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| JEAN NELSON'S COOKERY BOOK |
I'm diverging a bit...but this post is
Launceston-related and of historic interest so......I'm going to
introduce to Jean Nelson's cook book, published by the Examiner
newspaper in Launceston in 1936, and still used today by this
Launceston resident over 80 years later.
Jean Nelson was the real or assumed
name of the leading light of the Examiner's women's supplement in the
1930s, but the book was actually compiled and edited by Miss Ruth
Wing “formerly Domestic Science Mistress of the Launceston State
High School, and the recipes were contributed by the newspaper's
readers.
Some of the recipes are still very
useful today – a special thankyou to Mrs. G Reid of David Street,
East Launceston for the Currant Jam recipe we've been enjoying for
the last couple fo years. Others have stood the test of time less
successfully. I do eye off the occasional wattlebird that breaks a
branch of the young fruit trees in the back paddock, but haven't been
moved to eat them yet, however I do allow myself a little evil smile,
when I remember there's a recipe from Mrs Bates of Liffey on page 19,
should I change my mind.
Other recipes are very much a product
of the grim economic times that prevailed in Tasmania during the
1930s. The meat section is full of rabbit recipes (my parents, as
children of the depression cannot understand why we don't solve our
rabbit issues by using some of them). Other cuts of meat not
favoured today also feature – a way to prepare three sheep heads,
brain pie, liver shape and tripe custard, are just some of the
temptations.....or not.
The recipe book sold for one shilling,
with 3d of each copy, being donated to Tasmanian public hospitals.
Advertising also featured throughout the book - the competition
between gas and electric cooking stoves was obvious, although a
“natural fuel” (wood/coa)l stove could still be had from the
Pheonix Foundry in Wellington Street. Some of the claims were a
little worrying, for instance “Only with gas can you leave the oven
absolutely alone whilst you go out shopping” The only male
portayed in the ads as cooking was Franz the French chef, who was
delighted to discover Robur tea when he moved to Australia, and found
it a more than adequate substitute for wine with his meals!!
I could go on..............its a
wonderful little book. My daughter bought it at a market, thinking I might like it and she was right!!
