Going Dutch, Australian-style.

It is always interesting to see how one country interprets the cookery of another. Today I want to give you some “Dutch” recipes from Aussie newspapers between 1877 and 1949.

Dutch Sauce.

Put 1 ½ tablespoons of vinegar in a saucepan, and reduce it on the fire to one-third; add 2 ozs. of butter and the yolk of one egg. Place the saucepan on a slow fire, stir the contents continuously with a spoon, and as fast as the butter melts, add more, until ½ lb. is used. If the sauce becomes too thick at any time during the process, add a tablespoonful of cold water and continue stirring. Then put in pepper and salt to taste, and take great care not to let the sauce boil. When it is made – that is, when all the butter is used and the sauce is of the proper thickness – put the saucepan containing it into another filled with warm (not boiling) water until the time of serving.

The Queenslander, 20 January, 1877.

Dutch Fried Potatoes.

Put a spoonful of chopped onion into a frying pan with sufficient butter, and let it brown.

Add two cupfuls of sliced raw potatoes, sprinkle with pepper and salt, and fry till they are lightly browned. Next beat up an egg, pour it over the potatoes and serve at once.

Warwick Examiner and Times (Qld.) 7 October 1914.

Dutch Pudding.

Four carrots, one egg, seasoning, four sticks of celery. 1 oz. of butter, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley.  Cut the carrots and celery up quite small and boil till tender. Mash them as

smoothly as possible with butter, add salt, pepper, and a suspicion of white sugar.

Beat the egg, and when the carrot has cooled a bit, stir this in thoroughly. Press the mixture into a greased mould, put in the oven and bake until piping hot, turn out to serve, sprinkling the parsley over. You can serve this shape with or without melted butter. If it's to go with hot meat with gravy, don't make sauce.

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA) 13 November, 1926

Dutch Apple Tart.

For the Pastry. Flour 8 ozs., butter, 6 ozs., castor sugar 2 ozs., cinnamon 1 teaspoonful, water. |

For the Filling. — Cooking apples 1 ½ lbs., currants 3 ozs., sugar, cinnamon ¾ teaspoonful, water 1 tablespoonful.

Put White Wings flour in a basin. Rub in the butter ; then add the sugar and cinnamon, and mix with very little water to make a good- short crust. Roll out thinly, and cut into two pieces of equal size. Stew the apples with the cinnamon, one tablespoonful of water and sugar to taste, and when quite soft leave till cold.

Sprinkle one piece of pastry with currants, then cover with the stewed apples. Brush the edges of the pastry with cold water, and cover with the second piece of pastry. Press the edges firmly together, put on a greased baking sheet, and cook in a good steady oven for about half an hour. Cut into neat squares, and when cold dredge with icing sugar.

The Hebrew Standard of Australasia (NSW) 10 August 1928.

Butter Dutch Cake.

Ingredients: 4 oz. butter (or margarine), 3 oz. sugar, 3 oz. flour, dash salt, 2 oz. self-raising flour, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

Method: Cream butter and sugar. Add salt and cinnamon, yolk of egg, lastly flour gradually. Press into tin and sprinkle with almonds or walnuts. Whip white of egg stiff, mix with a little sugar, and spread on top. Bake in a moderate to hot oven three-quarters of an hour.

The Mercury (Hobart, Tasmania) 16 August, 1949