I have decided to dedicate the entire week to recipes from
newspapers and small cookery books from various parts of this wide brown land,
and hope you enjoy them.
Firstly, to give an idea of the significance of the events of that
day, I give you an article from The
Brisbane Courier of June 8, 1916. One year later the day was already
indelibly engraved on the minds of Australian soldiers – who managed to bring
that peculiar blend of Aussie and military humour and slang to their commemorative dinner.
ANZAC DAY DINNER.
“ON THE EGYPTIAN DESERT”
The anniversary of Anzac
Day was celebrated by the 4th Australian Ordnance Section with
considerable gusto, judging from a typewritten menu used on that occasion, and
which has found its way to Brisbane. The division, it is stated, was “on the
Egyptian desert”, and the anniversary was celebrated “mid sand, sin, sorrow,
sun, soldiers, and ‘sore eyes.’” The menu of the “dinner a la ordnance” is
headed by the well-known lines of Burns:-
Some
hae meat and cann eat
And
some was eat that want it,
But
we hae meat and we can eat,
Sae
let the Lord be thankit.
followed by “7 pm, Fall in
and carry on … Mungery ad lib.” The eatables were set out as follows:- “Hors
d’oeuvres – Not got Johnny, Bookera plenty. Soup – vegetables, Egyptian
swimmers (fish) – Canal bread, HH combination. Sauce – Dublin. Rabbits – wild,
Australian fricasseed. Geese – tame, roast cold, seasoned, pedigree unknown.
Ham – York, quise caters. Peas – green, fresh (so says the Gyppo). Potatoes –
new, boiled. Tomatoes – ripe, au natural. Asparagus – iced, sauce vinaigrette
(marvelous.) Pudding – duff, plum. Blanc mange – various colours, no other
distinguishing marks. Jellies – fruit, flavour in Aspic? No! cant be did.
Cheese – GS., fairly reliable, toasted (bonser crook). Oranges – very good,
very nice, very clean, big ones. Almonds – raisins, on storks, assorted
Pickles, sauces, Baksheesh from Budden’s stock. Beer, whisky, soda, café, wine
(perhaps.) The toasts were: “The King”, “The Day We Celebrate,” “ Absent
Friends,” “Success To Our Cause,” and “Australia.”
As the recipe for the day, I cannot do better than to give you the
instructions for preparing Australia’s cute furry environmental disaster in a simple
stew, albeit poshed up as a French fricasse.
Rabbit Fricasse.
Take one young rabbit, two ounces, of butter, and a half ounce of flour, some white
stock, half a pint of milk half a small slice, turnip, one or two strips of
celery (chopped), a little parsley, thyme, and a bayleaf, tied together; one
blade of mace, six white peppercorns, some salt and pepper. After rinsing the rabbit in warm water cut it into neat joints, and put them into a stewpan
with sufficient stock to cover. Bring to boiling point; add the prepared
vegetables, peppercorns, mace, and a little salt; cover the pan close, and cook
gently for one hour and a quarter, or until the rabbit is tender, adding a little milk from time to time to replace the
stock boiled away. Meanwhile melt the butter, add the flour, cook gently
without browning, and set aside. Take up the rabbit, keep it hot, strain, and add three-quarters of a pint of stock to
the blended flour and butter. Stir until boiling, then simmer for ten minutes.
Pass the vegetables through a sieve, and stir the puree into the sauce; season
to taste; and replace the rabbit to get
thoroughly hot, and serve.
Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record (Vic) Friday 4 June 1915
Quotation for the Day.
I would like to find a stew that will give me heartburn immediately,
instead of at three o clock in the morning.
John Barrymore
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