The Cook and the Chef

Early Settlement (4x15)

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In this episode Maggie and Simon travel back around 150 years to a time in Australia’s history when rations were doled out to workers and meat became not just a symbol of Australia’s prosperity, but a major part of the Australian diet. With the challenge of using meat, flour, sugar, tea and salt Maggie starts simply, but can’t resist going upmarket while Simon cooks some real bush favourites, making sure to use a good measure of rum! To top it off, we visit a hard-working shearer’s cook to see if mutton still plays a big part in the shearing crew’s diet. ‘Meat three times a day’ was the boastful slogan of 19th century Australia and from early settlement in a country where sheep and cattle were plentiful, daily rations for crews of hard-working rural labourers were high in meat. In this program, Maggie and Simon are given the challenge of using ‘rations’ – 10lbs meat, 10lbs flour, 2lbs sugar and a ¼ lb each of tea and salt, plus a little rum – the weekly food allowance for a rural worker in 19th century Australia. Maggie starts simply with Bread and Dripping and Fried Onions – a fond memory from husband Colin’s childhood whilst Simon’s Pound Cake is an old British recipe that dates from the 1700s and was brought to Australia with the early settlers - but Simon adds a good dash of rum for added punch. We travel back to 1861 and the ABC series ‘Outback House’ to see how the early settlers would have fared with basic provisions and plenty of mutton to get a sense of where the meat-eating tradition started and we visit hard-working shearer’s cook Marilyn Vogel because if there’s anyone who knows how to cook mutton it’s her! Back in the kitchen Maggie can’t resist going upmarket and cooks Rib of Beef with Black Pepper Crust and Bernaise Sauce in homage to her newly discovered convict ancestor who became a cattle farmer while Simon cooks a recipe direct from a 19th century kitchen - Braised Mutton with Suet Dumplings. E