From: ccd@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au (Carol C Denehy)
Subject: Re: Australian Cuisine
Organization: None, and I like it like that
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 02:52:42 GMT

In article <1THIXKC@taronga.com> arielle@taronga.com (Stephanie da Silva) writes:
>Australian Cuisine is the name of a lovely cookbook that Manda gave
>me when she visited.  I've been flipping through it and it has lots
>of great recipes.  However, I'm beginning to understand why there's
>so much cross-cultural confusion on this newsgroup.
>
>For instance, there are a lot of meat cuts that I'm not familiar
>with.  Like Bolar Roast.  Hm, the recipe says it's a whole rump
>roast, now that I understand.  Here's another: bladebone steak.
>And topside steak.  Fillet steak I think I can glom on my own.
>
I haven't encountered Bolar roast yet. Topside is round. Bladebone
I would equate with pot roast.

>One thing that caused some confusion between Manda and I (it stemmed
>out of a pumpkin pie recipe) is that she calls all squash "pumpkins"
>while I just call a specific squash "pumpkin."  According to this
>book, a bush pumpkin is what I call a pumpkin.  Oh, this is neat....
>vegetable spaghetti -- that must be spaghetti squash.  I wonder why
>they didn't call it spaghetti pumpkin?  :-)  And what are chokos?
>
To Australians, all squash can be called pumpkin. Even summer
squash, but particularly all winter squash. Butternut pumpkin,
for example. There are many more types of pumpkin (winter
squash) here than one normally sees in the US. And I haven't
yet seen one that actually looks like a (US) pumpkin except for
those miniature ones. Chokos are green and vaguely ovoid about
4 inches long and about 2-3 in diameter. They grow on a vine and
taste sort of vaguely like a mild summer squash. I have rarely seen
yellow crooknect squash here so will grow it fom seed, which is
labelled: Pumpkin, early yellow summer crookneck.

>More stuff: tasty cheese, calrose rice, vanilla essence, silverbeet,
>vanilla junket tablet.  Oh, here is says slipstone peaches.  Are those
>freestone peaches?  Blood plums -- hm, I've heard of blood oranges but
>not blood plums.  And what is sago?  To me, a sago is a palm tree but
>I don't think that applies to this pudding.  Rice Bubbles?  Those must
>be Rice Crispies.  :-)  What is Copha? 
>
Tasty cheese is the cultural equivalent of American cheese, but is
closer in taste and behaviour to a mild cheddar. Calrose is white
rice, a little shorter grain that what ones sees in the US. Vanilla
essence is just vanilla extract (flavourings are called essences).
Silverbeet is swiss chard, very common (unlike swiss chard in the
US). Blood plums have the same type of red inside as blood
oranges and are very yummy. Sago is a starch, don't think there is 
an exact US equivalent. Ditto with Copha. is solidified 
coconut oil. It is white and waxy and must be refrigerated. No US
exact equivalent. Rice Bubbles are indeed Rice Crispies. If you
are ecountering Copha and Rice Bubbles together you must be reading
about chocolate crackles, which are the cultural equivalent of
the Rice Crispies and marshmallow stuff.

>I want to make this recipe for Mushrooms that uses a rolled cookie
>dough.  I've seen mushrooms made out of meringue, but not out of
>pastry like this.  And speaking of meringue, next time I want to
>impress someone, I think I'll make Pavlova (there are 3 recipes in
>this book).  What's so funny is Pavlova is one of those things that
>is unmistakably Oz, but I can't think of any other item that more
>Oz turned their noses up at.  It's a fairly simple dish -- just a
>meringue filled with cream and fruit -- well, baking the meringue
>is the hard part.
>
Australians seem to be sometimes embarrassed by Pavlovas, maybe 
like an American could be embarrassed by somebody getting excited
by hot dogs or some other archetypal American food. But they are
indeed delicious. The secret is that the meringue should be crisp
on the outside but still vaguely soft on the inside. I am told
it means very slow cooling, in the oven. Pile high on serving with
whipped cream and fresh fruit, esp passionfruit. I'm getting hungry!


>All in all, a wonderful little cookbook.  Thanks, Manda!
>-- 
>Stephanie da Silva                        Taronga Park * Houston, Texas
>arielle@taronga.com                           568-0480   568-1032   
>  "We are the beaters that scramble your eggmen.  We are..." 
>                    "Really dumb." -- The Darkwing Squad and Steelbeak

Carol Denehy
who is learning to cook like a dinkum Aussie. (but no Vegemite, please)