Category: Blog

The depths of an Australian winter in Newcastle can still be pretty mild but being wintertime we still look forward to opening up our recipe books to the comfort food pages. Today’s recipe is based on creamed rice, a dessert (in my opinion) that ranks in the top 10 of winter desserts and invariably I make too much because it is just so good.

We all know creamed rice, rice custard and rice pudding – well this is a combination of both. To add a touch of difference, we caramelise the sugar and finish this dessert with a thin layer of crispy caramel, similar to a crème brulee.

Creamy Caramel Rice Pudding

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Servings: 4 serves

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 150 g caster sugar
• 100 ml water
• 300 ml thickened cream
• 180 g medium grain rice
• 750 ml milk
• 250 ml water
• 7 ml vanilla essence
• pinch salt
• 3 eggs
• 50 g extra caster sugar

Method

 

1. Assemble your ingredients
   
2. Pour 100ml water into a saucepan
3. Carefully add the 100g sugar into the middle of the water. Do not mix
   
4. On your stove top bring the water and sugar to a rapid simmer. Again, do not stir or move the saucepan
   
5. Cook for around 10 minutes, until it starts to turn colour. You can stir it now
   
6. Add the cream
   
7. Bring back to the boil while stirring
   
8. Stir in the milk, 250ml water, rice, vanilla and salt
   
9. Bring back to the boil and turn the heat down to a slow simmer
   
10. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
    
11. Turn off heat and cool slightly
12. Preheat your oven to 150℃
13. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and then strain them
14. Temper the eggs with a few spoonfuls of the hot rice mix before stirring the egg mix back into the creamy rice
    
15. Mix well
16. Portion the rice into oven proof bowls
    
17. Bake the rice in a water bath for 45 minutes
    
18. After 45 minutes remove the bowls and place on a clean, dry, flat oven tray
    
19. Turn the oven to the grill setting
20. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of caster sugar on the top of each bowl and spread evenly
21. Place bake under the grill for 5 minutes to caramelise the sugar
    
22. Ready to serve
    

Notes

Adjust the sweetness to suit

Serve with a berry compote or on its own

The City of Adelaide, along with the City of Hobart, are both regarded as cities that have managed to retain much of the heritage architecture of early British settlement of the 19^th century. The origins of both cities however are vastly different, for Hobart was a penal settlement and Adelaide was settled by free settlers.

The idea of British settlement of the Southern side of the continent was influenced, to a degree by the ongoing interest by successive French Navigators – firstly by Laperouse and secondly Nicholas Baudin. The concern of those early British Colonists, while not unfounded for both countries were not on friendly terms at the time, did highlight the fact that controlling an entire continent would require further British settlements. The French however were more interested in scientific study and both the Baudin and Laperouse names’ feature prominently as geographical place names, both in Australia and overseas. As an aside, when I worked with the French company Accor, the name of the restaurant was ‘Baudin’s’.

Adelaide was initially founded on almost Utopian principles, promising civil liberties and freedom from religious persecution for all. It was thought only having free settlers and no convicts would mean that Adelaide would be free of crime, so much so that the Adelaide of 1837, planned by Colonel William Light did not even have a gaol.

Colonel William Light had been commissioned as the Surveyor-General of South Australia, the previous year in London and after discounting several sites including the mouth of the Murray River and also present-day Glenelg, Light settled on an area of land, further inland, straddling the River Torrens, to site this new settlement which was to be called Adelaide. What came to be referred to as ‘Light’s Vision’ was a city surrounded by extensive parklands in roughly a figure eight shape. An extensive survey around the central grid pattern of both Adelaide and North Adelaide avoided the problems of unplanned development. Today Adelaide is regarded as one of the world’s most liveable cities.

Recently, Chris led a group of 23 other ladies from our community on a four-night stay in Adelaide and the images that Chris sent back reminded me of our stay in Adelaide nearly 50 years ago. While Adelaide has changed a great deal since 1977, the grand mansion that is Ayer’s House is still there.

While there are many notable buildings along North Terrace, Ayers House is an example of a private residence that did not succumb to demolition, for in 1970 the South Australian Premier, Don Dunstan, stepped in when he realised the tourism potential of this magnificent building.

Dating back to 1846, Ayers House’s most famous resident was Sir Henry Ayers who was the South Australian Premier for a record five terms and he lived at the house from 1855 until his death in 1897. You’ll no doubt associate the Ayer’s surname with that big rock in the Northern Territory now known as Uluru. During his tenure many cabinet meetings, parliamentary dinners and grand balls were held there.

In 1977 Chris and I worked at Ayers House for about two months during our trip around Australia. It was amazing how many doors opened when I mentioned that I had worked at the Sydney Hilton’s best restaurant. At the time Ayers House had two restaurants – the fine dining ‘Henry Ayers’ and ‘Paxton’s’ which was more bistro style, and they were the most popular restaurants in Adelaide. A regular diner was Don Dunstan who was still the Premier of South Australia and would be until 1979.

Not to be confused with the word ‘garnish’, the garniture – Grenobloise was a feature on the Henry Ayer’s menu for both luncheon and dinner. As the name suggests, the Grenobloise originated in the City of Grenoble and quickly became a popular way of serving seafood.

For this recipe I used gluten free bread for the croutons and gluten free flour to dust the fish but that is not compulsory. While not traditional, I used Cafe de Paris butter when I prepared my fish, but I will give you instructions for the authentic way. If you have made Cafe de Paris Butter, you will naturally have to moderate the amount of seasoning.

Snapper Fillet Grenobloise

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Servings: 4 servings

Course: Main Course

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 3 slices plain white bread cut into cubes
• 1000 ml vegetable oil for frying the croutons
• 50 g plain flour
• salt and pepper
• 600 g skinless snapper fillets 150g each portion
• 50 ml olive oil
• 150 g butter
• lemon segments from one lemon in a large dice
• 20 ml lemon juice
• 40 g baby capers
• 20 g parsley washed and finely chopped

Method

 

1. Assemble your ingredients
   
2. In a suitable sized saucepan heat the and test the temperature with a single piece of bread
   
3. If hot enough carefully add all your cubed bread and gently stir with a metal spoon until an even golden brown
   
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and drain the croutons and place on kitchen paper and put on the side
   
5. In a suitable sized frypan heat the olive oil
6. Season the fish fillets with a little salt and pepper
   
7. Lightly dust with plain flour
   
8. Gently place the snapper fillets in the frypan, preferably presentation side down first
   
9. Turn the fillets after about 2 minutes
   
10. Place the filets on a serving dish
    
11. Add the plain butter (or Cafe de Paris butter) to the pan and melt quickly
    
12. Add the lemon pieces, lemon juice and capers
    
13. Stir in the croutons
    
14. Stir in half the parsley
15. Pour over the fish fillets
16. Sprinkle with the rest of the parsley
    
17. Serve with green salad and French fries

Notes

Cool the deep fry oil after use before straining the oil back into its bottle for future use.

If you are preparing just one portion for yourself, you can finish your sauce in the pan without removing the snapper fillet.

Chances are that if you have eaten in an Italian restaurant or have attended an Aussie Barbeque or maybe ordered pizza you would have unknowingly come into contact with today’s subject –compound butter. Yes, the butter in your garlic bread is an example of a compound butter. Another type which I haven’t tried for many years is the sweet, whipped butter that is a standard accompaniment served with McDonald’s pancakes. So, you get it, ‘Compound Butter’ is butter with other ingredients added.

Butter is an interesting product for it can incorporate certain additions when it is creamed, including liquids that will add flavour that can complement the dish. Today’s recipe is Cafe de Paris butter, which is delicious on top of the grilled sirloin steak. Actually, it is perfect on chicken, pork and fish grills as well. My recipe benefits from the addition of raw egg yolk and extra whipping which will improve the appearance of the finished grill as it melts over steak and an even more creamy texture if you speed the process up by placing the cooked meat under the oven grill element.

The origin of Cafe de Paris Butter is from a restaurant of the same name in Geneva, Switzerland. While the concept of adding herbs and flavourings to butter has been around for many years, there seemed to be no confusion with who popularised the name Cafe de Paris butter – that being the cafe’s owner.

I would think that many chefs would have their own similar recipe for this famous butter, which reflects on the secrecy in which the original recipe is held. If you want to try the original, then journey to Geneva where it is still a speciality of that same restaurant.

Cafe de Paris Butter

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Course: Accompliment

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 250 g butter softened
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 small onion peeled finely chopped, gently cooked and chilled
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
• 6 anchovy fillets finely chopped
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tbs curry powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp tarragon
• 1 tsp thyme leaf
• 2 tsp chopped parsley
• 1 tbs chopped chives
• 1 tbs parmesan cheese
• salt
• cracked pepper

Other ingredients which are optional:

• spring onion, capers, ginger

Method

 

1. Assemble your added ingredients
   
2. Prepare the onions – the term we use here is ‘sweating’
   
3. Place your softened butter in your mixer and whip on medium speed for 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the mixing bowl down
4. The butter should have a pale fluffy appearance
   
5. Add the rest of the ingredients
   
6. whip for a further 2 minutes, repeating the scraping
   
7. Turn the butter mixture out on to a sheet of greaseproof paper (About 20cm x 30cm)
   
8. Roll the butter up into a 5cm diameter cylinder shape
   
9. Trim the excess paper ends
   
10. Now wrap this butter cylinder shape in plastic wrap
    
11. Refrigerate the butter until hard
12. When chilled cut a 1cm slice to melt on top of your grilled steak
    

Notes

Perfect in the freezer –it’s a sauce in the freezer

Grilled Sirloin Steak with Cafe de Paris Butter

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Course: Main Course

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• I purchased two sirloin steaks about 2cm thickness each, at Coles when they were on special. They required no extra trimming and finished product was very tender.

Method

 

Grilling your steak:

1. Pat the steak dry and season both sides with salt
   
2. Let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes
3. The meat will seem to be sweating
   
4. Pat the meat dry again with kitchen paper
   
5. Pre heat your pan or grill plate
6. Season your steak with cracked pepper if desired
7. Brush your steak with olive oil
   
8. Place on your hot grill
   
9. I grilled my steak for about 90 seconds before turning
   
10. I turned the steak three times for an approximate cooking time total of six minutes
    
11. When you think the steak is done to your liking take out of the pan and rest the steak for 5 minutes
    
12. Place generous slice of the Cafe de Paris on top
    
13. place it under the grill element in your oven till melted
    
14. Serve your steak with French Fries

Recently I noticed that the great-grandson of Hugh Victor Foy had reintroduced the ‘Mark Foy’s’ label as an on-line retailer. My thoughts however did not automatically go back to the magnificent Mark Foy’s Piazza store opposite Hyde Park in Sydney. Instead they drifted to the Hydro-Majestic Hotel in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, which is where the inspiration for today’s newsletter comes from – Christmas in July. But before we delve into recipes, let us have a look at the connection between Australia’s famous retailer and that equally famous Blue Mountains Hotel.

The history of the Foy family in Australia begins in 1858 when Mark Foy (snr) emigrated from Ireland to Australia. The Foy’s had three sons and two daughters with the middle son, also named Mark, born in the goldfields of Bendigo in 1865. Mark (snr) was successful in business and by 1870 the family had moved to Melbourne to open a drapery business and became even more successful.

The reins of the Foy business were handed to the eldest son Francis in the 1880’s and upon the death of Mark Foy (snr) in 1884, Francis sold the business and together with his younger brother Mark, moved to Sydney, where the families success continued, firstly with a store in Oxford Street Sydney before settling in 1909 on the site of ‘The Piazza’.

The story of the Foy’s family flagship store alone is worthy of its own conversation and it should be pointed out that all three brothers, Francis, Mark and Hugh were all part of the success of the Mark Foy’s brand. As individuals the brothers all became wealthy and were highly regarded in a number of different fields, but it was the middle son, Mark with whom we associate not only with this store but also The Hydro Majestic Hotel.

Mark Foy opened the ‘Hydro’ in 1904 – five years before the Sydney store and it was clear to see that Mark liked things on a grand scale. Originally Mark envisioned the hotel as operating as a hydropathic sanatorium or health spa, utilising the natural spring water, but a combination of public disinterest and the spring drying up lead the hotel to be rebranded as a luxury resort. Needless to say it became very popular.

By today’s standards the hotel was considered ‘off-grid’ with its own sewerage plant and water as well as an electricity plant. The hotel was steam heated in winter and the amenities featured a swimming pool, billiards room, tennis court and theatre, while telephones were in every guestroom. Naturally the hotel had food and service to match. In short, all the attributes to attract Sydney’s elite. The biggest selling point for me would have been the fresh mountain air, the breathtaking views of the Kanimbla Valley, the open log fires and I guess the food.

In the 1950’s, the Mark Foy’s Sydney store and the hotel saw a steady decline in business and stature, perhaps due to the death of the patriarch, Mark, but more probably due to the changing post-war tastes of Australians.

Today ‘The Piazza’ has been re-purposed and is now called the Downing Centre. The ‘Hydro’ however continues to be used as a luxury hotel with still those amazing views.

Christmas in July – Yulefest

Yulefest, as the locals call it, is celebrated every year in the Blue Mountains, starting in late June and finishing in early August. Its origins in Australia can be traced back to the 1980’s and I can remember cooking a ‘Christmas in July’ menu at our home in July of 1986 for about thirty ladies.

In the Blue Mountains many dining establishments have embraced the celebration and offer a broad spectrum of themed food ranging from traditional to wordy fine dining options.

Today I am featuring a couple of simple recipes to get you in the mood, plus a step by step recipe.

Don’t forget to check out newsletter # 30 from last year if you want a great Christmas pudding recipe.

Mulled wine

Mulled wine’s origin can be dated back to the Roman Empire and hence, because the empire was so vast its popularity, spread through most of Europe. It was a Victorian England drink thanks to the Charles Dickens’s novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ and more recently it is a beverage offered in the Christmas markets of both Germany and Austria. Indeed, because of the flexibility of ingredients, a number of European countries have a version of Mulled wine.

The most important thing to remember when preparing Mulled Wine is to avoid boiling the wine, because it is meant to be an alcoholic drink.

Dip

What better way to start your mid-year festivity than a tasty dip with crackers and beverage of your choice, but probably not the mulled wine. This recipe is pretty easy and naturally better than store bought.

Today’s step by step recipe

I always think that Roast Pork is best served in cold weather, so what better time in Australia than Christmas in July.

As promised in the previous newsletter, today’s recipe makes use of the roasted tomato sauce recipe. But first let’s have look at the history of the humble baked bean and the beans mostly associated with this popular pantry item.

The haricot bean and also the cannellini bean were cultivated in South America around 3000BCE and long before the age of discovery, cultivation of these beans had spread to North America. In the 1500’s the Spanish brought the dried beans back to Europe, but it was early British settlers in North America that adopted not only the bean as part of their diet but also the Native American cookery method.

The British favoured molasses and ham over the bear fat and maple syrup used by the natives as flavourings and while traditional beans were cooked in a buried clay pots (similar to the New Zealand Hangi) the British settlers used brick ovens. The popularity of baked beans in the New England region of the U.S.A led to its association with the dish ‘Boston Baked Beans’ and the City of Boston being referred to as ‘Bean Town’.

Back in Europe both the haricot and cannellini beans (along with others) became very popular, particularly in England, Spain and Italy with those countries developing their own style of recipes.

Gradually the English version of baked beans changed to a less sweet product compared to North America. In the U.S.A. baked beans are often served as an accompaniment to a meal and the canned variety is still a staple in military ration packs. In England, Australia and New Zealand baked beans are an integral part of an ‘English Breakfast’ and they are also a go to quick meal often served hot on toast.

While beans were eventually cultivated in many countries there are only two main manufacturers of canned baked beans in the world – Bush Brothers in the U.S.A. and Heinz in Europe and Australia.

If I was eating canned baked beans I generally discard most of the syrupy sauce and replace it with cheddar cheese, but at the end of the day nothing beats homemade. I hope you enjoy the following recipe.

Sorry for any confusion, but today’s recipe is just so versatile for it can be used as a vegan soup or with the addition of cream, crème fraiche or natural yoghurt then you will have cream of tomato soup. For the diet conscious, skim milk would be a good alternative, while almond milk would appeal to those avoiding dairy.

As a sauce, try it when you prepare lasagne or any pasta requiring a tomato sauce. It is also delicious with seafood.

Naturally this time of year is not tomato season, but I did manage to find some pretty good ones under the ‘odd bunch’ label, so the price was all right too.

In next week’s newsletter I will use this recipe as a base for ‘breakfast beans’ which I’m sure you will appreciate much more than the canned variety.

Roasted Tomato Soup / Sauce

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Servings: 6 - 7 litres

Course: Sauces, Soup

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 3000 g firm ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
• 1000 g carrots washed, peeled and roughly chopped
• 400 g celery washed, peeled the outside string, roughly chopped
• 500 g onions peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 tsp chilli paste
• 60 ml olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves peeled
• 2 litres vegetable stock
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 3 tsp ‘Masterfoods’ spaghetti bolognaise seasoning
• 100 g tomato paste
• ½ bunch shallots roughly chopped
• 50 g parsley leaf only
• salt
• pepper

Method

 

1. Assemble your ingredients
   
2. Pre heat your oven to 175c
3. Cold wash all the vegetables and prepare them
4. Add any suitable peelings/off cuts to the vegetable stock – avoid onion peelings and big celery leaves
5. Add bay leaves and peppercorns to the stock and bring to a slow simmer
   
6. Simmer for 30 minutes before straining
7. Meanwhile in a baking dish mix the carrot, celery, onion, garlic, chilli paste and 30ml olive oil
   
8. Bake for 60 -90 minutes, stirring occasionally
   
9. In a separate baking dish mix the tomatoes and the rest of the olive oil
   
10. Bake these for at least 60 minutes before adding the ‘Masterfoods’ seasoning
    
11. When the tomatoes are collapsing and swimming in juice transfer both the vegetables and the tomatoes to a large saucepan with the strained stock
12. Bring the soup back to a simmer and adjust the seasoning
    
13. Blend the soup with your stick blender, while still in the saucepan
14. Add the shallots and parsley and blend again until all ingredients are pureed
    
15. Check the seasoning again
16. Serve
    

Notes

For those who prefer a smoother soup, without the bits, you should pass the soup through a fine sieve, after the first blending or the second blending, then check the seasoning

The Age of Discovery brought many foods to Europe from the ‘New World’ which today we take for granted, including potatoes, tomatoes and corn. Initial suspicion and scepticism of these foods gave way to widespread cultivation and eventually anchored the cuisines of many European countries.

The Vanilla pod and the cocoa bean however would never be able to be cultivated in Europe because of Europe’s temperate climate. This did not stop the Dutch, the Belgians and the Swiss from embracing both these foods – particularly the cocoa bean and all things chocolate.

Advances in The Netherlands in 1828 by the chocolate maker van Houten on how to extract the all important cocoa butter meant the cocoa bean was destined for far more than just a beverage. Later, Lindt, a chocolatier from Switzerland invented the process of ‘conching’ which made chocolate silkier and smoother.

The list of chocolate desserts now available is varied and includes soufflés, lava cake, devil’s food, red velvet cake, flourless, black forest, fudge, brownies and today’s subject, the Sachertorte.

Sachertorte

As chocolate cakes go the Sachertorte has been around longer than most and while the date of its origin is open to interpretation – somewhere between 1830 and 1850 – there is no confusion over who created it – Franz Sacher, an Austrian confectioner. Created by Franz when he was a 16 year old apprentice, the cake proved very popular, eventually achieving worldwide fame after Franz’s son, Eduard, opened The Sacher Hotel in Vienna in 1876. The Hotel is still there and is regarded as one of the world’s leading hotels with customers queuing up to try the Sachertorte with a coffee. You can even purchase one of the hotels famous cakes online.  Alternatively, you can have a go yourself with today’s step by step recipe.

There are many recipes for Sachertorte and even the Hotel Sacher publishes an ‘approximate’ recipe which is the recipe I am using today. I followed the recipe pretty closely and used a 70% chocolate plus a dash of dark rum in the apricot jam.

Sachertorte

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Servings: 12 servings

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 130 g dark couverture chocolate broken up (min. 55% cocoa content)
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 150 g softened butter
• 100 g icing sugar
• 6 eggs separated
• 100 g castor sugar
• 140 g plain wheat flour sifted
• 300 g apricot jam sieved
• 10 ml dark rum
• 160 ml water
• 250 g castor sugar
• 150 g dark couverture chocolate (extra) broken up (min. 55% cocoa content)
• unsweetened whipped cream to garnish

Equipment

• You’ll need a 24cm spring form cake tin greased and lined for this recipe as well as whisk attachment for your mixer

Method

 

1. Assemble your ingredients for the cake
   
2. Assemble your ingredients for the glaze
   
3. Pre heat your oven to 170c
4. Grease your spring form cake tin with a little butter and line with baking paper
   
5. Carefully melt over simmering water the 130g of chocolate
6. Let the chocolate cool a little after it melts
7. In your mixer bowl whisk the butter, vanilla and icing sugar
   
8. mix until creamy and light
   
9. One by one add the egg yolks to the creamed butter
   
10. Whisk until they are well incorporated
11. Next gradually add the melted chocolate to the butter mixture
    
12. Mix well
    
13. In a separate clean bowl whisk the egg whites and caster sugar
    
14. Mix till meringue like
    
15. Place the egg white on top of the butter chocolate mix
    
16. Next add the sifted flour
    
17. fold the egg whites and flour through the butter mix
    
18. Transfer the mix to your cake tin
    
19. Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes, until the surface of the cake yields slightly to the touch
    
20. When done remove the cake from oven and let cool for 15-20 minutes before attempting to turn out and remove the baking paper
21. Finally on your cake cooling rack let the cake cool completely
    
22. Meanwhile prepare the chocolate glaze
23. In a clean saucepan boil the water and castor sugar for five minutes
24. Remove the sugar syrup from the stove and cool for 5 minutes
25. Stir in the 150g of extra chocolate
    
26. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth
    
27. Let the chocolate mix cool to just warm
28. Warm the apricot jam (with a little dark rum)

Now we are ready to assemble the cake

1. Using a serrated slice the cake horizontally, leaving the bottom half slightly thinner than the top half
2. Again using a serrated knife gently trim the domed surface of the top half
   
3. Next paint the top of both halves with warmed apricot jam
   
4. Place the top half on top of the bottom half
   
5. Paint the sides of the assembled cake with apricot jam
6. Finally pour the chocolate glaze over the cake using a palette knife to smooth the surface
   
7. Let the cake ‘set’ for a few hours before serving with whipped cream and maybe a coffee
   

Notes

One of the criticisms occasionally aimed at this cake is that the texture is a little ‘dry ‘which some may find appealing.
Serving it with whipped cream or double cream (and a coffee) gives a good balance

Winter is approaching. Outside we have had two weeks of wet weather and invariably we think about comfort food. Many of us also think about simplicity and what could be simpler than a one pot, slow cooked beef pot roast.

However, many recipes are happy to miss a couple of important steps that will maximise the flavour of many slow cooked dishes. I refer to the sealing of the meat and certain vegetables such as onion and garlic.

Another important step is to minimise the amount of liquid that you initially add. Remember that you can always add more but too much liquid leads to a watery sauce which you will have to spend more time reducing.

My recipe will hopefully make use of ingredients that you already have on hand with only the beef and cider going on your market list.

You can choose an electric slow cooker (crock pot) in which case you will need a frypan to brown the meat. I used a Dutch Oven which can be used on your stove top or in your oven and negates the use of a frypan.

Finally, this is an excellent dish to portion up and freeze.

Not all famous dishes are named after royalty, ballerinas and chefs. Oscar Tschirky is a name that, outside of culinary circles, is probably unknown but his notoriety can be traced back to his tenure at New York’s Delmonico’s Restaurant and later at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the capacity of Maitre d’hotel.

Delmonico potatoes were featured in this blog about one year ago and that restaurant still exists in New York as does the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel which is where Oscar Tschirky became a house-hold name of sorts.

As a teenager Oscar migrated from Switzerland to the U.S.A. in 1883 and settled in New York where he started work as a trainee waiter at Hoffman House before moving on to Delmonico’s and finally settling at the Waldorf. In short, Oscar had the good fortune of being associated with successful restaurants.

Oscar is thought to have only created one dish – the Waldorf salad. You may be more familiar with this concoction of apples, celery and mayonnaise and its association with the episode of the British comedy series Fawlty Towers, named ‘Waldorf Salad’.

Oscar was able to avoid the contentious issue of the actual origin of popular dishes because he wasn’t a chef, he was ‘front of house’ and worked hard at promoting his association with the hotel via his cookbook .Ultimately ‘Oscar of the Waldorf’ was the inspiration of many of the Waldorf’s signature dishes including Thousand Island Dressing and Red Velvet cake. Veal Oscar on the other hand was not named after Mr Tschirky, but it didn’t stop this dish becoming a hotel favourite.

As far as Australia is concerned, Oscar’s most famous promotion just happens to be our most popular breakfast item – Eggs Benedict or occasionally known as ‘Eggs Benny”. This classic dish was originally four components – toasted English muffin, poached eggs, bacon and hollandaise sauce. Not being content with the original there are now more than 20 variations but our most popular (apart from the original) would be ham, smoked salmon or vegetarian. I have even seen a vegan alternative which somehow manages to get away with using the term ‘vegan eggs Benedict’. Is nothing sacred?

Sauce Hollandaise

In newsletter number 14 we offered a tutorial on how to poach eggs, but we have never explored the fifth of the ‘French Mother sauces’ – Hollandaise Sauce, which is an integral part of Eggs Benedict. Not that many years ago this sauce, when made in restaurants, may have lasted all day, but now Hollandaise Sauce made from scratch is regarded as a single service product. Around the time that producers had to start egg marking on eggs, health authorities clamped down on the service of hollandaise sauce. This in turn led to the unfortunate popularity of pre-made shelf stable sauces, but nothing beats fresh Hollandaise made with real eggs and fresh butter.

I was working at the Sydney Hilton when I started preparing large quantities of Sauce Hollandaise, by hand and while initially a daunting prospect, once you developed your technique it was pretty straight forward. The best way of achieving a good result at home for a few people is by using a stick blender. Here are a few tips to ensure success.

The minimum workable amount of egg yolks required is two (to be able to reach the blade of the blender) and this will give you enough sauce for two or three people. After that, you add one egg yolk for each additional person.

The egg yolks should be at room temperature as should the lemon juice and/or white wine vinegar.

Select a beaker or jar that your stick blender will just fit in.

To flavour the sauce and help with its emulsification you require fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar. I prefer a combination of white wine vinegar and lemon juice.

120g – 150g of butter, melted, should be used for two egg yolks. Add additional 60g butter for each additional egg yolk.  The milky residue containing any salts will settle out after the butter has melted and you should avoid using this.

Use cayenne pepper and salt for seasoning. I like to supplement with a little ground white pepper –basically a 50/50 mix. For a small volume of sauce, you need to be careful with seasoning – use the pinch method instead of fractions of teaspoons.

You’ll need both hands to mix the hollandaise. Stand the beaker on top of a tea towel to avoid the beaker slipping.

The finished product should have a mat gloss but not a greasy finish.

The order of work for a 10 minute breakfast

1. Prepare hollandaise sauce – keep warm
2. Prepare poached eggs
3. Toast muffins
4. Heat ham
5. Start assembling
6. Use the frypan from the ham to sauté spinach
7. Finish the dish with the spinach

Poaching Eggs

Here is a reprint of How to poach eggs from Newsletter number 14 (last year). If you are just poaching two or four eggs you should be able serve your poached eggs directly from the poaching pan. Keep in mind if you don’t like the hint of vinegar on the eggs you will need to refresh the eggs in fresh hot water.

Hollandaise Sauce

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Servings: 2 servings

Course: Breakfast

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 120 g butter
• 2 egg yolks room temperature
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• salt - scant
• cayenne pepper -scant
• ground white pepper –scant

Method

 

1. In a small saucepan slowly melt the butter
   
2. Meanwhile place the egg yolks, lemon juice and white wine vinegar in the beaker
   
3. Continue to heat the butter until the milky liquid on the bottom wants to boil
4. Take the butter off the heat, but do not cool
5. Using your stick blender carefully blend the egg mix
6. Keeping the blender running carefully add, by drizzling the hot butter into the eggs
   
7. If the sauce thickens too much add a few drops of hot water
8. Season as desired with salt, cayenne and white pepper
   

Eggs Benedict 

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Servings: 1 serve

Course: Breakfast

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 2 poached eggs as per method
• small batch of hollandaise sauce
• one plain English muffin split
• 60-70 g leg ham
• 30 g English spinach leaves washed and dried (optional)
• a little of the melted butter (from the hollandaise sauce recipe

Method

 

1. Assemble your ingredients
   
2. Prepare the hollandaise sauce – keep warm
3. Start poached eggs
4. Warm your serving plate
5. In a separate frypan gently heat the ham with a little of the butter
   
6. Toast muffins
   
7. Put toasted muffin halves on your plate
8. Top the muffins with the hot ham
   
9. Put that frypan back on the stovetop with the spinach
10. Sauté the spinach
    
11. Drain and dry (on absorbent kitchen paper) the poached eggs
12. Place the eggs on the ham
    
13. Mask the eggs with the Hollandaise sauce
    
14. Serve with some nicely placed sautéed spinach
    

In my early teens I used to accompany my Dad for the weekly Saturday trip to the supermarket. It sounds like an unlikely combination, but I think Mum taught Art classes on a Saturday morning. At that time we had continued to shop at West Ryde even though we had moved to the suburb of Epping. What passed for an up-to-date supermarket then was ‘Flemings’ – remembering this was a few years before the big supermarkets appeared.

Flemings was great as it had a basket elevator which took your groceries to the upstairs car park. Cold meats, fruit and veg, butcher and the PDF store were other places we visited as their produce was not available in Flemings. Dad was clinical in his shopping methods and together we worked as a ‘well-oiled machine’. The real highlight was stopping for a milkshake on the way home.

Naturally shopping in any supermarket 60 or so years ago was unlike the same experience today for the range of goods was far less and the pre-prepared / convenience foods that we enjoy today basically didn’t exist.

One exception was packet cake mixes for when they hit the shelves they were eagerly embraced by shoppers. This retail product had been around since the late 1940’s in the U.S.A. using powdered egg, but the introduction of adding fresh eggs in the 1950’s gave them an uptick in sales.

In Australia the variety of cake mix available in shops kept growing until a substantial amount of valuable shelf space was being taken with up with White Wings and Betty Sydney products. Products would come and go but ‘Vanilla Snow cake” seemed to stay for many years.

In addition to cake mixes, supplementary products such as pancake, pikelet and American style frosting mixes started appearing. The standout product for me was the self-saucing pudding mix. This product confused me for a number of years. I mean how could the watery topping end up underneath the pudding after it was cooked? Of course, I know why now, but it must have been an interesting product to develop.

Supermarkets today still have these same products, although they command less of a presence these days thanks to the competitive nature of supermarkets and the resurgence in home baking.

The Self Saucing Pudding

There are basically two main streams of cooking. One is the baking / pastry trade and the second is commercial cookery, which is the one I studied. Between the two there are lots of sub-categories or specialities but it would be fair to say that both trades interlock occasionally. As an example, a baker would need to know how to make a meat pie filling while a commercial cookery chef should be able to bake a Victoria Sponge.

As I have previously mentioned, the science attached to baked goods is critical, and that is why measuring ingredients and temperatures is crucial to success. Again, as an example, if a sponge is not rising in the oven as it should, because you missed an ingredient, you’ll have to live with the mistake. On the other hand, correcting the consistency of a stew can be handled with the addition of stock or a thickening agent.

The science behind self-saucing puddings which eluded me 60 plus years ago is relatively easily explained. The uncooked pudding consists of two components. The first is the sweet batter which goes in the bottom of your greased baker. The second component is the hot sweet liquid which is gently placed on the top of the batter. During the baking process the raising agent in the batter react and pushes the batter up while the liquid, being denser, finds its way to the bottom of the dish to form the syrupy sauce.  The hot liquid on top is crucial as it initiates a permeable barrier on the surface of the batter leaving the only place for the liquid to go is down.

Self-saucing butterscotch pudding

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Servings: 6 servings

Course: Dessert

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

For the batter

• 100 g unsalted butter softened
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or essence
• 1 egg
• 1⅓ cups self raising flour
• pinch salt
• ½ cup milk
• a little extra butter to grease your baker

For the topping

• ¼ cup 40g brown sugar
• ¼ cup (80g) golden syrup
• 40 g butter
• 1½ cups boiling water

Equipment

• For this recipe I prefer a clear glass baking dish which also allows you the chance of watching the pudding bake in the oven. You may find it easier to mix this small amount of batter by hand, while a jug suitable for hot liquid is also needed.

Method

 

Method (batter):

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180c
2. Assemble your ingredients
   
3. In a mixing bowl combine the butter, brown sugar and vanilla
   
4. Mix well
5. Incorporate the egg
   
6. Mix till emulsified
   
7. Add self-raising flour and salt
   
8. Mix well
   
9. Finally mix in the milk
   
10. Form a smooth batter
    
11. Pour this batter into your greased baker
    
12. Spread the batter to be reasonably even

Method (topping):

1. Combine the brown sugar, golden syrup, butter and boiling water in your jug
2. Stir these ingredients until the butter has melted
3. Keep very hot
4. Close to the surface gently pour this syrup over the top of the batter – over the back of a soup spoon will help disperse the liquid
   
5. Place your baker into your oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
   
6. When ready, bring out of the oven
   
7. Let the pudding stand for 15 minutes
   
8. Serve with vanilla ice cream
   

Notes

After you take the pudding out of the oven it will deflate a little