When we were young in the 50’s, virtually all our food was home cooked by Mum, or occasionally by Dad. The only fast foods available were the classic Australian meat pies available at every corner store and school tuckshop, fish and chips from fish shops everywhere, or hotdogs at the Launceston Show or other large crowd events including school fetes and the football. When we ate out, we went to the nearest or favourite Chinese cafe (and we were lucky if that was more than once or twice a year) or a hotel dining room, which was very unusual, and once a year we would have lunch in a Coles cafeteria. Most of what we ate was either at home, up at Gran’s on sundays, or at the homes of a handful of other little friends whose parents were also friends of Mum and Dad’s.
Mum told us that when she married she barely knew how to boil an egg and so she enrolled in night classes at the Launceston Technical College to learn how to cook. In today’s world that probably sounds a bit exaggerated, but born in January 1923, she’d have left school at about 16 years of age, probably got her Leaving certificate, and she may have taken a secretarial course either at school or night school, because she was proficient with shorthand and typing. Family records are sketchy and can’t be verified these days as that whole generation has now gone, meaing I’m the matriarch!!!! , and I never thought to ask Mum much detail, as our family was totally focused on everyone needing to go to university and get a degree. She was the only adult in our family who never had that opportunity, as her father, Grandpa (Ted) Croan felt tertiary education was wasted on girls who’d only leave the workforce after a few years and start producing children. Looking back I can see she always felt the odd one out in the family she’d married into, and I’m sure in their own way her new family, the Padmans, made her feel inferior for that – it was a very sensitive point for her. But she was bright, and would certainly have been successful at university, as she was articulate and very well read.
She landed a job at the Commonwealth Bank’s head office in Sydney (which was fairly prestigious) but that bank was a government owned entity, and employees were engaged under The Public Service Act of 1902, which stipulated married women were legally barred from holding permanent positions within the Australian Public Service (APS). Women were required to resign upon marriage, and though they could continue working in that position, could only do so as temporary staff, which effectively stripped them of superannuation benefits and advancement opportunities. The act was eventually repealed, but not until 1966. So Mum resigned when she married and moved from Sydney, New South Wales to Launceston, Tasmania, and became a full time homemaker, at which she was very good, too. She learned how to really cook, and was an efficient money manager.
In the mid 50s Australian cuisine began to change from being almost entirely British to reflecting the growng influences of the large and rapid post-WWII immigration from Europe especially, and the availability of ingredients that come onto the market to cater for that demand. In the mid-60s Australians began travelling far more in Asia, and culinary influences from that part of the world came home with them, and then increased as Asia became a more important source of immigrants too. Today, Australia’s cuisine is a heady, delightful fusion of dishes from all around the world. Mum would have loved it, as she enjoyed making foreign recipes, and several of her friends spoke admiringly of how adventurous a cook she was.
The catering side of Mum’s home making activity included the daily meals for everyone of course, and we spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping. When quite young, from her we learned to cook simple things, and in secondary school the mandatory subject of Domestic Science included cooking and sewing classes.
On friday afternoons we’d come home from school to literally a heap of baked goodies that in theory would last the coming week. There was a small mountain of rock cakes, and cake racks featuring fresh date loaves and sponge cake halves for filling with jam and cream on saturday or sunday. From about April/Easter to perhaps the end of September, most weeks there’d also be a pot of soup cooking on the stove top, too. Once made that would continue and be added to for several days from saturday through mid week.
I still operate to this timetable, because home made beef and vegetable soup is a highly nutritous meal on its own with a cracker or two, or accompanied with other things like really fresh bread, any kind of sandwich (toasted or not) an omlette, or buttered toast with/without Vegemite and/or cheese. So here’s how Mum made her weekly pot of soup in cold weather.
Beef and Vegetable Soup From Scratch.
At the butcher’s or meat counter, I ask for some soup or beef bones – I get about 1-2 kg or a double handful. If you want chicken and veggie soup get several (3-4) chicken carcasses, and proceed the same way.
Place the bones into a very large pot, cover with water, and add a large or two small onions (coarsely chopped) a couple of cloves of garlic (pressed or chopped) a couple of bay leaves and some freshly ground pepper – I only add salt later at this stage. Bring to the boil and then gently simmer for several hours, topping up the water if necessary. The meat, gristle, skin and such on the bones should now be falling off easily.
Remove from the heat, and lift the bones out onto a plate. Pour the liquid into a large bowl through a strainer and leave to cool overnight, even put in the fridge. When cold there will be a layer of solidified fat, clean dripping or lard (which you can save for cooking, or discard) Using a spatula or slotted spoon, lift this layer of fat off the top leaving the clear liquid, which might be a little gelled now, depending on how much gristle and bone marrow were in the bones.
Remove the meat left on the bones and chop if necessary. Also remove any gristle fat or skin still on these bits of meat. Here I add one or two soup cubes, another chopped onion, and a good quantity of your choice of various fresh vegetables – such as chopped celery, including those tops, chopped parsely, finely chopped cabage, several chopped leaves from a cauliflower, spring onion tops, diced carrots, finely chopped string/runner beans, a small grated turnip, some diced or grated pumpkin, some grated potato, and mushrooms. I’m fortunate to have a food processor, so this stage can be quick. I put this all back on the stove, and top up with lots of water and have it simmmer and bubble to cook the vegetables. ‘Correct’ the seasonings to your preference now – and here’s where I add a little salt, and it’s now ready to serve – bon appetit!
