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WHO WE ARE: The national dish
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For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
by David Dale
How reassuring that research has finally confirmed what this column has been asserting for years -- that spag bol has replaced meat pie as The National Dish (go here for earlier discussion).
The question was "What are you having for dinner tonight?" A Pollinate survey of 2000 people, conducted for Adelaide's Sunday Mail newspaper, got this answer: 1 Spaghetti bolognese; 2 Roast chicken and vegetables 3 Steak with salad or vegetables; 4 Fish with salad or vegetables; 5 Pizza.
I'd actually been wondering whether, by now, pad Thai noodles would have the strongest claim to the title "Australia's national dish". But it would be more accurate to call them "the national takeaway", while spag bol is the king of home cooking.
Next we need a new survey to ascertain the preferred recipe of the majority of consumers -- beef and tomatoes, obviously, but what percentage include celery, carrot, bacon, oregano, thyme, red wine, onions or garlic?
Go to Comments to join this column's totally unreliable survey. Give us your perfect recipe for The National Dish.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
COMMENTS
I screen my phone calls, so don't get the random surveys on the phone. I do quite a few on the internet though. I'll generally only do a survey if there's some sort of payment or prize. After all, the vast bulk of surveys are done for marketing purposes and there is commercial gain in it. So they shouldn't just get that information for free. The exception is political opinion polls, I've done two of them.
I totally agree about spag bol being the national dish! I love the stuff, generally have it about once a week at least.
I mix up my recipe a bit for variety.
My basic recipe is beef, onion, garlic, tinned tomato, tomato paste, fresh thyme & a bay leaf. If I have red wine, i'll add that as well. Although the problem with that is once the bottle is opened, it's gotta be finished...
Other variations are using different mince, like pork & veal; adding chili flakes; adding fresh basil or different herbs (oregano is the obvious one, but rosemary, tarragon, marjoram all work well also). I don't really like adding other veges like carrot & celery - then it stops being a bolognaise and becomes savoury mince.
- by DragonLass on September 20, 2009 at 10:30 PM
"But" it's homemade, because I assume most people are dialling in for pizza. (Or, using a pre-made pizza base.)
I like getting messy in the kitchen, so my pizza is home-made from scratch. (Sometimes even the tomato sauce, but usually I cheat there.)
Maybe I'm just over estimating my abilities in the kitchen however, and everyone else is kneading their dough too.
Oh, my bolognaise has in it: onions, garlic, bacon, mushrooms, zuchini, beef mince, tinned tomatoes, and a generous splash of balsamic vinegar. (The zuchini is part of the "hidden vegetables" in the kids' diets.) And slow-cooked for as long as possible, once it's all assembled.
- by tqd on September 21, 2009 at 09:11 AM
What about the veal and pork mince?! Also, there is a school of thought that says you should be adding white wine and saving the red to drink...
I've always loved a Keith Floyd recipe (RIP Keith) using a shedload of fresh basil and half a bottle of red (plus 3 more to drink while cooking - simmer for 3 hours).
My wife (she's very ambivalent about the dish herself - so contrary) gets apoplectic at men who claim they cook the best spag bol in the world. According to her, if you keep listening they proceed to tell you they have a "secret ingredient" and this turns out to be any of tomato ketchup(!), HP sauce(!!), sweet chilli sauce(!?!) and who knows what else...
- by Wendell on September 23, 2009 at 08:59 AM
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Oh, I love being polled. (Although they do seem to ring at precisely the wrong moment, sometimes.) I reckon my opinions are important, I want to tell them to the marketeers. (Unless they are trying to sell me something, but we haven't had one of those for years - obviously not wealthy enough!)
They might get me once every few months - they probably do try to ring when I'm at work. And it's usually something incredibly boring and lame: banks, female sanitary products, etc.
Mr TQD once got a survey from the SMH, and got to say "get rid of Miranda Devine". Apparently that was quite a popular theme with the respondents (although she's still there...).
Forgot to say: pizza for dinner tonight. :) (But it's homemade.)
DD replies: Why do you say "But" it's homemade? That's the point. Pizza is Australian cuisine. No buts about it.