Meet the chef cooking like a Suffragette

Eat like a Suffragette: Meet the cook making dishes from a cookbook penned in 1886 that inspired the women’s suffrage moment with recipes for ‘Rebel Soup’ and an ‘Election Cake’

  • Liz Mason has been recreating dishes from the women’s suffrage movement
  • The Woman Suffrage Cookbook is filled ‘mind-blowingly delicious’ recipes
  • Recipes such as ‘Rebel Soup’ and ‘Election Cake’ or 50 ways to cook an egg

A Sydney-based chef has been recreating dishes that fed the women’s suffrage movement.

Liz Mason, from Song Kitchen in central Sydney, was inspired after she opened The Woman Suffrage Cookbook, which was first published in 1886.

Inside the book she found pages filled ‘mind-blowingly delicious’ recipes such as ‘Rebel Soup’ and ‘Election Cake’.

Ms Mason said the cookbook had inspired her as a cook and a female as well. 

At the time, recipe books were garnished with propaganda in the fight to get women the right to vote.

Liz Mason, from Song Kitchen in central Sydney, was inspired after she read The Woman Suffrage Cookbook, which was first published in 1886

Inside the book she found pages filled 'mind-blowingly delicious' recipes such as 'Rebel Soup' and 'Election Cake'

Inside the book she found pages filled ‘mind-blowingly delicious’ recipes such as ‘Rebel Soup’ and ‘Election Cake’

Ms Mason called it ‘peasant cooking’.

‘It’s very different to what we are used to now,’ she told Daily Mail Australia. 

‘There’s lot and lots of different recipes, if you wanted to learn how to cook and egg for an hour and a half there’s 50 ways to do that.

‘There’s an economical lemon curd…there’s an amazing recipe for a brisket braised in beer.’

Ms Mason said she had learned a lot from experimenting with the recipes.  

‘It was a lot of stripping it back to basics, just learning the processes. These dishes have old world flavours and a rustic, handmade feel.’

The recipe book has proved challenging for Ms Mason as measurements back in those days were far from standard – some called for ‘loaves of sugar’ and ‘capfuls’ of lemon juice. 

Ms Mason said she had learned a lot from experimenting with the recipes (pictured: Fairy Land Pudding and Lemon Curd dessert)

Ms Mason said she had learned a lot from experimenting with the recipes (pictured: Fairy Land Pudding and Lemon Curd dessert)

Song Kitchen is a profit-for-purpose restaurant in Sydney, where money goes towards YWCA funded projects to help victims of domestic violence

Song Kitchen is a profit-for-purpose restaurant in Sydney, where money goes towards YWCA funded projects to help victims of domestic violence

‘The recipes are not like ones we are used to – they are more like a guide rather than a step-by-step instruction.’ 

Ms Mason has been testing and perfecting the recipes over the past six months in preparation for her three course menu to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 7. 

What’s on the menu? 

Lettuce soup

Bread rolls with handmade butter

Brisket braised in beer with pickled walnuts 

Spinach dumplings 

Fairy Land Pudding and Lemon Curd dessert 

Her team has been hard at work creating all items from scratch – even the butter.

Ms Mason’s sous chef was given the grueling task of churning the butter by hand.

‘Something that would take 10 minutes takes two hours,’ Ms Mason laughed. 

Ms Mason said International Women’s Day was the time to remind people of the resilience and fortitude of previous generations of women who fought courageously for gender equity. 

To celebrate International Women’s Day on March 7 the restaurant is giving diners the chance to taste what food was like in he 1800s, it costs $75 per head.

Song Kitchen is a profit-for-purpose restaurant where money goes towards YWCA funded projects to help victims of domestic violence. 

 

 



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