Moirs Jam jar from the Rouse Hill House storeroom. Rouse Hill House collection R74/78:4 Photo (c) Scott Hill for Sydney Living Museums
Along with 6 generations-worth of furniture, paintings, clothing and ephemera, Rouse Hill House is crammed with a rich collection of kitchenalia. Routine housekeeping of the house’s service wing provides a great opportunity to see these objects up close. Continue reading
Meat souffle, made from a manuscript recipe in the Rouse Hill House and Farm collection. Photo Jacqui Newling © Sydney Living Museums
Adapting recipes for modern tastes is a challenge: we have expectations of what a dish should taste like, what it goes with, how and even when it should be eaten, which are generally culturally learned. There are recipes that are achievable but may not be deemed acceptable on all tables these days – jelly is a good example. It was once revered on the finest society tables but you’d rarely find jelly served anywhere but at children’s party or possibly at yum cha. Continue reading
Cattle resting at the Nowra Show, February 2016. (c) Scott Hill, Sydney Living Museums
If you walked past Meroogal on your way to the show you may have sampled some 19th century fare. Continue reading
Thatched Wheelright's Cottage, Easton, UK © Colin Smith and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Calling all cooks! I’ve had mixed success replicating old recipes, some working out better than others. Of late, a Thatched House Pie has proved to be something of a challenge for me, and is my current culinary conundrum. Continue reading
Crimson Rosella. Pennantian P[arrot] (Detail). Watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’. Volume 04: Zoology of N. [New] Holland etc. [Album view] item 43. © State Library of New South Wales PXD 1098 / vol. 4
Taking advantage of the relative calm that the new year has brought, I’ve been savouring some of the manuscript and heirloom recipes in our collections. Expect to find in the next few weeks a thatched roof pie, a meat souffle and sago plum pudding, but today’s pick is ‘Rosella Jam’. Continue reading
At the Nowra show, ca1910. From 'Shoalhaven scenes and people; Cyrus S Moss photographer. State Library of NSW ON436
Agricultural shows have always been centers for display as much as community get-togethers. For the inhabitants of Meroogal the annual Nowra show – which opens next week – was an anticipated event, and not just because they were its immediate neighbors. Continue reading
Musa Paradisiaca [fruit detail]. P.J. Redoute, 'Les-liliacées', Vol.8,1805-1816.jpg
By the 1830s colonial gardens in New South Wales featured a wealth of exotic plants that in Britain were only found in costly hothouses, including that staple of the fruit bowl, the sweet banana and its cousin the plantain. Continue reading
Bernice guarding her egg stash at Rouse Hill House Photo © Scott Hill Sydney living Museums
The chickens at Rouse Hill are prodigious layers – and take advantage of one especially broody colleague! Continue reading
The 2015 Christmas market at the Hyde Park Barrack. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums
Its been a huge year for us at The Cook and the Curator and for SLM:Food! Continue reading
'Cheese darlings' from Mrs Maclurcan's Cookery Book, 1905. Photo © Jacqui Newling
How many of us grew up with ‘Cheds’ or Savoury Shapes (the original ones, not the later barbeque or pizza versions)? While cheese with biscuits or crackers has been around for centuries, whoever got the bright idea of putting the cheese in the biscuit was really onto something. Continue reading