The 1939 Australian mystery of the Brazilian stew cooked in a jar
Before the modern slow cooker, Australian cooks were using jars and bain-maries to prepare beef. But a single, unnamed ingredient in this 1939 recipe remains a culinary enigma, leaving historians to wonder what exactly was being poured into the pot.
In the improved eighth edition of The Schauer Cookery Book, published in Australia in 1939, a recipe for 'Brazilian Stew' offers a fascinating glimpse into pre-war domestic life. This dish serves as a vintage precursor to the modern 'dump-and-stir' crockpot meals we recognize today. The method involves slow-cooking beef alongside carrots, onion, and either turnip or swede in a jar, using a bain-marie to distribute heat.
While the ingredients list is largely straightforward, it contains a significant mystery: a component simply referred to as 'sauce.' Without further clarification in the text, culinary historians are left to speculate on its identity. Was this a reference to the ubiquitous HP Sauce, or perhaps a simpler tomato sauce? The ambiguity highlights how much culinary terminology and pantry staples have shifted since the 1920s and 1930s in Australia.
Beyond the mystery of the sauce, the era's cookbooks reveal other peculiar culinary trends and linguistic debates. For instance, the 1930s in Australia featured the curious practice of cooking beef with bananas, a combination that sounds alien to modern palates. Furthermore, the recipe highlights the ongoing botanical and regional debate regarding whether the root vegetable in question should be called a turnip, a swede, a rutabaga, or a neep.
Unraveling these recipes requires more than just following instructions; it requires an investigation into the cultural context of the time. By examining the contents of The Schauer Cookery Book, we can begin to reconstruct the flavors of a vanished era, even if the true nature of that mysterious 'sauce' remains a subject of debate among enthusiasts of historical Australian cooking.
Source: 1939 Australian “Brazilian Stew” in a Jar | Vintage Cookbook Mystery
