Mr Cutlack's Tomato Pie

Mr Cutlack’s Tomato Pie

from Mrs Harvey’s Sister-in-Law and other tasty dishes, Margaret Dunn, Murdoch Books Australia, 2008.

Last time I looked at this book I was excited to find a recipe for cheese biscuits that seemed to be the same as the one my grandmother used to make. And when I tried it out it tasted just right.

Turning over the pages I located this tomato pie, credited here to Mr Cutlack. It also sounded just like something that my grandmother made. The book says that it is actually made in America at Christmas time when tomatoes are scarce and expensive. It thus becomes a special dish for the occasion.

When I was leaving work I mentioned that I was going home to make tomato pie. I described it my workmate who expressed delight that it was one of her favourite dishes.

I just love the way this particular recipe book seems to be a stimulus for raising memories. So I made my tomato pie with great anticipation.

It turned out to be just like Gran’s but perhaps my memories had overburdened the anticipation. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t quite come up to what I had expected. When I cook it again I might be in a better mind set to appreciate it without the heightened expectation.

The recipe doesn’t stipulate what onions to use so I used the common brown onion. I think that next time I might used white onions. The brown onion tended to be a little too strong.

When tomatoes are more plentiful and less expensive I’ll give it another go.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Inge's Cheese Biscuits

Inge’s Cheese Biscuits

from Mrs Harvey’s Sister-in-Law and other tasty dishes, Margaret Dunn, Murdoch Books Australia, 2008.

I was attracted to this book by its unusual title and its old-fashioned appearance. When I began to read it I found that both the name and the look were highly appropriate for this is a collection of recipes garnered from family and friends, many of them passed down over several generations.

The recipes and sections of the book are padded with entertaining reminiscences of family life, like ‘As I grew up I also was allowed a  glass of dry sherry. (Sweet sherry, my father said, frowning on my youthful preference, is for cooking.)’ An entertaining book which brings back many memories. It’s easy to get waylaid into spending lots of time on the background stories as you cook.

And the recipes include lots of old and unusual items like onion sandwiches or Mrs Oodnadatts Jones’cream puffs. I can browse in here for longer than I have time to.

Inge’s Cheese Biscuits apparently came from Inge who came to South Australia from Austria during the war. When I followed the recipe I found that they were very like the ones my grandmother used to make occasionally and she came from Britain.

The biscuit mixture was easy to make. It was no more difficult than mixing the ingredients, rolling them out, and then cutting them into biscuit shapes. The writer says that she always used her father’s jigger to cut them out, so I got hold of ours and did the same—for some of the biscuits. But the instructions also say that grandmother said to cut them into fingers. Hence some of mine were cut into fingers. (This was also how my grandmother made them.) There is a further comment to say that Inge said there should be caraway seeds in them. So some of mine had caraway seeds.

The result was some extremely short, savoury biscuits that did not last long before they were all eaten.

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔