Just reading through Muzza's recipe for brawn and it occurred to me how many of these type of dishes have disappeared from our tables. I grew up in rural Australian in the 40's and 50's and we ate plenty of mutton, rabbit and corned beef. Lambs brains, sweet breads, lambs fry (liver), tripe, hogget, wallaby and roo or ox tail were also regularly on the menu. Oddly enough we only had chicken on special occasions
I asked in a butchers recently for mutton necks and the butcher said with attitude, "We only sell lamb", so much for that !
I often cook casseroles in the CO using skirt or chuck steak and other less popular cuts as I reckon they are the tastiest, JMHO.

Rob.

Somewhere in storage I still have a copy of the first CWA Recipe Book.

Has some fantastic recipes for most of the ingredients in your post PD.  Must drag it out one day.

But . . . like you said, it is hard to get some of those ingredients from your average butcher.  I am still amazed that beef cheeks and lambs fry at Woolies are still only in the dog food section.

Might bring some lambs fry and bacon to the Broke COG. :)

OMG  PD I am sending Chief to live with you!  The two of you can eat all the awful  offal you want   :D :D :D
I have no objection to a bit of rabbit, roo, emu, mutton etc  but I draw the line at things like livers, hearts, kidneys and brains.   IMHO The only use for offal should be boiled up and fed to the dogs!  Guess I was spoiled huh?   ::)

Chief owned a butcher shop at one time (his dad was the slaughterman) so which parts of an animal is or is not edible was a slight bone of contention in our house.  Easily resolved many moons ago - if you want offal for dinner, cook it yourself!   ;) 



poddy dodger wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 4:37pm:

the butcher said with attitude, "We only sell lamb"

Ahuh... I came home with what were labelled as 'lamb forequarter chops' one day and Chief says "those are about as close to lamb as I am to a pimply teenager"   :D

Oh, LG Away, you really must be a youngster!

Steak and kidney pud, crumbed brains, and LFB in RGB (lamb's fry and bacon in rich brown gravy) — all those taste sensations you've been missing out on!!!

But I only came at tripe once, about 45 years ago, when I was on an Ulcer 1 diet in remote PNG hi hi.

I'd love to trade ideas on Lamb's Fry and Bacon recipes, however.

Cheers

Seamus

I grew up on a sheep station in SW Qld and our meat diet was mutton and about the only part of the sheep that went to the dogs was the bones. We used to think that sausages were quite a novelty. I can only remember trying tripe once or twice in my life and it's not on my bucket list to try it again, and there's very little I won't or haven't tried.
Stubby.

Seamus wrote on Mar 4^th, 2014 at 6:28pm:

LG, you really must be a youngster!

Lets just say I'm not as young as I'd like to be... but not as old as I feel some days  LOL

My dad was a cook in the English army for a few years (national service?) and he did serve some 'interesting' dishes at home occassionally - didn't mean I had to like them!   :D   Offal still holds the same status as brussell sprouts - Not In My Kitchen     LOL

I hit the trans line the same week the butcher van made its last trip on the Tea & Sugar. 
So the abbattoir in Kalgoorlie used to send us 'mail ordered' meat parcels on the freight train. These usually consisted of half a cow, half a pig and half a sheep, plus some chooks and a few snaggers!   Rarely did the abbattoir include any offal in the 'sides'.   I would supplement the abbattoir meat with rabbits and roos, the odd emu and once a bustard  (I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be shooting them at that time)   ;)

I have eaten my share of rabbit, roo, emu, mutton etc but you can have your offal all to yourself.

Jeff

I concur with you on the Brussell Sprouts LG.  First saw them when I joined the Navy in '60 and had to ask what they were.   Still couldn't cop them when I got out 20 years later :-?

Growing up in the Gulf country we had many a fine meal on plain turkey — funny how they always managed to get run over by the truck.  You wouldn't dare try it now, though.  On my last camping trip out there six months ago (a three weeker), a flock of 7 bustards would skirt my camp every morning and they didn't seem all that timid either.

Seamus

Yes Stubby, my father was a grazier out Central Queensland way and we had our fair share of mutton.  Mutton chops sizzling away on top of the big wood fired Aga stove in the station kitchen every morning.  As I recall it had a big hot water tank on one end of it.

Look at the price of lamb/mutton these days — it is gold plated it seems to me!!!

Cheers

Seamus

Derek wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 4:42pm:

Somewhere in storage I still have a copy of the first CWA Recipe Book. Has some fantastic recipes for most of the ingredients in your post PD.  Must drag it out one day. But . . . like you said, it is hard to get some of those ingredients from your average butcher.  I am still amazed that beef cheeks and lambs fry at Woolies are still only in the dog food section. Might bring some lambs fry and bacon to the Broke COG. :)

Another good old recipe book which I wouldn't be without is the PWMU (Presbyterian Womens Mission Union) Cookbook. I have a very old and tatty edition from the early 1950's, which is testament to the amount of use it's had over the years. It is just chock full of tried-and-true no nonsense classic recipes. The first edition was available in 1904 and since then over half a million copies have been printed; and what's more they're still available. ;)

http://pwmu.org.au/

http://cook-books.com.au/ccp0-prodshow/pwmu-centenary-cookbook-new-recipe-book.html

The hardest part of the old cookbooks is converting the imperial measurements to metric.
I have a handy webpage bookmarked specifically for when I'm browsing some of the old cookbooks.

And sometimes figuring out what the modern equivalent of 'that' ingredient is   :-?

My Grandmother's cook book is a 1911 edition.
Muzz

---

LG wrote on Mar 7^th, 2014 at 6:42pm:

I have a handy webpage bookmarked specifically for when I'm browsing some of the old cookbooks.

What is the website, Sharon??

I'm sure this good old website has been posted here before but here goes anyway:

http://www.oldaussierecipes.com/

This site provides a great list of "pre-decimal" measurements (conversions):

http://www.oldaussierecipes.com/cookingterms.htm

Enjoy

Seamus

That looks like a good one too Seamus.  I'll browse it a bit more later on.

The one I was referring to for converting measurements...
http://alldownunder.com/australian-convert/measurement-chart.htm

The biggest problem i have is with Tablespoon measurements. In the USA its 15mls and here its 20mls, mightn't seem much but for some recipes adding either 3/4 of what should be added or over adding 5 mls depending on where the recipe originated can make a difference.

It isn't just a 15ml vs 20ml difference either - depending on how old the recipe is and where it came from!
That explains some of my 'not so successful' attempts at certain recipes.   :D

http://whitegranny.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/beware-of-tablespoon.html

For curiosity sake, I have just checked my measuring spoons - lo and behold, my stainless steel set shows 20ml on the Tablespoon, while my plastic ones from 'a supermarket aisle' measured 15ml (no mls listed on the actual spoon)

So I had 2 different sizes in my kitchen and didn't realise it!

Well LG, that makes two of us!!!  The boss will be as surprised as I was when I show her the variations.  :-X

Cheers

Seamus