Reviewed by Richard Tutin
We have all seen them in our newspapers, magazines and now online at different websites. A steady stream is published each week with the invitation to try them out. What are they? The answer is recipes that can be made for any meal or snack depending on the situation. They reach a peak during key annual celebrations such as Christmas, New Year and Birthdays. Sometimes we look at them, most times we probably ignore them unless we are looking for that particular dish to wow our family and friends.
What happens though as time passes and tastes change? The recipes are forgotten or lost depending on your point of view. Ross Dobson has brought over ninety of these lost or forgotten culinary delights back to life in this book. Not only that, he has given them a modern makeover by updating measurements, cooking times and finding equivalent ingredients if they are no longer available. This allows the modern cook to prepare their own versions and add them to their recipe collections if they have them.
Along the way Dobson gives us snapshots of social and food history in Australia over the past one hundred years by offering recipes that attracted his interest enough to prepare them himself.
Of note is the way in which all the “lost” recipes are sustainable using seasonal ingredients preferably locally grown. Sustainability and minimal waste are the catch words of all Dobson’s contributions. They remind us of how our forebears kept their leftovers to a minimum often using them again in a different way for another meal. They also speak of how pantry staples were the main ingredients rather than searching high and low for that special component to make an exotic meal.
As each recipe is perused, memories are brought back of the enjoyment of some of these dishes in our childhood homes or in the homes and kitchens of relatives such as grandparents. Some I did remember while others piqued my interest with a thought that I may try one or two at some point in the future.
One look at the bibliography of this book shows the depth of Dobson’s research. As he points out, some recipes did come up again and again at different times while others were published only once and never saw the light of day again. As well as the recipe itself, there is a short blurb on its history and its place in Australian eating habits.
As well as the bibliography, a glossary of ingredients and terms is also included. This is very helpful if some of the ingredients are unfamiliar or go by different names in some regions.
The Lost Recipes reminds us that sustainable cooking has been part of the Australian landscape for many years if not a century or two. This small volume may encourage home cooks to find, make and try these dishes. This will let them live once more and not be lost or forgotten.
Ross Dobson has been having a great deal of fun and success working in the international publishing industry for over 20 years. He has published some 20 cookbooks the most recent being Australia: The Cookbook (2021).
The Lost Recipes
by Ross Dobson
(2024)
Echo Publishing
ISBN 9781760688837
$34.99; 239pp