Gran's Old Farm Cookbook

This book is a tribute to the devotion and skill of all country grandmothers since the earliest pioneering days of nineteenth century Australia. The recipes reflect the times of abundance on the farm as well as the staggering extravagance of those who lived in Australia’s historic homes and entertained with memorable largesse. They reflect just as truly the hardships of lean winter months, when Gran’s ingenuity was tested to the utmost in making appetising and nourishing meals from scalps and leftovers, flavoured with the preserves reminiscent of summertime. It was a way of life that made heavy demands on Gran. Hard work created prodigious appetites: substantial morning and afternoon tea was just as necessary as three very solid meals.

Mary Calder draws richly and generously on her memories and her treasured family notebooks, spicing her comments with a background of social and culinary titbits, gleaned from rare books and newspapers from the last century. Her fine collection of more than 260 recipes gives an eloquent picture of how Australian cookery and country life developed together.

For this is much more than a cookery book ... it is a witty and affectionate perspective on the past. Every page is enlivened with notes, memories, and asides to explain and bridge the gaps left by women so adept at cooking and improvising yet so bereft of kitchen refinements that ingredients, methods, times and temperatures were matters of instinct.