Thatched Wheelright's Cottage, Easton, UK © Colin Smith and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Calling all cooks! I’ve had mixed success replicating old recipes, some working out better than others. Of late, a Thatched House Pie has proved to be something of a challenge for me, and is my current culinary conundrum. Continue reading
Crimson Rosella. Pennantian P[arrot] (Detail). Watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’. Volume 04: Zoology of N. [New] Holland etc. [Album view] item 43. © State Library of New South Wales PXD 1098 / vol. 4
Taking advantage of the relative calm that the new year has brought, I’ve been savouring some of the manuscript and heirloom recipes in our collections. Expect to find in the next few weeks a thatched roof pie, a meat souffle and sago plum pudding, but today’s pick is ‘Rosella Jam’. Continue reading
Pickles in the pantry cupboard at Vaucluse House. Photo © James Horan for Sydney living Museums
Latoya Schadel shares one of the pleasures of working in the Vaucluse House team:
I just love our days at Vaucluse House when we begin the working day with a walk through the bountiful kitchen garden. Sometimes, when produce is at its peak, our gardeners bring us a basket full of goodies to sample. Continue reading
View from the verandah at Vaucluse House. Photo © Stuart Miller for Sydney Living Museums
Spring is now well and truly underway and as the days grow longer and the buzz of native bees fills the air at Vaucluse House. Leila Wallace puts a special – edible – twist on our special springtime celebrations Continue reading
Jacqui Newling, author of Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums
Handwritten recipes passed through the generations, tales of goats running wild in colonial gardens and early settlers’ experimentation with native foods…
Eat your history dishes up stories and recipes for Australian kitchens and dining tables from 1788 to the 1950s.Jacqui Newling, resident gastronomer at Sydney Living Museums, invites you to share forgotten tastes and lost techniques, and to rediscover some delicious culinary treasures. Continue reading
Fresh globe artichokes Photo © Jacqui Newling for Sydney Living Museums
Artichokes are in their prime at the moment. They are a member of the thistle family, and have been popular in the Mediterranean region since antiquity, but to many Australians they still seem very curious and foreign – partly because we’re not quite sure how to prepare and eat them. We’re more likely to buy their ‘hearts’ ready-pickled in brine or oil as an antipasto ingredient than cook them whole, which is a shame, because freshly cooked artichokes are a fun and highly sensorial food to eat – best eaten without cutlery and nibbled on rather than dined upon. Continue reading
Cheese made by Kristen Allan in the cellars at Elizabeth Bay House. Photo © Stuart Miller for Sydney Living Museums
This week at Elizabeth Bay House artisan cheese maker Kristen Allan hosted a workshop as part of our Colonial gastronomy series. Continue reading
Table set for tea on the side verandah at Meroogal, facing Worrigee Street. Photo © Nicholas Watt for Sydney Living Museums
My research into domestic life in regional Australia has led me to some personal memoirs of late, including Barcoo Rot and other recollections, a transcript of oral histories taken from Jean Thomas (nee Bertram), about her early life in remote Queensland and later, northern Tasmania in the early 1900s.
Continue reading
Bread fresh from the oven. Photo © Jacqui Newling
With our current focus on bread baking, it seemed fitting to include a recipe to make bread in our modern kitchens that uses a traditional technique – and this is the best one I’ve found yet. Continue reading
Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums
One of my greatest challenges in presenting our culinary past to museums audiences is working out what form foods took – what they looked like, their colour, shape and texture – when we only have written accounts to go by, and many of those offering only scanty detail. Continue reading