The English and Australian Cookery Book

[1][2] Abbott was the son of a Canadian-born military officer, posted from New South Wales to Hobart in 1815 to become deputy judge advocate.

Abbott junior rose from the position of clerk in his father's office to become a key player in the colony as wealthy grazier, coroner and parliamentarian.

While proselytising the science, art and etiquette of fine dining — or "aristology" as he called it — he had a quick temper and at one time assaulted the premier of the day with his umbrella, apparently in a rage related to his ongoing legal wrangle with the government.

[3] Within its green and gold cover, illustrated with a stylised globe depicting the opposite nature of the seasons between hemispheres, are nearly 300 pages of recipes.

While many reference Abbott's cookery book as the first Australian cookbook, few had analysed its contents in detail until 2014 when it was more broadly reproduced in celebration of its 150th anniversary.

Near its beginning he states: "The following pages will show the British and Colonial mode of rendering the various articles that God has been pleased to give us for our use, nutritious and wholesome, as well as palatable to our tastes.

Liebig informs us, 'That among all the arts known to man, there is none which enjoys a juster appreciation, and the products of which are more universally admired, than that which is concerned in the preparation of food'."

He later ends the introduction thusly: "I trust, therefore, it may not be inopportune, even in such a work as this, that I may be allowed to apostrophise my country, in the elegant language of Scott- 'Breathes there a man with soul so dead.

In his analysis of coffee he states "The roasting of the berry to a proper degree requires great nicety; the virtues and agreeableness of the drink depend upon it, and both are often injured by the general method."

Swift tells us, to such an extent is modern epicurism carried, that the world must be encompassed before a washerwoman can sit down to breakfast; while Cobbett exclaims, 'The drink which has come to supply the place of beer has, in general, been tea.

Mix half a pint of cream with the same quantity of milk, and the yolk of an egg; scald it over the fire, and stir it; add a little sugar, and let it cool.

A recipe for salmon pie in the Hebrew section instructs to: "Cut two pounds of fine fresh salmon in slices, about three-quarters of an inch thick, and set them aside on a dish; clean and scrape five or six anchovies, and halve them; then chop a small pottle of mushrooms, a handful of fresh parsley, a couple of shalots, and a little green thyme.

Put these together into a saucepan, with three ounces of butter, a little pepper, salt and nutmeg, and tarragon; add the juice of a lemon, and half a pint of good brown gravy; and let the whole simmer, stirring it gently all the time: also slice six eggs boiled hard; then line a pie-dish with short paste, and fill it with alternate layers of the slices of salmon, hard eggs, and fillets of anchovies, spreading between each layer the herb sauce; then cover the dish with the paste, and bake in a moderately-heated oven.

From the chapter "Hams, Bacon, and Salt Meat" is a recipe for Kangaroo Ham (Prize Recipe): "Take a quarter of a pound of fine Liverpool salt, add three ounces of coarse brown sugar, and one ounce of pounded allspice; mix them well together, then rub the whole well on and down the leg bone; let them lay in the pickle for a fortnight, rubbing them every other day.

Garnish with forcemeat balls, adding to the usual ingredients a little smoked bacon very finely chopped; a slice of boiled pork or ham is an agreeable addition.

The above recipe obtained a prize medal at the London Exhibition of 1862, and was kindly furnished the author by Mrs. Crouch, who was awarded the distinction."

Examples include: "Poor Man’s Sauce - Pick a handful of parsley leaves from the stalks, mince them very fine, strew over them a little salt; shred fine half a dozen young green onions, add them to the parsley, and put them into a sauceboat, with three table-spoonfuls of oil and five of vinegar; add some black ground pepper and salt; stir together, and serve.

According to Dryden— 'The rich, tired with continual feasts, For change, become the next poor tenant’s guests; Drink hearty draughts of ale from plain brown bowls.

The above is from Cooley’s 'Practical Receipts,' and if followed with attention, cannot be improved; some persons use a little brandy, but any such spirit destroys the delicate flavour of the mushroom.

Oyster, pontac, tomato, walnut, anchovy, caper, and cockle are each additions to the real ketchup, and take their names.

When dead, cut the belly part clear off, sever the fins at the point, take away the white meat, and put it into water.

Melt some butter in a stewpan, and put the white meat to it; simmer it till nearly done, then take it out of the liquor, and cut it into slices of a medium size.

Make a number of forcemeat balls; put to the whole three pints of Madeira wine, a high seasoning of cayenne pepper, salt, and the juice of two lemons.

In filling up the shells and tureens, a little fat should be put at the bottom, the lean in the centre, and eggs and forcemeat balls, with part of the entrails, on the top.

"A cheap and powerful freezing mixture may be obtained by pulverising glauber salts finely, and placing it at the bottom of a glass vessel.

He adds "In the event of a second edition being called for, the compiler would feel thankful to receive any additional practical recipes from the ladies of Australia and others, pertaining to the subject, so as to make the book, as a reference, as useful as possible."

In his gastronomic history of Australia, Michael Symons often refers to Abbott's cookery book, devoting a chapter to its contents.

In 1970, a selection of material from Abbott's original version was republished under the title The Colonial Cook Book: the Recipes of a By-gone Australia, edited by Alison Burt.

This slipcased edition includes a Companion Volume in contrasting gilt foil cover with authoritative essays by Professor Barbara Santich, Food Studies, Adelaide University (Bold Palates); seminal Australian culinary history author Michael Symons (One Continuous Picnic) and the world authority on Edward Abbott, Tony Marshall - as well as interpretive recipes by Sally Wise (A Year in a Bottle) and cocktails by historian Sebastian Reaburn.