The Australian Brand Name Recipe Cookbook

The pretentious foodie snob within me really loathes this book. It is paperback printed on cheap paper with no pictures whatsoever and shamelessly promotes brand advertising - it's even in the title! The rest of me however grew up in Cessnock and is simply not that fussy, focussing on the delightful practicality of the book.


Do you remember those Honey joys recipes your mum would cut off the side of the cornflakes box, or the recipes on the label of the tin of condensed milk? Well that is precisely what you'll find in this little treasure. There is nothing remotely subtle about this book, with the branded product names bolded within the ingredients list of each recipe and the logo appearing at the top, but that's half the fun really. You look at that can of coke in your hand and you'll flick through and find recipes for Colombian banana cake with sea foam frosting, Grecian green beans or Japanese pickled cucumber all featuring this ingredient. And if you don't find them, just turn to the back of the book which contains not only your traditional recipe index grouped by the main ingredient, but also a separate index grouped by the brand name of the featured ingredient.

The recipes themselves range from the not so exciting Tuna spaghetti, Fruity icy poles and Cream of vegetable soup to the more appetising Coconut milk and coriander chicken, Loin of rabbit with apple and calvados rice and Rose petal ice-cream. There is a whole section on beverages that I find hard to fault, with the Classic gin and tonic with a lovely twist of lime, a very special Inca eclipse and a handy Party punch. None of the recipes would prove a challenge to any but the most inexperienced cook.

Recommended for average family cooks looking for simple recipes, and quite suitable for cooking with kids.

- Kath