World Cooking - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: World Cooking

03
Mar
2024

Fresh Asparagus with Rouille

categories: 1980's recipes, Asparagus, France

Hello friends and welcome to another post on what posh people ate in the 1980s. Spring has sprung in many parts of the world. I have been holding over the recipe for Fresh Asparagus with Rouille for months as I think it is a perfect dish for the season.

Why Is Fresh Asparagus with Rouille Posh Food?

We’ve long considered asparagus a high-end vegetable.

A scene in The Crown was reshot because the etiquette advisor noticed Dominic West using a knife and fork for asparagus. The proper way is to pick it up with your fingers! This is exactly how I used to eat it back in my single days. Sometimes, when too tired to cook after work, dinner became microwave hollandaise sauce and steamed asparagus dunked straight from the jar. I just thought I was being lazy!

And I suspect that the inclusion of the word “Fresh” in the recipe title was further 1989 code for “Not that tinned garbage the hoi poiloi eat darling, we only want the real deal”.

Rouille accompanies the asparagus. This:

Is a Provençal Sauce
Is Hard to pronounce – its Roy-ee btw
Contains saffron, a very expensive spice

Any of which would send the Poshometer into overdrive. All of them? This could be the poshest recipe ever!

Finally, this recipe comes from an article called Polo Partying Shot. Now, I don’t know if you know any polo-playing people? One of my friends once dated a polo player and he and his buddies were universally vile. They truly believed that having more money than God entitled them to be arrogant, rude, dismissive, sexist and racist. They were the worst!

Asparagus with Rouille2 — Dunking with Glee..not a knife in sight!

Fresh Asparagus with Rouille – The Facts According To Me

This was amazing! It was so tasty! I love asparagus. My Nana’s asparagus sandwiches (made with tinned asparagus) were one of my favourite things to eat!!!! And, as above, it was one of my lazy single-girl meals. So, I am already a fan of asparagus.

But the Rouille?

OMG….

The Rouille was a game-changer! I always thought nothing could be better than Hollandaise with asparagus. The Rouille blew my mind. Not only was it a beautiful deep, rich yellow but it also had a deep rich flavour that was nothing short of superb. It’s thick and lemony and garlicky with a little kick from some mustard and cayenne but you could also definitely taste the saffron. But whilst it is punchy, it doesn’t overwhelm the asparagus.

Finally, this was ridiculously easy to make! And certain to impress your friends at your next dinner party, picnic or night on the couch!

Fresh Asparagus With Rouille – The Recipe

via the pages of Vogue Entertaining Oct/Nov 1989

For another lovely take on Spring Asparagus recipes, why not check out my Easter Lily Sandwiches?

Have a wonderful week!

22
Jan
2024

Classic Pavlova

categories: 1970's recipes, Australia, Desserts, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, Meringue

G’Day Mates! Today we are heading back to our old friend Goodhousekeeping’s World Cookery for a sweet treat from the Antipodes! People hotly debate whether the Pavolva was invented in Australia or New Zealand. We will not be entering into that discussion here. Neither does Good Housekeeping. They, rather wisely have a recipe for Pavlova in both the Australia and the New Zealand chapters! Nice diplomacy there GH!

I am using the recipe from the Australian chapter just because most of the other recipes in that chapter were awful! The recipes included things like Brain and Walnut Sandwiches, Sheep’s Tongues in Aspic, and a leg of lamb stuffed with kidneys, identified as Colonial Goose. I’m sure that 1970’s Australian cuisine was better than what is represented here. So Pavlova or Pavlova Cake as they call it, it was! Not that I minded because I adore a pav! It is one of my favourite desserts and reminds me of summer, Christmas and good times whenever I eat it!

Why Pavlova?

Anna Pavlova, the Russian Ballet dancer was the inspiration for the dessert. She toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926.

The lightness of the meringue represents not only the lightness of her steps but also her beautiful tutus. The Good Housekeeping Pavlova was wonderfully light. The meringue was crisp but it also had that lovely marshmallow inside which is the hallmark of a good pavlova.

Pavlova – The Recipe

I followed the recipe for the meringue as per Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery. However, when it came to the topping I went my own way. Pavlova can be very sweet so to add some tang, I add a dollop of lemon curd into my cream. My favourite toppings are the classic strawberry and passionfruit but you can add whatever fruit you like.

Have a great week!

07
Jan
2024

Huli Huli Chicken Wings

categories: 1950's recipes, Chicken, United States of America

Aloha friends and welcome to 2024! Whilst most of us are looking ahead, I am reflecting on the last “20 Years Ago Today” post I wrote. In that post, I said, “couscous is the only food I can think of where the same letters are repeated”. The very next day, I was searching through my file of blog-worthy recipes. And, found a recipe for Huli Huli Chicken Wings. So, we are taking a little trip back to 1950’s Hawaii for a taste test! Never let it be said that I am not happy to prove myself wrong in the search for delicious food.

If someone else hadn’t already come up with the catchphrase of “finger licking good” I’d be using it right now to describe these wings. The Huli Huli sauce is so good! It’s sweet and sour and full of umami and sticky and just plain delicious. I made these a little while ago and as I am writing this now my mouth is watering thinking about them! Guess what’s going back on the menu for next week!

Huli Huli Huh?

Ernest Morgado, the founder of the Pacific Poultry Co served his mum’s teriyaki-style chicken to a group of farmers back in 1955. They loved it and he decided to market it as Huli Huli Chicken. Huli means “turn” in Hawaiian. The original way of cooking this was to place the chicken between two racks and to grill it, preferably over charcoal. It was turned during cooking hence, huli huli!

Schools and other charities often sold Huli Huli chicken as a fundraising item. In Australia, outside every Bunnings (large hardware store) we also have fundraising food stalls. We get the cheapest sausages imaginable, slapped into usually dry and equally cheap white bread, some BBQ’ed onions if you want them, and some sauce. It is usually revolting but there is something about that BBQ aroma that draws you in, even though you know it you will regret it as soon as you take that first bite.

I think Australian fundraisers could learn a lot from the Hawaiian way of doing things. I mean, why have this?

When you could have this?

Huli Huli Chicken Recipe

My recipe comes directly from the Australian Women’s Weekly website. You can find it here but I have noticed that many websites are now blocking links from blogs. So I have also copied it out below:

I can also heartily recommend the pineapple salad that accompanies the Huli Huli chicken wings in the above recipe. To me, it was the perfect fresh and zesty offset to the sweetness of the chicken. And that hit of chilli in the salad somehow brought everything together!

Well, if this is the standard of cooking I get when I prove myself wrong, I am willing to be proved wrong again and again! Please let me know if you can think of any others! Otherwise, have a great week!

26
Aug
2023

Riceycoco

categories: 1970's recipes, Good Housekeeping World Cookery, The Caribbean, World Cooking

Greetings friends and welcome to Jamaica! Today, on the back of my trip to tropical FNQ (Far North Queensland), I am featuring a recipe from the Caribbean. Riceycoco comes to us via the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery (1972). It also comes very high on the list of words I find pleasant to say! And that is all the justification I needed to make it!

Riceycoco, is as the name suggests, rice cooked in coconut milk. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast which reminded me of a Sri Lankan dish called Kiribath (milk rice). There the difference ends. Kiribath is eaten with chutneys and sambols as a savoury dish whereas Riceycoco is sweet. I am not fond of a sweet breakfast so I ate mine as a dessert, similar to a rice pudding. To amp up the tropical vibes, I added some mango to the mix.

Rice and coconut milk is a classic in many Asian countries and I enjoyed the twist of having a sweet version of something I am more familiar with as a savoury dish. It was also a nice reminder of the tropics now we are back in cold, grey Melbourne! Its also a very soothing comfort food – a little bit like being cocooned in a warm cuddlepillar!

Riceycoco – The Recipe & Notes

I used coconut milk from a can instead of fresh coconut milk.
I also swapped out the brown sugar for maple syrup.
I served some additional coconut milk on the side.
This would also be spectacular with a dollop of coconut yoghurt.

If you want to be reminded of the tropics, like a sweet breakfast or want the nursery comfort of a rice pudding why not give Riceycocoa try Even just so you get to say the name a few times!

Have a great week!

24
Jul
2023

The Return of the Australian Vegetable Cookbook

categories: 1970's recipes, Australian Vegetable Cookbook, Blue Cheese, Cornwall, Leeks, Lettuce

Hello friends, today I am revisiting a book I first wrote about in 2012 – The Australian Vegetable Cookbook. I am taste-testing two recipes from that book – a Cornish Leek Pie and a Roquefort Wedge Salad. The book contains a lovely line drawing and a brief history of each vegetable. So, without further preamble let’s get to the recipes!

Cornish Leek Pie

I was dubious as to how authentic the Cornish Leek Pie would be. However, I found a few references to a Leeky / Likky Pie which dates from 1865 and is remarkably similar!

I layered boiled leeks and bacon into a pie dish and covered with pastry. Now, I made a mistake here as the recipe quite clearly says to season the layers with salt and pepper. I thought the bacon would be salty enough which turned out to be true so I didn’t add salt. But I totally forgot about the pepper. But by the time I remembered the pepper, the pie was already in the oven.

Then, the recipe itself got weird. After cooking for a while, I needed to make a hole in the pastry top and pour in a mixture of cream and parsley. I have never added ingredients to a pie in this way before! But it did allow me to add the missing pepper in with the cream and parsley. I thought it would be really hard to cut a hole in the pastry once it was baked so I did this before it went into the oven.

The recipe which I have linked above adds eggs and cream to the bacon and leek mix which I think would be a lot more sensible. This would have thickened up on cooking to form a quiche-like filling. As it was the cream did nothing except make everything a bit wet! It also kept bubbling up out of the hole in the pastry and made a bit of a mess.

There was nothing wrong with the cornish leek pie. It was just not something I would make, in the format given in the Australian Vegetable Cookbook. Full marks for the illustrations though! They are beautiful!

Cornish Leek Pie – The Recipe

Roquefort Lettuce Wedges

The night after I made the Cornish Leek Pie I made the Roquefort Lettuce Wedge from the same book.

The roquefort dressing was sooo good! But overall this dish lacked something. I served it on a gorgeous plate I bought when I was in Darwin earlier this year to try to fancy it up a bit. Plate 10/10. Dish…kind of meh…I would defintely make this again, However, I would add some bacon or croutons or some chives to the salad (or all three) just to make it a bit more interesting!

They say you can’t step in the same river twice and, to be honest I was disappointed with my revisiting of The Australian Vegetable Cookbook. There was nothing wrong with either recipe but they were also not amazing. One or two more ingredients to each one might have brought a bit more flavour or texture or just some va va voom to the dish.

Whether this was due to bad recipe choices on my behalf or a comment on the state of vegetable dishes in the 1970s remains to be determined. There are still a number of recipes I have flagged as “to be cooked”. so I may well have another crack at it in the future. Just not for a little while!

Roquefort Lettuce Wedge – The Recipe

I hope your cooking adventures this week fare a little better! Have a great week!