Having an at-home mother and a grandmother we saw weekly on sundays gave me plenty of opportunities to learn how to cook without realising I was learning. While Mum was cooking meals and other things like making mayonnaise and cooking up batches of rock cakes or bottling jam, we did our homework at the kitchen table, and she often gave us things to do to help, like shelling peas, or top-and-tailing beans. In time we were trusted to measure out ingredients, sift flour without getting it everywhere, properly and thoroughly stir things that needed stirring until cooked, roll out scone dough without overworking it, set the oven temperature and timer.
Parents still do that kind of thing, I know, but it must be hard for modern parents after a day in their paid job to allow for this child-paced learning on a nightly basis. Additionally, in the 50s there was virtually no distraction from mass media as parents have to contend with today. We had one radio in the house. TV didn’t come to Australia until late in 1959, and on weekdays there were just two radio programs for children. Kindergarten of The Air (for preschoolers) was around 9-30am, and between 5-6pm, was the ABC Children’s Hour for all school age kids up to leaving age. We were certainly free to listen to the other programs which we found grew more interesting as we got older, like the morning book reading. Of the adult programs there were a few Mum listened to avidly, and we were only allowed to interrupt if something was a real emergency, eg. something was bleeding! We had to wait for Mum’s attention until the Stock Exchange Report, The News, Test Cricket matches, Notes On The News, and Guest of Honour had finished. For Test Cricket we could chip in at change of over, or when the players went off for lunch or tea. While waiting, we learned a lot about cricket, and came to love it.
My point is we learned a great deal about cooking while watching and being asked to help. From age 7-10, I was in the Brownies and one of the badges I earned was the Cook’s Badge. For that, I had to go to the tester’s home, and in her kitchen make a baked custard, prepare a breakfast tray of tea and toast, make some scones and answer some questions… a fairly demanding test for a 9 year old. In 1959 I began Year 7, first of the secondary classes, and the subject called Domestic Science. It consisted of cookery, basic home management and basic dressmaking. Practical sewing and cooking alternated fortnightly, in 3-hour sessions for each.
My school had acquired an old large house next door to the senior school, and equipped it as a domestic science centre. Upstairs were sewing rooms with tables and machines and maybe a fitting room or something – my memory of that isn’t so clear. On the ground floor, besides the teacher’s office and store room, was a very large kitchen with several large ovens, and bench spaces including kitchen sinks for something like 15 or 16 girls at a time to do cooking lessons. Over our uniforms we had to wear a white, sleeveless wrap-fronted coverall tied at the waist, with our name embroidered on front.
The text book for this course was A.C. IRVINE’s “Central Cookery Book”, the Tasmanian Education Department’s manual for cookery education in all schools. Being the eldest, the copy I began with was handed down to Rosemary and then Sally. I think it probably still exists and looks much like this one! Our first lesson was shortcrust pastry, using which we cooked a few jam tarts, and took them home for the family to marvel at.
When we went into the kitchen, we had to get out of our drawers and cupboards the tools and equipment needed for the first lesson, and assemble them on our benchtops. Next we had to fill our sinks with hot soapy water, and into that put each utensil as we finished using it. We’d had theory classes on the importance of keeping work areas clean and orderly, and were expected to put this into practice. To this day when cooking I keep a sinkful of hot soapy water to clean cooking gear as I go, as I often use tools for several different steps. By the time I need them again they’ve dried on the draining rack.
Domestic science classes finished after two years. I have vague recollections about us as a group having to prepare a 3 course dinner or something as a grand finale. After that though the learning continued in the bosom of the family, and I began occasionally preparing meals with Mum’s guidance, and enlarging my own repertoire of things to prepare to feed myself when required. As a Girl Guide I learned how to cook over a camp fire when camping – which I loved. Camping with the Guides stood me in good stead, definitely, for my later Tent Period. Dad had some signature dishes he prepared for the family at Greens Beach (see Men In The Kitchen 1 Nov. 12, 2018) but he almost never cooked at home in Launceston, unless he was batching, on which I’ll write another time.