How to make gravy
Photo by Libby Penner on Unsplash
In his ode to a particularly Australian style of Christmas, Paul Kelly gave a recipe for How to make gravy (‘Just add flour, salt, a little red wine / And don’t forget a dollop of tomato sauce for sweetness and that extra tang’).
Later this month, I’ll be sitting down with my family for our Christmas lunch, where we have established a few food traditions of our own, while also drawing on foreign influences – right down to the Christmas turkey. I will be in charge (as always) of the Christmas ham, as well as making the seasonal drink using Adam Liaw’s delicious cherry chinotto cordial recipe.
All of this got me thinking about the art and science of writing recipes. Recipes are a form of expository writing (the other main forms are descriptive, narrative and persuasive). As a set of instructions, it’s important that a recipe is clear, unambiguous and accurate. This is particularly true of Christmas recipes which might only be prepared once every 12 months, with a lot riding on the result.
Another special food occasion is a child’s birthday party, and most Australians of a certain age will be familiar with The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book. First published in 1980, each recipe was triple tested to give home cooks the best chance of replicating the version photographed for the book.
Even with the best intentions (and instructions), the results are sometimes less than perfect, a fact the creators of Bluey had great fun with in the episode where Bandit attempts to make the duck cake.
This might be a good time to mention that last year, the fruit in my Christmas cordial began to ferment with the sugar, causing one of the glass bottles to explode on the kitchen bench overnight. I’ll leave it to readers to imagine the kind of mess that made.
Should this possibility have been mentioned in the recipe? Maybe, but a good recipe is also a simple set of instructions. It can be difficult to predict every possible variation – raw ingredients can have different properties, ovens can run hotter or cooler than the temperature indicated and even humidity levels can affect the outcome. In my case, it was possibly due to wild yeasts on the fruit. At least I know what to look out for this time around.
Whatever your holiday season traditions, I hope you get to enjoy this time of year. Personally, I’m looking forward to a glass of cherry chinotto cordial with soda water over ice while watching some cricket from right behind the bowler’s arm.
