As far as I’m concerned, my mum makes the best chocolate chip biscuits known to man. But while my mum was a major influence in my desire to be a chef, it’s my grandmother who takes centre stage in my memories of home baking.
She had (actually, she probably still has) a simply enormous porcelain bowl that would sit in a sink of warm water while she creamed butter and sugar for cakes and biscuits. The best jobs were to sift flour through her hand crank sifter and then clean the bowls using nothing but a spoon and my tongue.
My favourites from Grandma’s cupboard were, and still are, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread, Louise cake (Granddad’s preferred version was with apricot jam), chocolate coconut slice with chocolate icing, and the cupboard staple of a deliciously moist banana cake. Always moist since it was always demolished on the day it was made! Here is a woman who brought up a family of seven children during the depression after World War II while my grandfather supported them, not to mention baking for 13 grandchildren and a growing squadron of great grandchildren.
During the 1960s and continuing through to the 70s and early 80s, there was an expectation home baking would be in the cupboard when friends and family came to visit. But over the last twenty years, the biscuit and cake tins of New Zealand have lain increasingly dormant. This can be put down to several factors – the removal of import tariffs and rise of competitively priced supermarket treats, the loss of the traditional “homemaker” to the working world, and busier lifestyles all contributing to the decline of date loaf and one-egg chocolate sponge.
However, home baking has recently experienced a resurgence in popularity. While our lives become increasingly hectic and technology intensive, today’s foodie culture has reclaimed all that is lovingly produced, simple and homemade. Promotion by TV chefs such as Richard Till of Kiwi Kitchen, beautifully produced food magazines such as Cuisine, and increasing pride in our cultural heritage have all played their part in this trend for Kiwi-style baked treats such as Anzac biscuits, afghans, lamingtons and custard squares.
Home baking remains one of the last facets of Kiwi cuisine to remain largely unchanged during the last century. The tradition developed from humble beginnings in the early 1800s, when the first settlers from the UK arrived on our shores, surviving through two world wars and several recessions. Interestingly, it has retained its simplicity over time while our savoury dishes have undergone constant revision.
With our predominantly British heritage, it is not surprising that baking has always formed a significant part of the New Zealand diet. The foundation stones of this tradition were laid in 1907 with the first edition of the Sure to Rise Cookery Book, now known as the Edmonds Cookbook. Originally released to promote Edmonds baking powder, you’ll be hard-pressed nowadays to find a Kiwi household without a copy. It remains the fastest-selling book in New Zealand with over 200,000 copies sold in one year and over 57 reprints. The iconic Edmonds has provided the recipes and basic knowledge to enable four generations of Kiwis to prepare a wide range of inexpensive meals, including baking and home preserving.
It has been suggested that New Zealanders have a sweeter tooth than our cousins over the ditch and if we look to our heritage it is easy to see why; we are predominantly from Scottish origin, where they have strong penchant for the sweeter things in life. This would explain the mass appeal of the sugar-load that is the ANZAC biscuit. It is thought that the ANZAC biscuit was a sweet version of the traditional oat biscuits of Scotland. These biscuits were reputedly made by the wives of servicemen of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and needed to be able to survive the two arduous months it took to reach soldiers in the field. The recipe doesn’t contain any eggs, the main reason being that eggs were scarce at the time as most of the poultry farmers consigned to the armed forces. ANZAC biscuits were originally called soldiers’ biscuits but the name changed after the Gallipoli landing to commemorate those who sacrificed so much for our countries.
The term ANZAC is legally protected under Australian law but the biscuits have an exemption as long as they are made to the original recipe of rolled oats, flour, coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, bicarbonate of soda and boiling water. In late 2008, the sandwich chain Subway tried to sell ANZAC biscuits but as their supplier could not produce them to the original recipe in a cost effective way, they were dropped. This requirement doesn’t stop cafés selling them all over New Zealand and even in some of the finer establishments in London and further afield catering to homesick Antipodeans.
The café culture in New Zealand has also grown from strength to strength over the last two decades, with traditional tearooms – those bastions of lolly cake, custard squares and cheese scones – making way for trendy temples of caffeine, especially in urban areas.
The high standard and consistency of our coffee has forced cafés to up their game in the food department in order to stand out from the competition, resulting in an increase of quality all-round. The traditional cakes and biscuits still have a place on the counter but consumers today are also used to, and expect, savoury dishes with a fusion twist, such as blue cheese and asparagus quiche, roasted kumara frittata or a chicken, brie and cranberry panini.
Today we are starting families in our thirties, after studying, traveling and establishing our careers, something that would have been extremely uncommon thirty years ago. But despite this rapid generational change, and perhaps even because of it, it seems traditions such as home baking still have a place in our lives.
Many of us are fortunate to live in a society where we don’t cook, or bake, solely for nutrition – rather it is something to be shared, to be passed down through the generations and to remind us of where we’ve been.
Peter’s journey reflects my own and many other chefs’; a voyage of discovery as we traverse a multitude of cultures and tradition in the search for perfection.
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