In The Engine Room

The Age

Tuesday May 29, 2007

Jane Faulkner

NO OTHER room has brought more joy to Margaret Fulton's family, friends and countless other Australians than her kitchen. It's a cosy, comforting space, full of cooking memories from a lifetime of recipes, and wonderful aromas.

Fulton's Balmain home has a wide view of Sydney Harbour but her relatively modest kitchen at the other end of the house is its most enchanting spot. It is her refuge, but also the engine room of our most celebrated cookery writer.

In her kitchen, Fulton's recipes, such as Caesar salad (she once met the son of the inventor of that famous mix), crispy roasted potatoes and parsnips, saltimbocca, piroshki, Thai red duck curry, brandy snaps, sour cream chocolate cake and more have been made, shared, devoured and discussed. "People always want to know what I cook at home. What are my favourite recipes,'' Fulton says. Their questions became the impetus for her latest book, Margaret Fulton's Kitchen.

This is Fulton's 25th major book, she thinks. In a career spanning 60 years, there have been countless other smaller publications alongside thousands of recipes that have come and gone and returned again. Recipes are not so original, she says.

Her new book is a collaborative effort with her daughter, food writer Suzanne Gibbs. "Some of the recipes have appeared before ... some are things I make for my family and friends or just myself,'' Fulton says. Her repertoire is extraordinary, spanning cuisines and trends around the globe, and occasionally throwing in a seemingly incongruous ingredient, such as fresh pineapple and canned lychees in her Thai red duck curry. "It is an unusual combination but it works. They're refreshing ingredients and the dish takes only minutes to prepare,'' she says.

In a sense, this book could almost be a potted history. "It's seen my life,'' she says. "I've got pikelets in it because of my Scottish background but also ricotta pancakes because I travelled to Italy and I haven't made brandy snaps for ages. I am glad they're in the book.''

Apart from the joy of sharing food, the other important social aspect of her cooking is that it crosses cultures. Australian women, her main readership, are accepting of change and adventurous in the kitchen. She has nothing but praise for those women who unconditionally came along on her sometimes wild culinary journey. "Looking back, I did a lot of crazy, exotic things, like the recipe for Persian chicken, telling people to garnish it with dates and oranges and orange rind then serve it on a silver tray. It doesn't seem so crazy now.''

-- JANE FAULKNER

See recipes on pages 8 and 9