Specialities of the house

What’s for tea?

It’s a query now we have all requested at one time or one other, a query freighted with the hope of one thing tasty to eat being produced for the dinner desk. For these fielding the inquiry, the query turns into “the place to search for inspiration?”.

In 1906 that inspiration may have began with the Oamaru City Corridor Cookery Ebook, a quantity consisting of excellent and tried recipes from girls all through the colony. Printed by J.H. Cunningham & Son, Thames St, Oamaru this little e-book incorporates recipes for all method of meals.

It begins with Mrs Stout’s Artichoke Soup and ends with a handwritten recipe for pineapple water.

These contributing recipes had been requested to ahead them by August 9, 1906 and the e-book was on sale on November 12. The proceeds from the e-book went to the constructing of the brand new city corridor, now often known as the Oamaru Opera Home.

However again to the recipes and what to cook dinner. Whether it is dinner for the household, maybe meat fritters? A easy recipe and a good way to make use of up leftovers.

Chutney could possibly be used as an accompaniment to the fritters, or to chilly meat. Solutions for making chutneys had been common, the e-book together with 10 completely different varieties.

Within the “Puddings, Pies, Custard and Fritters” part there are numerous steamed puddings, however the pudding that caught my eye was lemon sago. This can be a pudding that we had once I was a toddler, served with preserved fruit — not all the time the preferred alternative of pudding, jokingly referred to as frogs eggs.

The recipes are attention-grabbing to learn, some acquainted whereas others have been misplaced as meals fashions have modified. The recipes indicate that the cook dinner has information of baking, given directions akin to: “bake in scorching oven”, or “cook dinner in sluggish oven”, “heat over the hearth and stir till clean”. Among the recipes haven’t any cooking directions to talk of, for instance, “combine up within the standard approach”, and “bake in a reasonable oven”.

After studying my approach by way of the e-book I discovered a recipe for espresso, contributed by Mrs Reid, at Elderslie. Two cups of espresso, 4 cups of water. Soak espresso in water for twenty-four hours, then pressure by way of a flannel and put in bottles. Warmth when required; put a small amount within the cups, filling up with boiling milk. One can think about Mrs Reid entertaining the racing crowd and serving espresso and cake to the women.

The ultimate web page of the e-book reveals the hand-written recipe for pineapple water. Seeing this scribbled instruction jogs my memory of different recipe books and nonetheless extra inspiring concepts for dishes that will or might not be tried.

So, “what’s for tea?”. In our home, the reply was all the time “wait and see!”.

Elly Dunckley is curator of archives on the Waitaki Museum and Archive, Te Whare taoka o Waitaki.