BACON

At  Green Rises and “Stoke” a good number of pigs were reared and killed with the meat being cured for bacon. A lot of this was supplied to the Brisbane Hotel in Launceston. With the pig enclosures not being as strong as could have been, the pigs sometimes escaped causing havoc. All of grandfather’s sons declared they would never have a pig on their place, and as far as I’m aware none ever did. Pigs were never kept at “The Grange”, although dad on occasions did buy a carcass, cut it up and convert it into bacon. This would be hung on hooks attached to the kitchen ceiling.

A recipe to cure bacon is as follows:-
For every 100 lbs. of meat use 12 lbs. salt, 6 lbs of dark brown sugar and 4 ozs. saltpetre. Crush the saltpetre fine and before mixing it with the salt and sugar rub some of it on the fleshy parts of the meat to draw out the blood, for a day. Leave the meat on the bench for the first day, so that it will drain. Next day rub the meat well with the salt and sugar mixture and pack into a trough or cask, placing the hams at the bottom, then the shoulders and then the flitches. Next day rub all over with the salt mixture and pack the top ham at the bottom, likewise the shoulders then flitches, always leaving fleshy side up, rubbing and reversing their positions every day. For a not very large pig the flitches should be cured in ten days, the shoulders a fortnight and hams three weeks. When taken from the salt put the meat in trough and pour over it hot water to cover and leave overnight, then scrub the skin side of the pieces, dry with a cloth and hang in a  draught to dry. When dry smoke. An old tank makes a good smoke house. The main consideration in not to have the fire close enough to heat the bacon.
(Copied from 21st Birthday CWA in Tasmania, Cook Book, page 46 – published June, 1958)

RABBIT

There were a large number of rabbits around and frequently they would be hunted, either being trapped (now banned) or shot. For many families they provided a ready and cheap supply of meat. Not only would the carcase be eaten but the skins saved, pegged and dried, and packed up for sale to the skin merchants when they called.

The Herald Recipe Book, (1933 edition), devoted a whole chapter to rabbit recipes, 28 in all. Two of these recipes follow and are most representative of how Mum cooked rabbit.

Roast Rabbit

Ingredients

• Rabbit
• Beef-dripping or butter
• Forcemeat 
• Salt and pepper

Wipe the rabbit dry, fill it with good forcemeat, and sew up and firmly truss it. Season with salt and pepper, roast slowly and baste well with beef drippings, butter. A thin piece of beef-suet skin may be tied over the back for the first three-quarters of an hour and then removed. One and three-quarter hour is the full time for roasting. Serve with brown gravy and currant jelly.

Rabbit en Casserole

Ingredients 

• Rabbit
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons savory fat
• garlic, if liked or dripping
• 1 teaspoon salt                                       
• 4 tablespoons flour

Rub the frying pan with garlic, if it is not objectionable. Dress and cut up the rabbit and cook in the fat in the frying pan until brown. Remove from the pan, stir the flour into the fat, add two cups of hot water, salt and pepper, and let it come to the boil, stirring constantly. Place the meat in a baking dish, pour the gravy over it, cover closely and bake in the oven or fireless cooker until tender.

If the garlic is not used, a teaspoon of currant jelly may be added to the gravy before serving.

KANGAROO

Many a meal of kangaroo patties with vegetables and gravy were enjoyed by the family, particularly in our younger years. In the 40’s and 50’s Dad would sometimes go “rooing” with a party of locals and bring home some of the days spoils to eat. Other kangaroos were some times dropped in by friends. Mum was not particularly enthused about kangaroo meat, tiring of it when young, but would mostly make the meat into patties.

A kangaroo recipe

Cut up kangaroo into small pieces and mince with a little fat bacon, add pepper, salt and ground cloves to taste. Soak bread and add sufficient to make sausage consistency. Form into small balls and fry, serve with gravy. Quantity of ground cloves, about 2 teaspoons to 3 cups of meat.

BEVERAGES

Beverages were often prepared at home there not being the convenience of going to the local corner store to purchase. At “The Grange” ginger beer was the most common drink made either the quick version or that made from a “plant” which took longer to initially establish and would need to be stored longer before use. The latter was the best but having to wait for it to mature was trying to our patience. Ginger beer was frequently made at “Stoke” and also by Mum’s family. The “Page” family from memory also made Sassafras beer and Honey Mead.

The story is told that Great grandfather Robert Page and some of his sons were out working one hot day and to quench their thirst were drinking honey mead, but hadn’t realized how potent is was. The more they drank the happier they became and the happier they became the less work they did until at last work ceased. They fed some of the mead to the pigs and they too got rather wobbly. A merry time was had by all but after that were much more cautious about the amount of honey mead they consumed.

Recipes

Ginger Beer

Three pounds sugar, ¼ lb. rough ginger, 1½ ozs. cream of tartar, jounce of three lemons, one tablespoon of yeast, white of one egg, two gallons of boiling water. Bruise the ginger well and boil it for 20 minutes in the water. Add sugar, lemon juice and strain. When cool add the cream of tartar, yeast and white of egg. Let it stand for 12 hours. Then bottle and cork well, ready for use in three days.

Honey Mead

Seven pounds of honey, 2 gallons of water, 2 tablespoonful yeast. Boil the honey and water for an hour, straining very carefully. Drain the strainings through sieve and return to the pan. When nearly cold stir in the yeast and put in a cask in a cool place. In a year’s time bottle, and use three months afterwards.

Sassafras Beer

Four gallons of water, 4lbs. sugar, ½ lb sassafras bark, ¼ lb. of hops, ½  pint of yeast, 2 oz. white ginger (bruised). Method – put sugar in water, put bark, hops and ginger in a calico bag, and boil one hour, when cold squeeze liquid from bag, and add yeast, allow to stand for three days, skimming twice per day. Then bottle, ready after 12 hours.