Baked carrot pudding made from an 1863 recipe in the Rouse Hill House & Farm collection. Photo © Jacqui Newling
Every well-used cookbook has a page that naturally falls opens from constant attention, or tell-tale food splatters or splodges that show evidence of popular use. What’s yours?
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Rolled oat biscuits aka Anzac biscuits from the Meroogal manuscript recipes collection circa 1909. Photo © Jacqui Newling, Sydney Living Museums
Anzac Day, April 25, will be very different for many of us this year, as we won’t be following commemorative marches or gatherings to mark the event due to public health concerns. But we can still take pause to reflect on the ways we support front line workers – whether Anzac ‘digggers’ or today’s health and community service providers – and continue the Anzac biscuit tradition, which is a legacy of community fundraising initiatives to help active and returned service men and women 100 years ago.
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Fred from Fred's Bush Tucker holds an eel ready for cooking at Elizabeth Farm Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums
Each autumn we celebrate Darug culture at our annual Eel Festival at Elizabeth Farm at Parramatta. This family-friendly event honours Parramatta’s namesake, the eel, and its significance to the local Burramattagal people, who would gather in autumn to trade goods and share stories and food.
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A school student exploring the Yana Nura garden at Museum of Sydney. Photo © Declan May / James Horan Photography Pty Ltd for Sydney Living Museums
Yana Nura, “to walk on Country” is a native garden at the Museum of Sydney that invites visitors to reflect, reconnect and learn about Aboriginal culture, past and present, on Gadi Country. Located on the outdoor mezzanine that overlooks the site of Australia’s First Government House and the area that the first colonial garden was installed on Aboriginal landscape, in 1788.
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Spring Harvest Festival at Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums
“It is now Spring, & the Eye is delighted with a most beautiful variegated Landscape – Almonds – Apricots, Pear and Apple Trees are in full bloom. The native shrubs are also in flower, & the whole Country gives a grateful perfume.”
Elizabeth Macarthur to her friend Miss Kingdon, Parramatta, 1798 Continue reading
Spoons and ladles from Francatelli's Cook's Guide and Advertiser. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection
While we’re mainly looking at the pots and pans in this series on the colonial batterie de cuisine, it’s a good time for a diversion into all the miscellaneous bits and pieces in a kitchen – all those things we keep in the ‘third drawer down’.
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Poached snapper in the kitchen at Vaucluse House._Detail of photograph (c) Cath Muscat for Sydney Living Museums
Last year we talked about those confusing and interchangeable words baking and roasting, and got to grip with table- and soup spoons. They’re far from the only confusing words used in the historic kitchen and household, so today I’m starting a series of posts looking at the vast range of pots and pans you can see in a historic kitchen – and what exactly they were called and used for. Continue reading
Detail of the the dining room at Elizabeth Bay House 11 August 1987. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Sydney Living Museums. Photo Andrew Payne Photographix
This week we’re back at Elizabeth Bay House, in one of Sydney’s grandest dining rooms. After the departure of the Macleays, Macarthur-Onslows and Michaelises, its years as a reception house and then as flats, the ‘Lion of Sydney’ began its new life as a house museum. But, as this continuing ‘Then and Now’ series shows, it certainly wasn’t without controversy!
Kristen Allans ricotta demonstration. Photo © Luisa Brimble for Sydney Living Museums.
If you joined us at Autumn Harvest you may have been part of Kristen Allan’s cheese-making workshop. Everyone was after her ricotta recipe, and she’s been kind enough to share it with us! Continue reading
Its the Autumn Harvest at Rouse Hill House & Farm_Artwork (c) Sydney Living Museums