Ask the expert
My mother is staying with me for a couple of days. I deprived her of tea and other essential sustenance until she agreed to answer questions. She knows south-east Australian cooking (especially kosher) and ingredients going back a century. She isn’t quite a century old. In fact, she’s not even vaguely close to a century old, but she was taught by her mother and mother in law, so her inherited knowledge reaches back to before World War I. She is fantastic with anecdotes about the introduction of plastics and electrical equipment and exotic ingredients. She knows the development of decent kosher food in Australia backwards. She can cook almost anyting that’s cookable in a kosher fashion.
She’s here for the next forty eight hours, so send in your questions and I’ll report her answers back when she leaves. Your questions don’t have to be historical. They can be practical (why do we do this or that?) . Use the comments section or send me an email.
February 22nd, 2007 at 4:56 am
hello Gillian’s mum *g* I have a question: have you ever seen a cold dessert, called coffee soufle, that looks something like a cross between a mousse and a jelly in texture?
It was my grandmother’s favourite comfort food, she made it anytime she considered her grandchildren needed extra love - but I don’t have a recipe for it, and she was struck with the onset of dementia before I ever thought to ask her for it. My father’s helpful comment when I said I was looking for the recipe was; “she used to crush a Violet Crumble over the top”