From: wvenable@algona.stats.adelaide.edu.au (Bill Venables)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Australian Cuisine
Date: 22 Aug 92 03:21:51 GMT
Organization: Department of Statistics, University of Adelaide
In-reply-to: arielle@taronga.com's message of 20 Aug 92 07:59:44 GMT

>>>>> "Stephanie" == Stephanie da Silva <arielle@taronga.com> writes:

Stephanie> Australian Cuisine is the name of a lovely cookbook that Manda
Stephanie> gave me when she visited.  I've been flipping through it and it
Stephanie> has lots of great recipes.  However, I'm beginning to understand
Stephanie> why there's so much cross-cultural confusion on this newsgroup.

Yes.  What the hell is "broiling"? and what's "ground beef"? and what's a
"skillet" fer goodness sake?  Apparently "peppers" means just about
anything, even capsicums, ... and ...  Any normal person finds it very
confusing.  :-)

Stephanie> Oh, this is neat....  vegetable spaghetti -- that must be
Stephanie> spaghetti squash.  I wonder why they didn't call it spaghetti
Stephanie> pumpkin?  :-)

Because, Stephaine dear, its NAME is "spaghetti squash"...  :-)

Stephanie> And what are chokos?

A rather bland vegetable that grows on a vine.  It's about the size and
shape of an extra-large pear, but with a much firmer texture.  You can boil
them or bake them, but they don't taste of much.  You can also preserve
them in a syrup and they do then resemble a very good preserved fruit.  The
big thing about them is that they are dead easy to grow in the garden and
they produce big crops with about no work.

Stephanie> calrose rice

I thought this was a brand name.  It's a fine, white, usually long grained
rice (grown in Australia, of course).

Stephanie>  vanilla essence,

Artificial stuff.  Nasty.

Stephanie> silverbeet

Rather like spinach, and can be substituted for spinach.  The leaves are
more shiny and tough, and the stem is much thicker.  It's white (not really
silver!) and contrasts sharply with the leaf.

Stephanie> vanilla junket tablet.  

So?  It's a junket (rennet) tablet that makes vanilla flavoured junket.

Stephanie> Oh, here is says slipstone peaches.  Are those freestone peaches?

Yes, if you must.  The two types are called slipstone and clingstone peaches.

Stephanie> Blood plums -- I've heard of blood oranges but not blood plums.

Any red fleshed plum.  The Japanese style (satsumas) are the main ones, as
opposed to the main western european types which are usually yellow fleshed.

Stephanie> And what is sago?  To me, a sago is a palm tree but I don't
Stephanie> think that applies to this pudding.

A fine white loose grained starch that does indeed come from the sago palm.
The grains are about 1mm diameter and very white; they turn translucent
during cooking and swell, and pick up flavours very readily.  Good stuff.

Stephanie> Rice Bubbles?  Those must be Rice Crispies.  :-) 

Whaddaya mean?  No.  They're rice bubbles.  Anyway they're small, prolate
ellipsoidal things (like tiny pushed down bubbles) that taste of nothing.

Stephanie> What is Copha?

A heavy, stiff margarine made from coconut oil.  Interesting properties.

Stephanie> I want to make this recipe for Mushrooms that uses a rolled
Stephanie> cookie dough.  

"Cookie"??  What's a flamin' "cookie"??  You mean a biscuit dough.  :-)

Stephanie> What's so funny is Pavlova is one of those things that is
Stephanie> unmistakably Oz, but I can't think of any other item that more
Stephanie> Oz turned their noses up at.  It's a fairly simple dish -- just
Stephanie> a meringue filled with cream and fruit -- well, baking the
Stephanie> meringue is the hard part.

You realise there is a running dispute about the origins of Pavlova, don't
you?  The New Zealanders claim it's theirs.  Frankly they can have it.
It's pretty sickenly sweet to my taste.  The only thing is that you must
decorate it with slices of "Chinese gooseberries", (which the chauvinist
NZers have re-christened "Kiwi fruit", as if they invented it!).

Stephanie> All in all, a wonderful little cookbook.  Thanks, Manda!

Traditional Australian cookery is OK, but rather basic.  It is improving
dramatically, however, thanks to the Greeks, Italians, Yugoslavs, Chinese,
Vietnamese, Cambodians, ..., who have, luckily for us, chosen to come here.
Some of the ethnic cuisine you get here now, particularly the seafood, is
truly splendid, and it is becoming part of a greater Australian cuisine.

Bill
--
___________________________________________________________________________
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, | Email: venables@stats.adelaide.edu.au
Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia. | Tel: +61 8 228 5412  Fax: ...232 5670