13.1.3 Meat Pies, Damper, Galah, pumpkin soup
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This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales with numerous contributions by others.
13.1.3 Meat Pies, Damper, Galah, pumpkin soup
* Damper
The basic recipe for damper is just self rising flour (4 C) and milk
(2 1/2 C) or water, mixed to a very stiff dough and then baked in one
of several ways: in a cast iron "dutch oven" buried in the ashes of a
fire, wrapped around the end of a stick (only a small handful or so)
and toasted over the fire, or formed into a round loaf and baked in a
conventional oven. You can spice it up by adding a handful of dried
fruits, by topping it with some mustard and grated cheese or, if
you've been bold enough to do it on a stick, by filling the hole where
the stick was with jam. [CP]
* Australian Meat Pie [JN]:
Reference: Australian Women's Weekly Home Library: Cooking Class
Cookbook, p70. (reproduced without permission).
Filling:
750 g (1.5 lb) minced steak 1 teaspoon soy sauce 2 beef stock cubes salt, pepper 1.5 cups water pinch nutmeg (generous -JN) 2 tablespoons plain flour 1/4 cup water, extra Pie Base: 2 cups plain flour 2/3 cup water 1/2 teaspoon salt 60 g (2 oz) beef dripping Pie Top: 375 g (12 oz) packaged puff pastry 1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon water
Making the filling: Place meat into the pan, stir over low heat until
meat is well browned. Drain off any surplus fat. Add crumbled stock
cubes, water, salt, pepper and nutmeg, stir until boiling, reduce
heat, cover, simmer gently for 20 min, remove from heat. Combine
extra water and flour, stir until flour mixture is smooth. Add flour
mixture to meat, stir until combined. Return to heat, stir until meat
boils and thickens. Add soy sauce (to give brown colour), stir until
combined. Simmer, uncovered, 5 to 10 min; remove from heat allow to
become cold.
Making the pie base: Sift flour and salt into basin. Place water and
dripping into saucepan, stir until dripping melts; remove from heat.
Make a well in centre of dry ingredients, add liquid, stir until
combined. (2a. If you're in a hurry, just use premade (bought)
pastry. It works ok, too. -JN)
Turn out onto lightly floured surface, knead lightly. Roll out pastry
to line eight greased pie tins. [We use "real" aluminium 6 or 8 in
pie casings - JN] Cut excess pastry around sides of pie plates using a
sharp knife. Fill centres with cold meat filing.
Pie crust: Roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface, cut out
rounds for top of pies, use a saucer as a guide. Wet edges of base
pastry, and gently press tops into place, trim around edges with a
sharp knife. Brush tops with combined egg-yolk and water.
Cooking: Bake in hot oven 5 minutes or until golden brown, reduce heat
to moderate, cook further 10 min.
Galah [PB]
Having plucked and cleaned galahs, place in a large saucepan of water
over an open fire. Add two or three large rocks from a creek nearby.
Boil for two to three days, adding water as required. By this time
the rocks should have softened, throw away the galahs and eat the
rocks.
Galah variations [KP]
Variation 1 (from my landlady the late Mrs. Rose Roots of Punch
Street, Gundagai, N.S.W., 2722) After the rocks are done, reduce heat
but continue simmering over low heat for another week. Make sure the
water level is kept up.
Variation 2 (from my team mates at the Junee RSL Shooting Club, Junee,
N.S.W.) After the rocks are done, remove and maintain a slow boil of
the Galahs while a side dish of lava is obtained. Serve both
immediately, preferably with the lava on top of the meat.
Pumpkin Soup [JL]
In a large pot I put cut up pumpkin, 2 chopped up onions, 3 chopped
slices of celery and enough water to cover. Then I simmer it until
the pumpkin is soft and then I mash it all or blend it. You then need
to add some curry powder which gives it a wonderful flavour. The
biggest problem in the US is that most of the pumpkins are much more
watery than the Queensland blue pumpkins in Australia so the soup is
not the same. However, this year I grew some JackbeLittle pumpkins
and they were just fine for soup.
[MM] I have found that "Butternut Squash" == "Butternut Pumpkin", make
a pretty good soup. However they are definitely not the same as a
Queensland Blue.
Steak, Mushroom and Onion Pie [PL]
Ingredients:
1 lb round steak
1 onion
1 lb mushrooms
flour
pastry
Worcestershire Sauce
Steak Sauce
Beef Gravy powder
beer
butter or margarine
water
Cut meat into small pieces, toss in flour
and brown in margarine or butter in saucepan.
Add 2 cups of water to saucepan.
Chop onion, add to mixture.
Add Worcestershire Sauce, Steak Sauce, gravy mix
and beer to mixture. (Go easy on these to start with.
You can always add more of these after the meat is
cooked, and then you can taste it.)
Simmer covered for 30 minutes. While simmering, dice the
mushrooms and prepare the pie shells. I usually just
buy ready made pie pastry sheets for the pie shells
and ready made puff pastry sheets for the lids.
Add the mushrooms and more seasonings if desired.
Simmer uncovered for 5-10 more minutes. This should
make enough for 2 shallow 9-inch pies. If the mixture
is too runny, add more gravy powder, or mix some flour
with a little water into a paste, and add that.
Ladle mixture into pie shell. Put puff pastry lid on top,
and press the lid and shell together. Poke a few small
holes in the lid and bake at 425 F for 20-25 minutes.
Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.
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