Baking & cooking

Jar of jam / preserve with spoon and rustic bread on wooden board in kitchen at Vaucluse House

History with flavour

Good food and generous hospitality were part of the rhythms of domestic life at Rouse Hill House. A collection of cookbooks and handwritten recipes accumulated over more than a hundred years remains in the house, and provides a taste of the family’s culinary repertoire through times of boom and bust

Still from My Handy Kitchen

My Handy Kitchen, c.1950-55

In this film a woman discusses and demonstrates the features of her up-to-date kitchen

Hand written recipes on double spread of lined notebook.

Don’t forget your homework

In a simple ruled exercise book, with margins drawn neatly in red ink, are over 60 pages of handwritten recipes, cooking rules and techniques, recorded by 12 year old Jenny (Dolly) Youngein, 104 years ago

Girl squeezing lemons in kitchen

Kids in the kitchen

Get the kids cooking with recipes that have delighted families for generations! Foraged from the history books of our houses these recipes are sure to delight the young mind

Composite image of a cauldron. One view from the front the other above.
Convict Sydney

Cooking cauldron

The watery stew eaten by convicts at Hyde Park Barracks was boiled in giant communal cast iron pots