ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Here's an old one Bob just reminded me of, I may have posted it some time ago but here it is again.

“I’ll COOK A BLOODY STEAK”

© Ross Magnay 5/4/08

When I was just a youngster on the farm with wheat and sheep,
Our life consisted mostly of just work and eat and sleep.
Tucker we had plenty and we raised a lot ourselves,
The kero fridge was always full, as well the pantry shelves.

Chooks supplied the eggs of course and we slaughtered our own meat,
Dad grew lots of vegies so there was always tons to eat.
We had several milking cows we’d separate the cream,
So we had a good thing going our tucker making team.

There was nothing ever wasted, the skim milk for the hogs,
And off cuts from the killers well, we fed them to the dogs.
We saved the scraps and screenings to feed the pigs and chooks,
No fancy sort of formula you can read about in books.

How we’ve changed our habits if you look through modern shelves,
The bloody milk we fed the pigs now we drink ourselves.
From the grains we fed the chooks we make a healthy bread,
The way we ate in those days they say we should be dead!

The meat has got to be real lean, they cut off all the fat,
When we were kids we used no oil, we used to cook with that.
Skin chooks before you cook them? Never heard such bloody rot,
Mum would clip your bloody ears if you never ate the lot.

Well now I really am mixed up, I don’t know what to eat,
I’ve got to have more fish and fruit and not so much red meat.
So as my stomach rumbles, and not knowing what to take,
To hell with all their bloody rules I’ll go and cook a steak!

r.magnay wrote: There was nothing ever wasted,

I thought "oh no . . . this isn't the one about the boar water " but that's wunna Bobs.

Red meat's not bad for ya, Ross . . . . green fuzzy meat is though

Marty

yeah I'll leave those to Bob and Bill, we actually had some slightly green and "starting to get a little smelly" meat at the end of a stint out bush sometime ago, a rinse with salt water and vinegar and onto the fire, came up no worries (had no green fur on it though)....

You are spot on Ross, I very sledom have red meat just an occassional feed of lamb, Most of my meals are either chicken or fish.


Mind you I used to weigh in at 85 kilos now I'm a slim 73 kilos but I reckon that is just the worms !!! and I have to try and drown them with rum and cola.


Bob

I know what you mean Ross. I remember the days when our culinary legacy was fatty lamb, loads of potatoes baked in dripping, porridge and mollasses, full cream milk,fried bread etc. Peter Russell-Clarke had a hand in changing that.
I think the difference is that in former times people thrived on stodge because they did more routine things with physical labour and they had less stress imposed on them. Our modern world is full of anxieties, I reckon that worldly angst is worse for your well being than egg and bacon rolls and creamy rice pudding. I could be wrong..I'm not a dietician.

In the bush our meat was ether fresh or salted we never had that furry stuff around our camps even the dogs had good meat that did not smell

seem like you city people had more additives in your prepared shop bought food like maccas, hungry jacks, pizzas, take away foods

bill the old battler

G/day Ross,
Add the bread and drippen (or was that dripping?) and you pretty well describe what we ate as well.

Cheers Terry

I love red meat!....I probably do eat more than I should, that could stem from my youth when we did, as Neville pointed out, work hard physically and ate accordingly, a healthy (as in eating plenty) eater was a healthy person. I do try and cut back these days on red meat and hopefully work as well!
Bill I think perhaps you might be generalising a bit about city people eating food with additives and bush people eating fresh, in the past everyone ate as fresh as they could get, and refrigeration probably meant city food was better than a lot of bush food, however, in modern days you are right...except that both bush and city eat too much crap food now!.. I have a car fridge and there is always refrigeration available where I camp, I do it pretty easy these days, I take frozen home cooked meals with me and just heat them up at tea time!..... Pretty soft aren't I?

Yea Your Right,
I don't take frozen meals with me but do take Frozen meat chicken fish etc to cook up there, always take fresh fruit and veg and try to hit town about every two weeks to replenish them. One golden rule we have on our trips is to have a dry camp, on very rare occasions we might might have taken a half a dozen light beer or something to celebrate a birthday but very rarely, plenty of time to celebrate if you want to when we return.

Terry

...it's a desert thing Marty....hopefully I have seen the last of them..