The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook

Author Liz Harfull is about to release a new book celebrating the inspiring true stories of courageous women forging new lives in the Australian bush.

A follow-up to her best-seller, Women of the Land, City Girl, Country Girl brings together the stories of women who have left lives in the city or another country to build a new future in places where knowing how to milk a cow or drive a tractor stand them in far better stead than an ability to negotiate rush-hour traffic or find a good cappuccino.

It ranges in scope from the present day to the classic outback story of Sarah Durack in the late 1800s, and the author’s own mother’s experiences of swapping wartime Melbourne for a dairy farm on the Limestone Coast. City Girl, Country Girl is a compelling and fascinating account of these women’s journeys as they struggle through personal tragedy, hardship and self-doubt with grace, humour, perseverance and more than a little hard work.

Release date: March 23, 2016.

RRP $29.99.  Get a copy from your favourite bookshop, or order a signed copy direct from the author for $25, plus $8 postage. Email your name, address and contact phone number to sales@lizharfull.com and payment details will be provided.

After selling out last year, for the fourth time, Liz’s first Blue Ribbon Cookbook is back in print in time for Mother’s Day, and to celebrate we have a special deal.

Purchase a signed copy of either Blue Ribbon cookbook, together with Liz’s national bestseller, Women of the Land, and pay only $50, plus $13 postage.

That represents a saving of more than 20% on the Recommended Retail Price.

To order a copy email sales@lizharfull.com together with your name, contact phone number and postal address. We accept payment or cheque or direct debit and will send you payment details when we confirm your order.

It’s hard to believe, but another year has almost zoomed by and its time to think about Christmas! Looking for inspiration for presents for your family and friends? You can buy books direct from the author, personally signed to the recipient, with these two special offers:

– Order a copy of Liz’s two national Top 10 best-sellers – The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook ($39.99) and Women of the Land ($22.99) and pay just $50, plus $13 postage.

– Order three copies of The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook and receive a $5 discount per book. That’s $104.97 for three books, plus $13 postage.

Depending on where you live, for delivery in time for Christmas orders should be placed before December 14. Or if you’re running a bit behind, for an extra $2 the books can be posted Express Post.

Email sales@lizharfull.com with your order, including name, postal address, contact phone number and the first names of people you would like the books signed for. Details for payment by cheque or EFT will then be provided.

Author Liz Harfull and The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook will be helping to raise money for South Australian country shows at this year’s Royal Adelaide Show. The book will be sold as a fundraiser at the SA Country Shows stand where author Liz Harfull will make a series of guest appearances to sign copies and meet readers.

The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook will be for sale at the special price of $35.00 (RRP $39.99) at the SA Country Shows stand at the Farm Expo throughout the show, while stocks last. The author will be at the stand to sign books and meet readers from 2 pm to 4 pm on September 5, 6 and 7.

Liz will also be making two appearances in the Goyder Pavilion, at the IGA Bookshop, which will host a series of ‘in conversations’ during the show with food writers and celebrity chefs. On September 6 at 5 pm she will appear  with The Advertiser food writer Dianne Mattsson and prize-winning show cook, Vaughan Wilson, who features in the cookbook with his prize-winning friands recipe. Liz will be back the next day at the same time for another session.

Released in April and already in its third print run, The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook has been Allen & Unwin’s number one selling title of the week in Australia, and in the top 10 best-sellers list for non-fiction. Its success has also led to the author being inundated with invitations to appear at shows across Australia. Ms Harfull is just back from the Brisbane show, and now preparing for a busy spring that will take her everywhere from south-western WA to northern NSW, and places in between, including the Royal Melbourne Show.

More information about coming events.

The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook has been rushed into a reprint after hitting the national best-seller list for non-fiction. The book reached No 4 on the charts tracking sales through book retailers last month, just a few copies behind chef Peter Evan’s cookbook and I Quit Sugar, which has dominated the list for a year or more. The book is also currently No 1 on Allen & Unwin’s own best-seller list as its top-selling title in Australia.

“It is very exciting and a real tribute to the show cooks I wrote about, and their generosity of spirit in sharing prize-winning recipes and allowing me to tell their fascinating stories,” says author Liz Harfull.

“In this day of celebrity chefs, reality television and fashionable food fads, its great to see that the stories of some humble home cooks and simple, traditional recipes handed down over generations are striking a chord with the public.

“Given my book contains enough butter and sugar to sustain Australian dairy farmers and cane growers for years, some of my readers have even jokingly suggested that I am restoring balance to the karma of the food world!”

Liz is preparing for a busy few months as the spring show season kicks into gear. She is due to make guest appearances at shows and author events across the country, from WA to Queensland between now and November.

You can keep up to date with news about coming events and the world of show cooking by following her new facebook page.

Today’s recipe to help you prepare for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is a wonderful, old-fashioned cake that is still found on most show schedules in Tasmania. It comes from Bream Creek show cook Judy Berry who regularly takes out the most successful exhibitor trophy at one of the best little shows in Australia. The Victoria cake is an elegant cross between a sponge and a butter cake, traditionally made with just a little butter and joined with jam. And to go with the recipe is a fantastic image from the show’s archives of judging the Victoria cake class in 1948.

Don’t forget  you can join Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook author Liz Harfull and other authors for a special Twitter event as part of the Biggest Morning Tea. To participate jump onto Twitter between 10 am and 11 am EST on May 22, and use #TheTeaChest and #BiggestMorningTea. Visit the event’s official page  for more information and to make a donation.

Ingredients
125 grams plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
3 eggs
125 grams castor sugar
2 tablespoons milk
30 grams butter
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 ½ tablespoons raspberry jam
1 tablespoon icing sugar

Preheat the oven to moderate (180 °Celsius in a conventional electric oven). Grease two 20 centimetre sandwich pans, and line the bases with baking paper.
Sift together the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl, until thick and creamy. Gently fold in the dry ingredients.
Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Pour the boiling milk gradually into the cake mixture, folding gently as you go. Fold in the vanilla essence.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared pans and bake for about 15 minutes, until the cakes are golden brown and begin to leave the sides of the pans.
Allow to cool for a few minutes and then turn out onto a clean tea towel.
When cool, join the cakes with raspberry jam and dust the top with icing sugar.

Tips from the cook
Do the folding with a spatula, making sure you scrape the outsides of the bowl to incorporate all the ingredients.
The cake marks easily so use a tea-towel with a fine, plain weave.
Don’t use too much jam – it should be spread thinly, right to the edges but not over, so that just a little jam shows when the cakes are put together.
If you are making it for home, add a layer of cream to the filling.
Tips from judge
Both layers must be made from the same mixture.
The cake should be a pale golden biscuit colour, well risen and light, with a flat top and a fine texture.
Check the show schedule for specific instructions about filling and decorating the cake in case there are local variations.