The Dinner Party of The Past

Phoebe Billing takes on the Australian Women’s Weekly Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook.

Pictured: Sweet and Sour Pork made from Australians Women's Weekly Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook (Photographed by Phoebe Billing)

It’s not everyday you find yourself staring at the oversaturated photos in the torn magazine your family has held onto since the seventies.  But there it was, sat on my kitchen bench, the Australian Women's Weekly Chinese Cooking Class Cookbook. I study the marks, tears, and spills my nana has left behind from her days cooking for her dinner party crew.  All her little notes throughout the pages, evidence of trial and errors, the remnants of clearly loved recipes. I flick through the pages and land on a classic; Sweet and Sour Pork. I peer over to the corner of the page, nana has left a note to herself “Try brown sugar instead of brown vinegar.” Note taken nana! 

I gather the very few ingredients listed in the recipe. Most of which I found already in the pantry. I was surprised at how such a humble mix of staples could create what I had always imagined to be a complicated dish. Now, I should make it known that I am no incredible cook- I enjoy the art of cooking and am always up for a taste of anything! That's why I loved the old school ‘cooking class’ style Women’s Weekly writes their recipes in. The photographs included under each step make it so easy and clear for a beginner cook like me to follow along. 

I begin by deep frying the pork. I was initially so afraid to complete this step, as I don't trust my clumsy self around hot oil, that I had to call in for backup. Nana gave me a helping hand as I fried off the battered pork and attempted to move past a few of the out of the ordinary ingredients. The half a cup of pickle juice the recipe called for was an element that made my stomach churn. The act of pouring the sickly vinaigrette into the sauce and roux I had just spent so long trying to perfect felt incredibly wrong, yet nana assured me to “wait and see”.

I won't lie, the scent of pickle was so pungent I had to step outside for a breath of fresh air. However, as nana said, the smell drifted away as the sauce was brought down to a simmer.  From this point on, the recipe was manageable enough for me to continue on my own. 

I really enjoyed connecting with my nana through her love for cooking. As the scents of another life filled the kitchen air, I could see her young heart flutter. The sweet and sour pork was as delicious as I remembered. The tang of the tomato sauce cuts through the rich flavour of the pork. It wasn't an overpowering sweet flavour, which I liked, even with the addition of an extra two teaspoons of brown sugar just like nana had recommended way back when she first made the dish. I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone craving a hit of nostalgia. One bite and you will be swept away to a dinner party in the past.