This is not my opinion about the meal I cooked tonight, though it may well be an expression eligible for permanent entry into my food appreciation lexicon.
Bloody Delicious is the title of a book written by Joan Campbell, former food editor for Vogue publications, and published in 1997. An Australian book, about Australian food written by an Australian; all qualifications indicating it might be compulsory reading for anyone writing a blog in support of food produced by Australian farmers.
I obtained a copy of this book through the Victorian library service and it has been sitting in my yellow library book bin for a couple of weeks. Finally I have found the time to do more in-depth reading and in line with my developing standards to be applied to Australian produced food, I see in the early chapters many ideas and some recipes which might be contenders for the 2014 Menu list.
As I read through Chapter One I also note, with some misgiving, a number of recipes where the ingredients may not be produced in this country. Three weeks have passed since I started serious label reading and already I am aware that it is essential to read the ingredients listed; this applies to something as simple as self-raising flour which may pose problems. The upside to reading carefully through the recipes in Bloody Delicious is being made aware of possible modifications to recipes I have on hand and being reminded of recipes that I might search out from the back of the recipe drawer, or ones hidden somewhere in the depths of the Trash Palace archaeological dig.
I put Chapter One under the magnifying glass and find a handful of recipes which will happily fit into the Ausfood Menu; they are basic and use simple ingredients and although they may not be contenders for MasterChef, they will suit my purposes and will be very welcome at the Trash Palace dining table.
I also find a number of recipes with sticking points when it comes to the Ausfood factor. These sticking points are ingredients to be found in many kitchen cupboards but are they produced in Australia? Here is a selection of ingredients from Chapter One which will require further investigation.
- self raising flour
- vanilla beans
- vanilla extract
- dates
- nutmeg
- cayenne pepper
- mustard powder
The above listed items are all specific recipe ingredients which might prove difficult to find; I will either have to look for an alternative or simply abandon the recipe idea for the blog.
However, in this first chapter, there are two recipes which will definitely appear at some stage (oh, traitorous thought) on the non-Ausfood days; Glad’s Yum Yum Cake and Mrs Dobell’s Upside Down Pineapple Cake.
This has been a step in the right direction of tried and true Australian recipes, handed down through generations, and I have only one last question regarding this book.
What dirty, lowdown, no-good person ripped pages 29 and 30 out of this book?
As Queen Victoria might have said “We are not amused.”