Cookery the Australian Way

My very first cook book from memory had a title something like "My Learn to Cook Book" and was a big book with big colourful pictures and print. It had recipes for hamburgers and face pizzas. I don't think I knew what a pizza was in those days, it sounded a bit exotic. I would have been about 9, maybe younger.
I don't know what ever happened to that book.

The first 'real' cook book I got was in High School and it was called "Cookery the Australian Way".

"Cookery the Australian Way" was first published in 1966 by the Trustees of the Home Economics Teacher's Group and reprinted eleven times until the Second Edition was published in 1974. My copy was the 1977 reprint.
It has been re printed and re published many times over the years and is still available today.

"Cookery the Australian Way" was a staple for every kid taking high school cooking class, and a book I still turn to this very day.

I remember each week we would rock up to cookery class with our ice-cream container and our copy of "Cookery the Australian Way" ready to make whatever was on the timetable for that day.

We would make a variety of dishes like Foundation Biscuit Recipe or Foundation Butter Cake.
 It seems there was a "Foundation" recipe for just about everything from Broth, Brown Stew and Casserole, to Scones, Steamed Custard and White Bread.
Each Foundation recipe also has a list of Variations to add to enjoy something different.

I still think the Foundation Butter Cake with the Banana variation is the best Banana Cake recipe I own.

"Cookery the Australian Way"is chock full of great recipes, which may seem very basic by todays standards, but the recipes are designed for schoolkids learning to cook.

"Cookery the Australian Way" circa 1977

Another of my first cook books, I got a few years later. This was the PWMU Cookery Book.

The PWMU Cookery Book was a publication from The "Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union" Uniting Church Fellowship. 

It was first printed in 1904 and was reprinted twenty one times, until it was re-issued in a revised and completely reset metric edition in 1973. It was reprinted four times until I got my copy which was copyright 1983.

This was a book I remember growing up with, my nana had her version, my mum had her version, so it was inevitable that I would have mine.

Each of our books had some of the same recipes, but also some different ones added over the years of revision.

I am not one hundred percent sure, but I think it still might be available today.

The PWMU book has a variety of recipes from Soups, Main Dishes and Desserts, not unlike  "Cookery the Australian Way".
 There is even a section called "Help for Beginners" and it has paragraphs about meal planning, temperatures, measurements and simple recipes like Porridge, Milk Rice and how to cook an egg 4 different ways.

PWMU Cookery Book circa 1983

The PWMU  Cookery Book and "Cookery the Australian Way" have a lot of basic recipes, which I have used over the years, and both cookbooks have served me very well.

You can tell by the pictures the amount of use they have had, they have recipes written inside their covers and blank pages, there are recipe sheets stuffed inside of them. They have been spilt on and wiped over more times than I can remember, but I can honestly say that of all the cook books I own, and I have quite a few, these two oldies are definately my favourites. 

BB