Carob tree flower at Rouse Hill House & Farm. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
For the past fortnight one of the garden trees at Rouse Hill has been putting on quite a show, but you need to know where to look! Continue reading
Two Corellas feasting on bunya cones at Elizabeth Farm. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
As this year’s Bunya season draws to a close it’s time to look at this extraordinary bush food, and its role both in Indigenous societies and in 19th century landscapes – just be careful not to stand too close! Continue reading
Prickly pear fruit (needles removed). Photo Jacqui Newling © Sydney Living Museums
The Curator’s recent story, Of palings, palisades and prickly pears, times perfectly with prickly pear fruiting season. Continue reading
Salmagundy salad. Photo © Sydney Living Museums
Salmagundy, salmagundi, salamongundy, solomon-gundy, there are as many name variations as there are versions of the same theme. Salmagundy is a fine example of what we might now regard as a ‘deconstructed’ or more traditionally, a ‘composed’ salad, Continue reading
All the makings of an heirloom salad in the kitchen garden at Vaucluse House. Photo © Stuart Miller for Sydney Living Museums
As the new year kicks in and the temperature rises, January is salad time for most Australians, as a meal in itself or along side anything that can be barbequed! Continue reading
Decanters and claret jugs as part of a setting recreating a birthday held for Alexander Macleay at Lake Innes. Photo © Leo Rocker
Mainly used nowadays for allowing good wines to breathe, in the days before commercial bottling the decanter was de rigeur. As another festive season fades into your memory, settle back with a claret jug of restorative toast water – but don’t forget to clean it afterwards! Continue reading
Wine sarcophagus, detail from Plate IV of George Smith's Cabinet makers and upholsterers guide, J.Taylor, London, 1808. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection RB 749.2048 SMI
At Elizabeth Bay and Vaucluse Houses we are often asked about some large elaborate boxes seen in the dining rooms: introducing the esky of the 19th century – the ‘cellaret’. Continue reading
'Cocoanut' ice. Photo Jacqui Newling © Sydney Living Museums
“½ cup of milk, 2 cups of sugar, 25 grams copha, 3/4 cup of coconut. How hard can it be to make coconut ice?” For the past few months a dedicated team of passionate and curious volunteer cooks have been testing out manuscript recipes from our families’ collections. One of the team, Paula Southcombe, reflects on one of the more challenging recipes: Continue reading
Eggs from the chickens at Rouse Hill House and Farm. Photo Scott Hill © Sydney Living Museums
“Nothing is worse than stale eggs” states Isabella Beeton,
“… stale, or even preserved eggs, are things to be run from, not after.”
I can imagine having to run after chickens but not eggs, but needless to say, fresh is always best. Continue reading
Boiled fowl, part of a meal filmed for the Eat Your History exhibition. Photo © Sydney Living Museums
In this, the KFC and BBQ’d chicken age, where even good quality cooked chooks can cost less than a fresh chicken to prepare at home, it seems extraordinary that on the most elegant tables in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was an open preference for boiled fowl. Continue reading