Lamb and Pearl Barley Soup

Barley soup appears in a couple of Kerry Greenwood novels, but none featuring Phryne. It's the sort of hearty winter meal that would appeal more to workers like Cec or Bert than a lady. 

This recipe is adapted from one published in the Argus on 18 February 1931 as a "meatless" Lenten Dish. I've added a raw lamb bone for flavour (a shoulder, from which I cut most of the meat for a navarin of lamb later) but the soup is probably still good without it. Cutting the vegetables into fairly small pieces makes it more visually appealing.

I ended up omitting the milk, egg yolk and nutmeg even though they would make the soup  smoother and richer. 


Lamb and Pearl Barley Soup

60g or 1/2 cup pearl barley
1 lamb bone (shoulder or leg)
2 tablespoons butter
3 small carrots, thinly sliced
2 onions, diced
1 turnip, peeled and cut into small dice
1 stalk celery, sliced
6 peppercorns
2 cloves
thyme
parsley 
1 blade mace (or nutmeg)
salt, pepper
250 ml milk 
1 egg yolk
nutmeg

Put the pearl barley in a bowl, cover with water and soak overnight.

Saute 1 carrot and 1 onion in 1 tablespoon butter for a few minutes, without browning. Add the lamb bone, brown on all sides, the seasonings and 4 or 5 cups of water. Bring to the boil, skim, reduce heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling from the bone.

Strain the stock, reserve the meat, discard the vegetables and seasonings. (Putting the stock in the freezer for 20 0r 30 minutes will make it easier to remove the fat.)

Saute the remaining onion, carrots, celery and turnip in 1 tablespoon butter for a few minutes until soft. Add the pearl barley, the lamb (cut into small pieces) and lamb stock; simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

The soup can be thickened, if desired. Remove from heat. Stir in 250 ml milk, mixed with the beaten yolk of one egg, return to heat and add a dash of nutmeg.

Season to taste and serve with fried bread cut into slices.

Carrot and Ginger Soup with Scallops

This isn't really a Phryne recipe, unless she happened to be in Provence some years after the time her novels are set and decided she'd like her cook to recreate this dish back in St Kilda. I used scallops that weren't in the shell, organic carrots and home-made vegetable stock.

 

Carrot and ginger soup with scallops

Serves 8

32 scallops, roe off

8 carrots, washed, peeled and cut into chunks

6 cm of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
200 ml dry white wine
zest of 1 orange
300 ml cream

40 g butter
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley

Saute carrots and ginger in oil for 1 minute; add stock and white wine; cook 15-20 minutes over medium heat or until carrots are cooked but still slightly firm.

Remove from heat; puree; add orange zest.

Brown the scallops in butter for 1 min each side; remove scallops and set aside; reserve pan juices.

Add pan juices to carrot and ginger puree; add cream; bring to the boil, reduce heat  and simmer for about 1 minute.

Place puree in soup bowls, place scallops on top, garnish with parsley.

Anzac Biscuits

Phryne Fisher drove ambulances in France during World War I. Bert and Cec are returned soldiers. Were they sent Anzac biscuits from home, biscuits made without eggs so they would keep?  

There are no references to Anzac biscuits in any of the Phryne Fisher novels, but by the early 1920s readers were writing to Vesta, editor of the women's pages at the Argus, asking for recipes. The earliest recipe I could find actually called for two eggs and two teaspoons of cinnamon powder, but it did not appear until 1 May 1921 when it received an honorable mention in the Perth Sunday Times competition.

This recipe seems more authentic. It was published in July 1921, and again in June 1926, 1930, 1933... It makes about 2 dozen biscuits and contains no eggs. Don't be tempted to make bigger biscuits. The teaspoon of mixture makes a good Australian-sized biscuit.

Anzac Biscuits

2 breakfast cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sugar
1 scant cup plain flour
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon bicarb of soda


Mix the golden syrup, boiling water and soda till they froth; then add the melted butter. Mix in the dry ingredients, and drop in teaspoonfuls on a floured tray. Bake in a slow oven, about 160 to 180 degrees, until golden. Enjoy with a mate and a cup of tea.

Whisky Mince Pies

Vesta's original recipe published in the Argus on 23 December 1937 calls for 1 gill of caramel, but since I don't know what form of caramel is meant and a later recipe is identical except that it uses brandy, I'm going with the hard stuff. 

Whisky Mince Pies

375g raisins 

250g sultana

125g currants

250g candied peel (orange and lemon)

2 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into small cubes

250g suet, finely chopped, or 250g butter, melted

375g brown sugar

grated rind of one lemon and one orange and the juice of both

15g mixed spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons whisky or brandy

Finely chop or put through a fine mincer the raisins, sultanas, currants, apples and peel. Add the sugar, spices, rind and juice of the orange and lemon, the suet or melted butter and the whisky. Mix thoroughly, pack into a jar, cover and leave until required.

For the cases, make a good shortcrust pastry using 150g butter to 240g plain flour and mixing with water to a fairly stiff paste. Do not forget a pinch of salt, and, if liked, a tablespoon of sugar may be added. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like rough breadcrumbs. Then add the water.

Make the pastry early in the morning so that it will not become soft. Roll out to 1/2 cm thickness.

The pies may be made in rather big patty-pans, the pans being lined with pastry, and the tops put on and pinched. Butter the patty-pans before lining them, to ensure that the pies will slip out easily when cooked. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with very little sugar.

Alternatively, form little cases by cutting rounds for the bottom and top, and a strip about 4cm wide for the sides. Brush the edge of the bottom circles with milk or water to make the sides adhere, and do the same where the ends of the side piece overlap a little. Fill each case as it is made, so that it keeps in shape. Put on the top, pinch the edges all round to give a fluted border, brush the top with milk mixed with a very little sugar, prick it all over with a sharp fork, and bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

Christmas Pudding

This rich Christmas pudding is remarkably similar to the one published in Vesta's Woman to Woman column in the Argus on 9 January 1929. My mother handed it down to me and I fondly imagined her mother had passed it down from her Scottish foremothers. Maybe she just read the Argus. 

Best made 7 to 14 days before required, my mother's recipe uses butter instead of suet and is flavoured with rum, sherry or whisky instead of the juice and rind of one lemon.
 
The recipe makes one large or three small puddings. I use a large aluminium steam pudding basin with clips but it can be boiled in a floured cloth.

Christmas Pudding

250g butter
250g brown sugar
5 eggs
250g sultanas
250g raisins
125g currants
60g dried figs
60g dates
60g maraschino cherries 
60g blanched almonds, chopped
3 tablespoons rum, sherry or whisky
180g plain flour
180g soft breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda

Macerate fruits (sultanas, raisins, currants, figs, dates, cherries) in rum, sherry or whisky; cover with clingwrap and refrigerate overnight; stir in chopped almonds.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until soft; add sugar and beat to a cream; add eggs one at a time and beat evenly through.

Add prepared fruits alternately with sifted flour, breadcrumbs, spices and soda.

Place the mixture in a greased basin, leaving about 5 cms at the top. Cover with two thicknesses of greased paper or tinfoil, tie securely and steam in a saucepan of water with the lid on. The water needs to be 1/3 to 1/2 way up the basin and should be checked and topped up when necessary. Boil for 4 hours and again for 2 hours on the day of reheating. Serves 10-12.

Corned Beef with Cabbage and Potatoes

Corned Beef Hash

Corned beef is one of those Australian dishes that is so common, no one bothers writing down the recipe. Not Stephanie Alexander, in the first edition of The Cook's Companion if I recall correctly. Certainly not the newspapers of the 1930s, when corned beef hash made with the leftovers reached its peak of popularity. Other more exotic 1930s suggestions for leftovers included corned beef meatloaf, corned beef curry, corned beef pie and corned beef souffle.

When it comes to cooking corned beef there are probably as many variations as there are cooks. Some use two lots of water, bringing the meat to a simmer and discarding the first, briney lot and starting again - this time adding the onions, carrots and other flavourings. Some stud the cloves into one of the onions, and re-use the cooked onion to flavour the white sauce. Others add the onions and carrots to the water in the last 30-45 minutes of cooking and serve them with the meat.

Potatoes, mashed or boiled, and cabbage are the traditional sides. The cabbage can be thinly sliced and simmered, drained, and a little white vinegar and butter added at the end; or cut into wedges and boiled. Parsley sauce, mustard sauce or plain white sauce make good accompaniments, but so does ordinary Dijon or hot English mustard. 

The leftovers can be made into a corned beef hash using roughly equal quantities of cold cooked potatoes, corned beef and - if you like - cabbage. Some 1930s recipes call for half a cup of water, milk or cream or a well-beaten egg to be added towards the end, but it is not really necessary. For a breakfast corned beef hash, a fried egg can go on top.

Corned Beef with Cabbage and Potatoes

1.25-1.5 kg corned silverside or brisket on the bone

2 onions, peeled

2-3 carrots, peeled

2-3 bay leaves

6 cloves

8 peppercorns 

1-2 tbsp brown or malt vinegar

1 dessertsp brown sugar

Wash meat well under running cold water to remove surface brine. Place in large saucepan, cover with water, add onions, carrots, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns, vinegar and sugar. Cover, bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for approximately two hours, or until the meat is tender.

Serve with cabbage and small boiled potatoes brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Corned Beef Hash

1 onion, finely chopped

30g butter

cold boiled potatoes, chopped into large chunks

paprika

corned beef, shredded into chunks or cut into pieces

cold cooked cabbage 

In a large frypan, saute the onion in butter until soft and golden. Toss in the potatoes; sprinkle with paprika and salt. When the edges are lightly browned, toss through the corned beef and cabbage. Turn the mixture once or twice and continue to cook until heated through. Serve piled in the middle of a round bowl.

The Fitted Kitchen

The 1920s and 30s saw architects, including women, design kitchens that would reduce housework, accommodate modern appliances and create a "nerve centre" for the small family. No longer a large bare room at the back of the house, the kitchen was positioned at the side or towards the front and preferably next to the dining room, to which it could be linked by a small servery or hatch.

In America, "efficiency experts" had found that a circular work area in the kitchen reduced the number of steps a woman took while making a shortcake from 281 to 45 (Adelaide Mail, 9 August 1930). The circular work area places the stove, cupboards and refrigerator in one corner, with a "service table on wheels" that can be moved around the kitchen as needed. And quietly. It has rubber tyres.

This circular work area is in a relatively large kitchen, designed by an American woman, with an expensive "electric dish washer" next to the sink and a "planning desk" in the corner that houses a box of recipes, drawers for paid and unpaid bills, a telephone and a shelf for recipe books and "the loud speaker of a wireless set". The table, bottom right, seats four for breakfast and the children for lunch.

In Australia, "planning desks" and electric dish washers were less in demand, but work areas were similarly designed for efficiency.  

The really efficient factory-like Australian kitchen probably reached its apotheosis in an article by an architect using the nom-de-plume Best Overend, A.R.I.B.A., AR.A.I.A. Published in the Argusin 1934 under the title: "Small-House Kitchen - Rounded Corners, Flush Surfaces - Why Not Hose It Out?" the writer suggested that with no open shelves, a linoleum floor and a tiled wall, "there seems no reason why the modern kitchen should not be cleaned out and freshened with a hose - and what a relief that might prove to overwrought feelings!" The breakfast nook was redundant too, with "easy and direct access of the dining alcove" (26 July 1934, p.13).

By 1938 the Argus observed that the kitchen "is generally becoming smaller because it has been found that by carefully planning the position of the stove, sink and drainer, food and crockery cupboards, and workbench, less floor space is required". 

In the smaller kitchen, the pantry disappeared, replaced by "cupboards placed in convenient positions around the walls. Fitted with flush panel doors these cupboards present an unbroken surface which does not collect dust. They are designed for the storage of foodstuffs or kitchen equipment. Cupboards for perishables are now ventilated from below the floor, with an outlet in the ceiling... The position of these cupboards is important for the convenient working of the kitchen. The grocery cupboard should be close to the back door, and the cabinets for the storage of china, glass, silver, and table linen should be convenient to the dining-room. The position of the cupboards, however, is governed by the shape of the room." (Argus, 19 August 1937)

Like the pantry, the breakfast nook was redundant. Best Overend suggested a dresser be built in "between the dining space and the kitchen, and this will incorporate a servery hatch with direct connection with the preparation table". Rather than having a large table in the middle of the kitchen "round which Cook wended her way to and from the stove and the sink", food would be prepared on a flap projecting from the wall making the "preparation of meals... more comparable with the assembling line of motor-car plant than a series of isolated operations" ( Argus, 11 October 1934, p. 7)