Irene Field

In the interests of variety and charting new unfounded territories, back to the bookcase I ventured. The next book appeared very sad and sorry, practically spineless so to speak, complete with loose leafs falling out, purchased when I resided in Australia. This one is ‘The Family Cookbook’ and is part of the (Australian) Family Circle Money-Go-Round Guide, by Ethel Brice, published 1977.  How this book reached its sad and sorry state is a total mystery I confess as I have never cooked one recipe from this book. Age has obviously rendered it practically obsolete – a bit like me I guess.

The foreword is interesting. Remember this book was published in 1977 and it reads – Quote: “In these days of higher and higher prices, not only for luxuries but also for so many of the staple items in our diet, FAMILY CIRCLE thought it seemed like a good idea to bring together into a single book a host of our best ideas to brighten up the besieged family budget” Unquote. Doesn’t that give you a ‘Back to The Future’ moment?  Even back in 1977 households were financially besieged, just as we are in 2012.

My recipe choice? I opted for the chapter entitled “Try our Magic Ways with Low-Cost Fish” I have to be honest none of these really appealed so I settled for a recipe called ‘Fish Roll’ which uses a large can of salmon (in the 70’s, Salmon was obviously still a low-cost item).

I did not cheat and this recipe required a pastry to be made from flour, margarine (I used butter), one egg and milk. It has been a very long time since I have made my own pastry. This was a feat in itself. The instructions were to roll the pastry out. Take the can of salmon, drain and flake it, and into it mix finely chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  You covered the dough with this mixture, and then rolled it as for a Swiss Roll. Which is very unusual for something resembling a fish pie? I was that taken back with this instruction, I actually googled Swiss Roll images to ensure a Swiss Roll was what I thought it to be. Every result was a sweet Swiss Roll, and I am wondering if the word ‘Roulade’ hadn’t entered the 1970’s vocabulary as yet back then?

I followed the recipe. Did my Swiss Roll thing, onto an oven tray, brushed the pastry with milk and added some fancy slits into the top. Into the oven my Swiss Fish Roll went. Try saying Swiss Fish Roll very fast, six times in a row. Believe me it is easier to type than say!

The verdict? This one didn’t make the cut.    Pastry really isn’t a food item that lends itself to Swiss Rolling. It tasted better cold, then hot out of the oven.  One thing that I have gained fro this experience is I have managed to add to my Tongue Twister Repertoire. Swiss Fish Roll, Swiss Fish Roll.

Never mind my audience of one. We were bound to encounter a disappointment at some time. For my next recipe, we will leave the 1970s and head into the sparkly, shiny 21^st Century. 2003 here we come.

Irene Field

My recipe challenge has continued. However there was a slight hiccup due to a recent affliction. In Latin this is referred to as “Nunc tincidunt erat ac die de me” – for those of you unfamiliar with Latin that translates in English to “It was a Public Holiday and I had a Day Off” Well truths be known there were two long weekends, and two short weeks. My decision both weeks was to blog or to beach? Blog? Beach? It goes without saying that the Beach decision won.

Fear not my follower of one … or maybe two or more.  The challenge continued. I have now added a method to my madness. Previously I was taking a random book from my bookcase. Now I have decided to select each book as it is, in order.

And the recent selection bore the imaginative title of  ‘Wonderful Ways to Prepare Chinese Meals’, by Leslie Prow and edited by Marion Mansfield. Published by Ayers & James of Sydney in 1979, and in bold print on the cover is the grand price of $1.99. Yes… $1.99, That is not a sticker, but the actual price in print. Also emblazoned on the cover is ‘Full Color Plates – over 165 NEW recipes’ Oh the excitement of it all. I could hardly contain my pounding breast.

This book would have to be one of the most unusual I have encountered. There is no rhyme or reason or chapters sorting out which recipe is what, i.e., no Seafood, Beef, Chicken sections. Everything is there, in all it’s glory, and the only reference is the back index, which is alphabetical.

On opening this book, my choice was pages 42 or 43, with the following recipe choices:

Pork Fillet Chinese Style

Brussels Sprouts

Chocolate Ice Cream Balls

Butterfly Prawns

Chicken and Walnuts

Fish Soup

Chocolate Ice Cream Balls didn’t appeal as a dinner choice, so Chicken and Walnuts it was. Excepting I had no walnuts in the house but was in possession of two packets of Brazil nuts, which I thought would be a worthy substitution.

Reading the recipe, I wondered what the conclusion would be.  The recipe states to marinate diced chicken breasts in salt, sugar, sherry and soy sauce for 20 minutes. Dust drained chicken with cornflour and coat with beaten egg. Blend extra cornflour with chicken stock. Saute sliced nuts in oil and remove. Add garlic and ginger to the oil, then your chicken pieces, and stir fry. Now for the ‘magic ingredient’ Oh the sweet innocence of the 70s. You then are supposed to add ‘Glutamate’- the bane of asthmatics and allergy sufferers everywhere! Needless to say that did not get added, let alone lurk in my pantry. Add extra sugar and reserved marinade. Slight point of difference here. There was a total of four Tablespoons of liquid in the marinade to 1 kg of Chicken Breasts. How anyone could have any marinade reserved after combining these two, I have no idea.  So this part of the recipe was ignored. Stir Fry and then add cornflour combined with stock, bring to the boil until thickened. Return the nuts to the pan. Serve with rice.

When cooking this, I questioned this recipe. However it actually is very nice.  It may not be in the style of authentic Chinese cooking we now know, but it was tasty. I have two measures for these recipes as to whether they will be attempted again:

1.     Will the book have a post it note added to the page to refer back to?

2.    Am I asked to save some for the following day’s lunch box?

The answer is yes to both of these questions. Not too bad for a $AU1.99 book!