Cook Books and Memories

I grew up loving my Italian sounding name, Ascoli, but our family had no known Italian ancestry or culture. We were just an Aussie born family, cooking Aussie food, but knowing that a grandfather, Alf, had a childhood story about being orphaned, aged seven years. Albert and Susannah Ascoli, 50th Wedding Anniversary, Maclean, 1947 Alf (Albert Ernest Ascoli, 1872-1956) believed that his parents died on a ship coming to Australia and he was separated from his brother and baby sister. The children were “taken in” by different families. There was no legal adoption or links between the families, and he was unable to trace his siblings. He never saw his baby sister again. But when Alf was in Queensland, hundreds of miles from his home in Maclean, NSW, a butcher recognised the unusual Ascoli name, and Alf met up with his brother, Frank. This was a joyous family reunion and was noted in Alf's obituary.  My genealogy research later discovered that Alf was born in Syndey and that Frank was no

Sweet puddings have been devoured and enjoyed by our families for many decades. A pudding could be steamed or boiled in a large saucepan or cooked in the oven and was served after the main meal. As a child I always asked, "What's for pudding?" I never asked, "What's for dessert?"  I remember puddings were never refused by anyone at our family table. Blessed Be He That Invented Pudding, Chapter IX 1970, p148. Bailey, A. et al, Editors. The Cooking of the British Isles. Time Inc. My mother, Bridget Ascoli, (nee Gooley, 1906-1993), cooked the majority of those puddings and they were always varied, for example with jam, syrup, butterscotch, honey, fruit, dates, chocolate, and of course the classic plum pudding. Some everyday favourites were lemon self-saucing pudding, chocolate pudding, bread and butter pudding, and rice pudding. The puddings were always served with custards and sauces, and later in my own family with ice-cream. Steamed Apple and Date Pudding. S

Albert Ascoli’s first job in 1928, aged sixteen, was as a cook for the cane cutters in the Clarence River district, around Maclean, Palmers Channel and Yamba, NSW. Cane cutters gang at Palmers Channel, abt 1928. From left: unknown, unknown, Bill Baker, Len Sutherland, Albert Ascoli, Jack Schipp, unknown. In front sitting: Fred Gard. Albert (1912-2001), my Dad, left school at about 14 years of age and worked on family farms before he had his first paying job as a cane cutters cook.  Grandad Alf Ascoli (1872-1956) carting sugar cane on the Palmers Channel family farm, about 1918. Grandad Alf Ascoli ploughing the land on the Palmers Channel family farm, about 1920. Uncle Vince (Vincent Ascoli 1918-1997) on the back of the plough. Albert worked as a cane cutters cook for about six years (1928-1936) before he married Bridget Gooley. After his marriage he was a farmer in the Clarence River and Richmond River districts. Wedding Day, Albert Ascoli and Bridget Gooley, 1936 What did Albert l

Our family lived in the small town of Coraki (opposite the Catholic church, school, and convent) before we moved to live in Inverell in 1954. Link to  Coraki,    https://coraki.town/history  link below for the history of Coraki, NSW. Dad (Albert Ascoli, 1912-2001) worked my maternal grandparent’s dairy farm which was situated just out of town on the Casino Road. Albert had built a new dairy and was improving the farm. See:   Family Charts    Patrick Gooley and Lenora Lulham family chart (my maternal grandparents) . Mum (Babe Gooley, 1906-1993) decided she could help the family finances by starting a shop from our home. Albert built a shop counter (through to one of the front rooms) so customers could order and collect their goods from the veranda. Babe catered for the school students, their parents and teachers, and any passing customers. It was the school tuckshop and the local cake and sweet shop. Babe recalled later that she also provided a lot of free scones and cakes to the nu

Sponge cakes of all flavours and types are a constant delight in my family – all through my childhood and adult life. My mother, Babe, was the expert sponge maker. She had plenty of practice cooking for her nine siblings and the large extended families (Lulham and Gooley) in the Richmond River district of NSW.  Living on dairy farms (around Casino at Codrington, Gundurimba and Coraki), eggs and cream were freely available. Babe (Bridget Gooley, 1906-1993) Babe also learnt more about cooking from her work, in 1924-1929, when she cared for children who were boarders at the Roman Catholic Convent, Ballina. She learnt there how to use wisely the substantial amounts of donated goods (often dairy products and eggs). Some in the family thought Babe would be become a nun but she had other plans and later went nursing at the Maclean Hospital, in the nearby Clarence River District. There she met Albert Ascoli (1912-2001) who had eights siblings, so more extended families (Ascoli and Schipp) for

I lived the first seven years of my life on dairy farms in the Richmond River district, New South Wales (NSW), at Ewingsdale (overlooking Byron Bay) and at Coraki (near Casino and Lismore). Byron Bay is about 750 km from Sydney and 170 km from Brisbane. Lismore district, Northern NSW. Google Maps In my childhood Byron Bay was not the tourist town it is to-day. Then it was a gritty small town with few amenities and had a whaling station from 1954-1962.  One of my earliest memories is rolling down those green hills, with bright sunshine, cattle and chickens around me. There was no talk of “free range eggs” in the 1950s. You just had chooks and chooks laid eggs. Those chooks had a good life and roamed freely around the farm (as I did). As a three year old chef, I discovered that eggs added to mud and water made the shiniest and firmest mud pies. I soon had to go back to “eggless mud pies” when my mother discovered my recipe. Barbara feeding the chooks at Ewingsdale, NSW. abt 1953 RECIP