Aussie snack ideas, please?
July 11, 2010 6:11 PM Subscribe
What kind of food should we bring to an Australian themed party?
We're invited to an Australian themed game night - we're good on the beer/wine, but I'm at a loss for what to bring as a snack/appetizer. What can I bring that I could make (easily), not buy?
I haven't been able to find vegemite, tim tams, etc...and I don't have time to be hunting for them this week.
We're invited to an Australian themed game night - we're good on the beer/wine, but I'm at a loss for what to bring as a snack/appetizer. What can I bring that I could make (easily), not buy?
I haven't been able to find vegemite, tim tams, etc...and I don't have time to be hunting for them this week.
Shrimps
posted by fire&wings at 6:26 PM on July 11, 2010
posted by fire&wings at 6:26 PM on July 11, 2010
Sausage rolls! Googling brings up a zillion recipes, all of which can be adapted easily to whatever you have in your pantry or can buy at your local store. Make them small and serve with tomato sauce (aka ketchup). They are easy to make and a staple at parties. (Well, kids parties at least, but why should they have all the fun?)
posted by ninazer0 at 6:29 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by ninazer0 at 6:29 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
In ascending order of difficulty: chocolate crackles, Lamingtons (with picture), Pavlova.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:30 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 6:30 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
Mod note: comments removed - shut up about shrimp v. prawn
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:02 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:02 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]
Something from here. Or here.
Especially the ANZAC biscuits, lamingtons and mini-pavs. Yum.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 7:09 PM on July 11, 2010
Especially the ANZAC biscuits, lamingtons and mini-pavs. Yum.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 7:09 PM on July 11, 2010
Tim Tamsare now being made here in the USA by Pepperidge Farms. You may not have to do much hunting at all! Several of our local groceries (here in central Illinois) even carry them.
posted by labwench at 7:23 PM on July 11, 2010
posted by labwench at 7:23 PM on July 11, 2010
Thirding meat pies. If it's as a snack/appetizer, you could make mini meat pies (or party pies, as they'd be affectionately called here in Australia).
Sausage rolls are also a great appetizer, and aren't too difficult if you have a piping instrument.
posted by keej at 8:18 PM on July 11, 2010
Sausage rolls are also a great appetizer, and aren't too difficult if you have a piping instrument.
posted by keej at 8:18 PM on July 11, 2010
This is a difficult question, because Australia doesn't really have much of a cuisine of its own. If you went to a party here, you could expect to find mini spring rolls & samosas, hommus & baba ganouj with pita bread or crackers for dipping, corn chips & guacamole, olives & fancy cheeses, that kind of thing.
Assuming that you want savoury appetisers, then mini sausage rolls & party pies would be a good bet, because it sounds like they're the most unusual & distinctive from your point of view.
If you want to get a bit inventive, then you could try to make some kind of pie floaters with the party pies - this is a meat pie in a thick pea soup, with mashed potato & gravy on top. Or you can put mushy peas on top of the pies instead of doing the soup. I'd almost be tempted to have a bowl of mash & a bowl of mushy peas for people to dip their party pies into. They'd never be served like that here, but it's consistent with a pie floater theme.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:45 PM on July 11, 2010
Assuming that you want savoury appetisers, then mini sausage rolls & party pies would be a good bet, because it sounds like they're the most unusual & distinctive from your point of view.
If you want to get a bit inventive, then you could try to make some kind of pie floaters with the party pies - this is a meat pie in a thick pea soup, with mashed potato & gravy on top. Or you can put mushy peas on top of the pies instead of doing the soup. I'd almost be tempted to have a bowl of mash & a bowl of mushy peas for people to dip their party pies into. They'd never be served like that here, but it's consistent with a pie floater theme.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:45 PM on July 11, 2010
Nthing meat pies and sausage rolls. But if you do sausage rolls, try to avoid using mini-frankfurters for the filling: they're too hard and they taste wrong. For a dessert, lamingtons are yummy. It might be worth doing a pavlova if you can find a meringue shell, but not otherwise.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:57 PM on July 11, 2010
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:57 PM on July 11, 2010
Mini meat pies! Here's a recipe. Australians eat a lot of lamb, so anything with lamb (meatballs or sausages) would work as well.
posted by emd3737 at 9:14 PM on July 11, 2010
posted by emd3737 at 9:14 PM on July 11, 2010
Is fairy bread Australian?
If so, I'll switch my vote.
posted by pompomtom at 9:35 PM on July 11, 2010
If so, I'll switch my vote.
posted by pompomtom at 9:35 PM on July 11, 2010
Nope, fairy bread is an Aussie classic, not just for Sydney at all. I grew up on the stuff. Tasty, tasty additives and sugar. Yum!
The number one must-have for me is barbecued beef sausages in sliced white bread. Tomato sauce is NOT optional. It's an aussie classic!
If you can get Vegemite Cheesybite (don't know if it exists outside australia), you can use it as a dip with carrots and celery. And speaking of dips: tip a tub of Philadelphia cream cheese (or another of creamy consistency) onto a plate. and douse it with sweet chilli sauce. I can't remember a party where that hasn't been served.
Pumpkin scones or pumpkin bread are good but pretty old-fashioned.
... wish i was going to this party. I'm going to make myself some fairy bread now.
posted by indienial at 9:58 PM on July 11, 2010
The number one must-have for me is barbecued beef sausages in sliced white bread. Tomato sauce is NOT optional. It's an aussie classic!
If you can get Vegemite Cheesybite (don't know if it exists outside australia), you can use it as a dip with carrots and celery. And speaking of dips: tip a tub of Philadelphia cream cheese (or another of creamy consistency) onto a plate. and douse it with sweet chilli sauce. I can't remember a party where that hasn't been served.
Pumpkin scones or pumpkin bread are good but pretty old-fashioned.
... wish i was going to this party. I'm going to make myself some fairy bread now.
posted by indienial at 9:58 PM on July 11, 2010
Sausage rolls and fairy bread are both ridiculously easy to make, even if you don't know your way around a kitchen. Lamingtons, pavlova (make sure it has kiwi fruit and passion fruit on top), and meat pies are are a little more effortful, but are pretty identifiably (if not uniquely) Australian. Any of these would be good, I'd think.
posted by damonism at 11:44 PM on July 11, 2010
posted by damonism at 11:44 PM on July 11, 2010
Cheater's guide to making Lamingtons:
1. Buy generic sponge cake from the supermarket
2. Cut into 2" cubes & roll in some kind of chocolate sauce (eg icecream topping, also from the supermarket) to coat the outside
3. Roll chocolatey cubes in dessicated coconut
The result is almost indistinguishable in its twinkie-like snackability from Lamingtons that are made "properly". In fact, this is probably how they are almost always made.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:26 AM on July 12, 2010
1. Buy generic sponge cake from the supermarket
2. Cut into 2" cubes & roll in some kind of chocolate sauce (eg icecream topping, also from the supermarket) to coat the outside
3. Roll chocolatey cubes in dessicated coconut
The result is almost indistinguishable in its twinkie-like snackability from Lamingtons that are made "properly". In fact, this is probably how they are almost always made.
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:26 AM on July 12, 2010
Tomato sauce is NOT optional.
For you Yanks, "tomato sauce" on meat pies is ketchup.
posted by qwip at 1:06 AM on July 12, 2010
For you Yanks, "tomato sauce" on meat pies is ketchup.
posted by qwip at 1:06 AM on July 12, 2010
Sacrilege, UbuRoivas! Cheating by buying a slab of cake is certainly permissable, but you MUST use a proper lamington chocolate coating recipe (preferably from the Country Women's Association cookbook dotted with historical drips from Nanna's cooking last century).
The icing needs to be a thinner, more watery icing than traditional 'frosting'. When made to the recipe, it is the perfect consistency to soak a little into the cake while still retaining enough stickiness to keep the coconut attached.
(Every time you dip a lamington into any other chocolate sauce, a baby koala dies. Fair dinkum.)
posted by malibustacey9999 at 1:39 AM on July 12, 2010
The icing needs to be a thinner, more watery icing than traditional 'frosting'. When made to the recipe, it is the perfect consistency to soak a little into the cake while still retaining enough stickiness to keep the coconut attached.
(Every time you dip a lamington into any other chocolate sauce, a baby koala dies. Fair dinkum.)
posted by malibustacey9999 at 1:39 AM on July 12, 2010
Meat pies, sausage rolls, Lamingtons. Don't forgot the beer!
posted by gttommy at 3:44 AM on July 12, 2010
posted by gttommy at 3:44 AM on July 12, 2010
From my stint in Melbourne (2 yrs) I fell in love with Potato wedges searved with sour cream and sweet chili garlic sauce - I saw them everywhere as a side in restaurants and I refered to them as my Aussie crack.
The other foods that I remember loving were sausage rolls, scones and hot tea (T2 English Breakfast, but you won't find that here - use Twinings). I loved mud cakes, too.
Cost Plus has vegemite and a lot of chocolates (Cadbury Dairy Milk, etc.), biscuits (Tim Tams, Digestives, etc.) - They even had Flake bars the other day...
posted by inquisitrix at 7:10 AM on July 12, 2010
The other foods that I remember loving were sausage rolls, scones and hot tea (T2 English Breakfast, but you won't find that here - use Twinings). I loved mud cakes, too.
Cost Plus has vegemite and a lot of chocolates (Cadbury Dairy Milk, etc.), biscuits (Tim Tams, Digestives, etc.) - They even had Flake bars the other day...
posted by inquisitrix at 7:10 AM on July 12, 2010
Response by poster: The cost plus in Friendship Heights did not have vegemite or tim tams...I went and looked this weekend, so unfortunately that's out. I will take a look at the recipes and ideas above- thank you!
posted by echo0720 at 2:29 PM on July 12, 2010
posted by echo0720 at 2:29 PM on July 12, 2010
Response by poster: Update - the event was cancelled, then rescheduled, so we did end up making fairy bread with butter and nutella, and it was quite the hit. In fact, recently - several months later - my husband confessed to making himself fairy bread as a snack when he's hungry late at night :)
posted by echo0720 at 7:45 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by echo0720 at 7:45 PM on December 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by banannafish at 6:15 PM on July 11, 2010