Introductory Guide

This is a collection of recipes, with added commentary & notes, for those members of our families who might want to add a familiar family favorite to their own recipe collections.

If you want to use the search function, you can search by recipe names, ingredients or the person whose recipe it was originally or the person who would have contributed it to this site.

The recipe index page contains a list of all the recipes that are here (so far) and each name is a link directly to the recipe.

This page contains the following information:

Cooking Terms (in case you're not sure what we're talking about),
Oven Temperatures (in case the recipe uses words instead of numbers),
Abbreviations,
a Table of Food Equivalents (in case you're not sure how many cups of chopped apple 1 medium apple should give you). This includes a link to a site where there are tables of measurement equivalents in case you want to know how many tablespoons are in 30g of melted butter. At the bottom of the page, there is a link to a Conversion Calculator for the conversions not in the tables.
a Table of Substitutions
Basic Pantry Requirements,
Basic Spices/Herbs to Have in Your Cupboardand
Baking Pan Sizes in case (like me) you don't know how many cups are in a 20x30 centimetre baking dish.

Cooking Terms

These are the words that may appear (without explanation) in any of the recipes that we are putting up here.

baste	to spoon or pour liquid over food as it cooks
blend	to combine 2 or more ingredients until each loses its identity
boil	to heat until bubbles constantly break on surface
braise	to cook meat or poultry gently, with minimum liquid, in a covered pan
champignons	button mushrooms, often tinned
cream	to work foods together until soft and fluffy. Usually applied to butter & sugar.
dice	cut into small even-sized cubes
entrée	the course of a meal which precedes the main course
flake	to break into small pieces with a fork [often applied to fish]
fold	to combine a solid ingredient with a delicate substance using a folding motion
garnish	edible trimming used to decorate food
glaze	coat with syrup, thin icing or jam
grate	rub food against grater
knead	to work with dough by continually folding the outside to the middle until desired elasticity is reached
marinate	to let stand in marinade, usually a mixture of oil, lemon juice, wine or vinegar and seasonings
poach	cook slowly in liquid just below boiling point
puree	to press through a fine sieve, blend or process to produce a smooth thick mixture
saute	cook in frypan in a small amount of fat
simmer	cook just below the boil. Bubbles will float slowly to the surface.
steam	to cook over, not in, boiling water
stock	liquid resulting from simmering bones, meat and vegetables in water for several hours

Oven Temperatures

These are the temperatures at which to set your oven if the recipe uses words like slow, moderate, or hot instead of numbers to describe the oven temperature.

	Gas Oven	Electric Oven
Very Slow	100-130°C	130-150°C
Slow	130-170°C	150-190°C
Moderate	180-190°C	200-220°C
Hot	200-220°C	230-250°C
Very Hot	230-250°C	250-290°C

Abbreviations

These are the abbreviations that you may see in some of the recipes

cup	c
tablespoon	tbsp
teaspoon	tsp
packet	pkt
kilogram	kg
gram	g
litre	l
millilitre	ml
baking powder	b. pwdr.
bicarbonate soda	bicarb
baking soda	bicarb

Table of Food Equivalents

If you aren't sure of the quantity you will get from 1 medium apple or onion, or the amount of fresh bread crumbs in a slice of bread or how many cups of flour to put in if the recipe says 125g, this is the place to look. If you want to find out Measurement Equivalents - the measurements are in weight and you only have measuring cups & spoons - try this linkAt the bottom of the page that this takes you to there is a link to a Conversion Calculator in case the conversion you want isn't on the page.

Ingredient	Amount	Equivalent
apple	1 medium	1 cup, sliced
bread crumbs	1 slice bread	½ - ¾ c soft crumbs
butter	500g	2 cups
cheese	125g	1 cup, grated
cream	1 cup	2 cups, whipped
currants	500g	3 cups
dates	500g	2¾ cups
dry beans	1 cup	2½ cups, cooked
flour	125g	1 cup
gelatine	10g envelope	3 tsp
lemon	1	3tbsp juice plus 2½ tbsp zest
pasta	500g	4 cups. cooked
orange	1	1/3 c juice plus 2 1/3 tbsp rind
onion	1 medium	½ c, chopped
pecans	125g packet	1 c, chopped
raisins	500g	3 cups
rice, long grain	1 cup	3½ c, cooked
sugar, white	250g	1 cup
castor	220g	1 cup
brown	170g	1 cup
icing	175g	1 cup
Walnuts	500g	2 c, chopped

Table of Substitutions

If you want to make a recipe and you haven't got all the ingredients, here's some ideas for other things you can substitute for some of the ingredients you might be missing.

Ingredient	Amount	Substitute
butter	1 cup30g, melted	1 c margarine2 tbsp olive oil
chocolate	30g	3 tbsp cocoa, 1 tbsp castor sugar, & 1 tbsp butter
eggs	1 egg	2 egg yolks
flour [for thickener]	1 tbsp	½ tbsp cornflour
flour, self-raising	1 cup	1 c plain flour + 2 tsp baking powder
meat stock	1 cup	1 stock cube dissolved in 1 cup hot water
milk – whole	1 cup	1 cup skim milk + 2 tbsp butter OR½ c evaporated milk + ½ c water
milk – sour	1 cup	1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar + fresh milk to make 1 cup OR 1 c buttermilk

Basic Pantry Requirements

If all the following ingredients are in your pantry, you will be able to make the majority of the recipes in this collection

Baking powder	Baking soda
Bread crumbs, dry
Champignons, pieces & stems	Chilli sauce, mild
Chocolate, drinking	Cocoa
Cornflour	Condensed milk
Enchilada sauce	Flour, plain
Flour, self-raising	Golden syrup
Honey	Lemon juice
Lasagne noodles, instant	Milo
Mustard, American	Oil
Pasta, macaroni, spaghetti	Pie apple, tinned
Red kidney beans	Rice
Rolled oats	Semi-sweet sherry
Soup, tomato	Stock cubes or powder: beef & chicken
Sugar: white, brown, icing	Sultanas
Tomatoes, tinned	Tomato paste
Vanilla essence	Vinegar, white
Sauces: sate, spaghetti, tomato, Worcestershire, Tabasco, soy

Basic Spices/Herbs to have in your cupboard

The title is pretty self-explanatory. These days, while I keep the dried herbs for emergency situations, I am inclined to use fresh herbs when I can. Either bought from the supermarket or home-grown.

Chinese five spice	Chilli: powder, Mexican; flakes
Coriander, ground	Curry powder
Garam Masala	Ginger, ground
Mixed herbs	Mixed spice
Mustard, dry	Oregano, leaves
Paprika	Peppercorns, whole
Pepper: ground, cracked	Salt
Thyme, leaves	Tumeric

Baking Pan Sizes

The other day I was tempted to buy a new lasagna dish. But the recipe I wanted to try said to use a dish with a 3l capacity and the one I was looking at was 30x20cm. I didn't know what size dish had a 3l capacity. So I googled it and this is what I found. I thought that someone else might also find this information useful. I didn't buy the new dish because, after finding this table and measuring the dishes I already had, I discovered that I had a 3l lasagna dish in the cupboard. I have included the Imperial measurements as well for those of you still using that system of measurement.

Baking Pan Size
Utensil	Size in inches or quarts	Metric Volume	Size in Centimeters
Baking or Cake pan (square or rectangular)	8 x 8 x 2 9 x 9 x 2 11 x7 x 1 1/2 12 x 8 x 2 13 x 9 x 2 15 x 10 x2 18 x 12 x 2	2 L 2.5 L 1.5 L 3 L 3.5 L 4.5 L 5.5 L	20 x 20 x 5 22 x 22 x 5 27 x 18 x 3.5 30 x 20 x 5 33 x 23 x 5 39 x 25 x 5 44 x 30 x 5
Ring molds, bundt, angelfood or tube pans	7 1/2 x 2 ring mold 7 1/2 x 3 bundt 9 1/4 x 2 ring mold 9 inch bundt 9 Inch angel 9 inch fancy tube 10 Inch bundt 10 Inch fancy tube 10 Inch angel	1 L 6 cups 2 L 9 cups 9 cups 3 L 3 L 4 L 18 cups	2326
Brioche or turban pan	9 1/2 x 3 1/4	2 L	24
Loaf Pan	7 1/2 x 3 1/2 8 x 4 x 3 9 x 5 x 3	1 L 1.5 L 2 L	18 x 8 x 5 20 x 10 x 7 23 x 13 x 7
Flat pans	Biscuit 11 x 7 11 3/4 x 1 1/2 jelly roll 15 x 10	2 L 2.5 L 2.5 L
Round layer Cake pan	8 x 1 1/2 9 x 1 1/2	1.2 L 1.5 L	20 x 4 23 x 4
Round Springform pan	8 x 3 9 x 3	3 L 4 L	20 x 8 23 x 8
Pie Plate	8 x 1 1/4 9 x 1 1/4 10 x 1 1/4 10 x 2	750 ml 1 L 1.25 L 1.6 L	20 x 3 23 x 3 25 x 3 25 x 5
Baking dish or Casserole dish	1 quart 1 1/2 quart 2 quart	1 L 1.5 L 2 L