[Jan Fisher]

Best-selling Adelaide-based author, Victoria Purman, has a new novel out this April – and her research saw her testing (and tasting) a bunch of old recipes from a 1950s Australian Women’s Weekly cooking competition.

Writing historical fiction is all about setting the scene and representing the era accurately, but I don’t know if I’d have been game enough to serve up some of the dishes she discovered – especially the curried beef with spaghetti. That’s right. Spaghetti.

The cheese and gherkin scones sound pretty tasty to me, though…

Food – and especially desserts – from the 1950s could be delicious, too, of course.
But isn’t it more fun to remember the ones that we’d rather forget?

This old article details the real cookery competition that inspired the drama in Victoria’s book and reveals some of the award-winning recipes that were seen as taste sensations at the time. Savoury chops with cheese and cashews, anyone?

Reading the book reminded me of the culinary routine my mum laid out in my 1970s childhood (including tuna mornay Tuesdays, and roast lamb every Sunday), plus the regular serving of chicken chow mein and those awful, boiled sausages drowned in a sauce made with Keen’s curry powder, complete with sultanas and diced apple, that Mum thought added such ‘international’ flavour to our suburban dining room.

Just in case you are wondering, here’s one of the recipes

Curried Steak and Spaghetti

It costs 7/3 and serves five.

One and half pounds of blade or round steak

• 1 tbs fat
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 tbs curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 dessertspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups stock or water
• 5 tablespoons sultanas
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 apples
• 1 and 1/3 cups cooked spaghetti or noodles

Cut steak into one inch cubes. Brown in hot fat in pan. Remove. Add sliced onion and chopped garlic, brown lightly. Stir in flour, curry powder, salt, lemon juice and stock, stir until boiling. Add meat, sugar and sultanas, cover, simmer for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Half an hour before end of cooking time add sliced apples and continue cooking. Add spaghetti and reheat just before serving.

What recipes do you remember from your childhood that you never want to eat again?

[Taragosun]

Tuna mornay Tuesday reminded of my “Tuesday Chicken” as the kids referred to it and still do now, despite them being in their 40’s. Tuesday was Physical Culture afternoon/night and grilled chicken thighs was my go-to meal for that night.

[David]

My grandmother cooked a dish she claimed was popular in Britain during WW2 – Mock Fish. Parboil a parsnip, slice lengthwise to 6 – 10 mm thick “fillets”, dust in flour, dip into a batter mix and deep fry. Despite her claims, it didn’t fool me. I could taste the difference, but it was quite acceptable – just not real fish.

[Author]

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