No. 10 Bistro's take on Mrs Nisbett's ginger cake. Photo © Jacqui Newling for Sydney Living Museums
The recipes in our archives and collections remind us just how much personality and good will is shared in culinary exchanges, and the importance of memory in recipes that have been passed on by friends and neighbours, and down through generations.
Detail of a pewter plate from Elizabeth Farm. Photograph (c) Scott Hill for Sydney Living Museums
Its hard to imagine a 19th century kitchen without its signature metals: black cast iron, gleaming brass and copper, and the soft grey of pewter. Continue reading
Edward Abbott's curry powder. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums.
Although being immensely popular, Australia’s first published cookbook, Edward Abbott’s The English and Australian cookery book for the many and the upper ten thousand (1864), featured only one recipe for a ‘curry’. Continue reading
The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle illustration (detail) by John Tenniel in Lewis Carroll, Alice's adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan, London, 1872. State Library of NSW DM/827.8/D645.1/4A1
When the Prince of Wales visited Sydney in 1920 (not Charles, but Queen Elizabeth’s uncle, who would later abdicate for Wallis Simpson), a grand ball was held at Government House. Continue reading