Aboriginal cooking methods, Aboriginal dreaming, Aboriginals in jail and custody
Aboriginal Cooking Methods
The traditional ways to cook for aboriginals used to involve roasting their food on hot coals, baking in the ashes & steaming in ground ovens. But today theses things have changed & the aboriginals have easier ways to cook using 'technology' from today. They have adapted to make the process easier by boiling & barbequing.
Roasting;
When cooking meat, this was the basic technique, which was almost always used. They cooked most meat, fish & small turtles.
To make sure the meat was cooked through, it was also covered by ashes & coals, which also made tough meat softer. The meat would be eaten quickly after roasting.
Shellfish were also cooked on the coals on the outside of the fire, this way when they started to froth, they could be removed quickly.
Baking
Bread & damper was cooked in the ashes. When aboriginals made fires, they made sure they used the right kind of firewood, so that after the fire was out, the ashes could be used for cooking their bread. They were very careful as to which wood they used because some woods made to bread taste bad & some caused irritation & discomfort. Over time, it was the wattle seed that was found to be the most successful for cooking. It gave no bad taste, gave no one irritations & produced a fine ash.
Witchetty grubs only needed to be quickly rolled over the ashes to be cooked. Then damper was put beneath the ashes & then covered. To cook yam, or vegetables, they would dig a small hole, place the vegetable in it, and then cover it with ash.
Steaming;
In the Wiradjuri areas, steam ovens still exist. The ovens were made by digging a hole in the ground, they were about 90cm long, & 60cm deep. The clay left over from digging was then made into smooth lumps & then would be placed on top, once the hole was filled with selected firewood. While the wood burned, the clay became hot. The clay would then be removed with tongs. The pit would be swept out & then lined with still green leaves & grass. Then
The traditional ways to cook for aboriginals used to involve roasting their food on hot coals, baking in the ashes & steaming in ground ovens. But today theses things have changed & the aboriginals have easier ways to cook using 'technology' from today. They have adapted to make the process easier by boiling & barbequing.
Roasting;
When cooking meat, this was the basic technique, which was almost always used. They cooked most meat, fish & small turtles.
To make sure the meat was cooked through, it was also covered by ashes & coals, which also made tough meat softer. The meat would be eaten quickly after roasting.
Shellfish were also cooked on the coals on the outside of the fire, this way when they started to froth, they could be removed quickly.
Baking
Bread & damper was cooked in the ashes. When aboriginals made fires, they made sure they used the right kind of firewood, so that after the fire was out, the ashes could be used for cooking their bread. They were very careful as to which wood they used because some woods made to bread taste bad & some caused irritation & discomfort. Over time, it was the wattle seed that was found to be the most successful for cooking. It gave no bad taste, gave no one irritations & produced a fine ash.
Witchetty grubs only needed to be quickly rolled over the ashes to be cooked. Then damper was put beneath the ashes & then covered. To cook yam, or vegetables, they would dig a small hole, place the vegetable in it, and then cover it with ash.
Steaming;
In the Wiradjuri areas, steam ovens still exist. The ovens were made by digging a hole in the ground, they were about 90cm long, & 60cm deep. The clay left over from digging was then made into smooth lumps & then would be placed on top, once the hole was filled with selected firewood. While the wood burned, the clay became hot. The clay would then be removed with tongs. The pit would be swept out & then lined with still green leaves & grass. Then