Much mock-ery for eaters today
There is a surprising amount of mock-ery in Column 8 today. Vicki McDowell of Maroubra starts with, “Last week, my sister and I were discussing food from our childhood, and the subject of mock fish came up. It was grated potato cakes, but Mum made it ‘gourmet’ by adding anchovy sauce or Pecks Anchovette. That’s why it was known in our house as mock fish. It was delicious.”
Patricia Feast of Mudgee adds, “Mock fish? I love it and still make it. My mother always made it on Friday as we didn’t eat meat on Friday in those days. My son-in-law always cooks it for me for breakfast on Christmas Day now. I have eaten it in Ireland and Poland, too. Hash browns don’t have a patch on it.”
Elizabeth Savage of Hughes (ACT) also knows whereof we speak. “My mother, too, made it. Her version was grated raw potato, formed into patties, dipped in egg and fried. In my memory, it was delicious. We lived a long way from the sea, and at that age, I’d probably never tasted real fish.”
Then Margaret Pires of Castle Hill says, “Mock fish was on the menu when I gave birth to my daughter at the San Hospital at Wahroonga in 1983. From memory, it was a vegetarian menu for patients, and there was even mock chicken.”
Judy Jones of Thornleigh joins in with, “We didn’t have mock fish; we had mock chicken. This was during the 1940s and ’50s, when chicken was only eaten on birthdays and at Christmas as they were providers of eggs. The recipe was sans chicken – peeled tomatoes, grated onion, soft breadcrumbs, grated cheese and herbs. It was served as a dip with savoury biscuits and took the entertaining to a new ooh la la level.”
Tom Meakin of Port Macquarie remembers, “The butchers in Bourke offered up a gastronomic fail by wrapping some sausage meat around a toothpick, then crumbing it and shaping it to resemble a chicken leg and passing it off as mock chicken legs. They were not into culinary finesse, either. When I asked for a loin of lamb, I was told it was a waste of good chops.” We all have standards, Tom.
To finish with some good news. Simon Andrew of Kincumber is happy to announce that the “cocky cockie” has been liberated from the supermarket (Col8 Tuesday), adding, “I suspect he was fed up with the light and ‘easy music’ … or was it the result of him getting a mention in Column 8?” Who knows? Column 8 moves in mysterious ways.
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