Let's Cook competition cancelled

Due to the low number of entries we unfortunately have had to cancel the Let's Cook competition and the cook-off.

We have notified all entrants and each have been given a prize and have had their entry fee reimbursed.

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An early bird winner

Congratulations to Michele of Mooroolbark who has won an early bird prize, a copy of the Allan Campion and Michele Curtis book In the Kitchen: more than  1000 recipes for every day. Michele submitted our very first entry.

There's still time to get your entries into the Let's Cook competition.

Download the entry form (PDF 306KB 2 pages)

Students can enter Lets Cook too

If you're studying to be a chef you are eligible to enter the Lets Cook competition. We don't consider you to be professional until you have graduated. So hunt through those recipes for one you could adapt.

Also I've just received word that the finalists can elect not to assist the celebrity chef prepare the meal.

Cheers, webgurl

Ann Creber's Spanish Walnut cake

Ann kindly sent the following fantastic cake recipe.

My favourite of all cakes! An elderly relative always baked this when I visited her as achild, long after her death, her daughter passed it on to me and I am delighted to share it. A word of warning - the icing takes long and vigorous beating and I can only admire my great-aunt's stamina in having created it without the aid of electrical appliances.
Ann Creber

Ingredients:
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
125g butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Caramel Frosting:
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
125g butter
1 tesapoon vanilla essence
walnut or pecan halves


Sift together flour and cinnamon. Beat together butter and sugar until well mixed and creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat mixture again. Slowly stir milk into the creamed mixture. Add flour and cinnamon, stir in, then add the walnuts or pecans. Lightly stir into mixture.

Beat egg whites until stiff, gently but thoroughly fold into other ingredients. Gently spoon into a lightly buttered and floured loaf tin and cook in a preheated 185˚C (350˚F) oven for 30-45 minutes. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack. Cover with Caramel Frosting when cold.


To make frosting
Combine, sugar, milk and butter in a saucepan. Cook over a moderate heat until mixture forms a ball when dropped into a little cold water. (Brush down the inside of the saucepan with a small brush and cold water, from time to time). Cool a little, then add the vanilla essence. Beat (and beat and beat!) until thick and of a spreading consistency. Frost entire cake and garnish with walnut or pecan halves.

Ann doesn't know whether it keeps well. She says she's never had one last long enought to find out. Thanks Ann for the recipe. If anyone bakes the cake could you please let us know how it turns out.

Cheers, webgurl

What's involved in the cook-off?

I enquired with The Powers That Be what was required in the cook-off for the 3 finalists.

Basically our celebrity chefs will be cooking the recipes and the finalists will be assisting e.g. a bit of chopping here, or stirring there.

Sounds like a lot of fun. Worth checking out. The cook-off will be held at The Good Guys (Greg Rako), Canterbury Road, Bayswater on Saturday 26th June.

Have you figured out what recipe you'll be entering?

Cheers, webgurl

Cookbook reviews

Collections Manager Lyn Baines, known for her wonderful cooking, has kindly reviewed the following cookbooks.

Cupcake Magic – Kate Shirazi

Kate Shirazi runs a mail-order cupcake-making business in the UK called Cakeadoodledo. Her cookbook is a refreshingly relaxed introduction to cupcakes. Her chapters are titled Low-faff, Mid-faff & High-faff, & she has an introductory chapter on using the right ingredients & equipment. The low-faff recipes are very basic with little decorating skill required. There are recipes for a basic cupcake mix, icings & frostings & variations of these. The more elaborate cakes are decorated with everything from sugar roses to sparkling cherries & insects made of icing. There are also savoury cupcakes & seasonal cakes for Christmas, Easter & Halloween. This is a great book if you’re just beginning to make cupcakes or if you’re looking for new decorating ideas.

Gluten-free Cooking – Sue Shepherd

Sue Shepherd is an Australian dietitian who specialises in diets for people with food intolerances. Her latest book contains recipes suitable for those with coeliac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gluten, wheat or lactose intolerance or fructose malabsorption. Shepherd includes a chapter on stocking the pantry with useful ingredients to have on hand & has some good ideas for breakfasts & school lunches. The recipes range from Moroccan soup, Capsicum risotto & Gnocchi with blue cheese sauce to decadent desserts like Sticky date pudding & Blueberry & rhubarb crumble. This is a very useful book for anyone who needs to restrict their diet. Delicious food is still possible if you suffer from an allergy or food intolerance.

cheers, webgurl

How to invent recipes yourself

I was doing a bit of research on the Internet for tips on adapting recipes to create new ones and stumbled upon the following interesting articles:

How to invent recipes yourself
How to invent a family recipe

For the competition there must be 3 significant changes to the original recipe in either preparation or ingredient for it to become an original recipe.

Have you ever created your own recipe e.g. adapted a family recipe or one you've seen in a cookbook? How did it turn out? Let us know via the comments.

Next week I'll share a recipe I invented from scratch....bear in mind I'm not a very good cook so its pretty basic.

cheers, webgurl

Literary lunch with Ann Creber

Belgrave Library are hosting a literary lunch today with Let's Cook! judge Ann Creber. Ann is not only a food writer, journalist, stylist and editor, she hosts The Good Life on 3MDR. She spent many years as a regular on ABC programs and still has a slot on Radio National. The Good Life is a sought after program for authors to wanting to talk about their books. Ann attracts many of Australia's best known names as her guests.

This talk is a must for people wanting to hear about some of the latest names on the Australian literary scene.

Where: Belgrave Library, Reynolds Lane, Belgrave
When: Thursday 25th March 12:30pm
Cost: $10 includes lunch

Cheers, webgurl

So, what's an original recipe?

A recipe will be defined as original if it has three significant changes in ingredients or preparation steps from a previously published recipe. 

The original recipes must be developed for a main course and take no longer than one hour to prepare, cook and serve. The must be created by the entrant and not previously been published nor won a prize or award.

All ingredients must be listed, together with exact flavours/measurements/weights (in standard metric measurements).

Complete preparation instructions must be given including specific types and sizes of any cooking equipment used.

Cheers, webgurl

Launch of the ERL Let’s Cook! Competition

Do you love to cook? If you can create a main course that takes one hour from preparation to presentation then this is the competition for you.

Let’s Cook! launched on Monday 15th March will run until the end of May. You may enter as many times as you like. Recipes should be original and not have been previously published or entered in previous cookery competitions.

The judges for Let’s Cook! are:

• author, reviewer, broadcaster and ‘foodie’ Ann Creber
• chef Ben Higgs from ‘Wild Oak’ 
• food writer and editor Lucy Rushbrooke (Malouf). 

In June our judges will select the three finalists for the cook off on Saturday 26th June at the Good Guys Store in Bayswater.

Finalists will assist three celebrity chefs to cook their dishes after which the winner will be announced. Our chefs for the cook off are Scott Pickett, Allan Campion and Greg Malouf. The event will be hosted by Channel 10 star and Melbourne icon Denise Drysdale.

Prizes for the event will include kitchen appliances from the Good Guys and Baumatic, Salton products and cookery classes.

Pick up an entry form from any of our branches or download a copy from the top of this blog

Download the entry form (PDF 306KB 2 pages)

Cheers, webgurl