
| ↑8 | Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1890. Ward, Lock and Co. P1259-1260 |