ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

COOBER PEDY STEW

When you’re worn out from hard yakka and your rear end drags the ground,
and you’ve tramped all day for miles, and not a flam’en things been found.
Then you stagger to your campsite that you’re really pleased to see,
though you barely have the energy to make a cup of tea.
But your day’s not over yet, you have to feed the hungry crew,
so there’s only one thing for it now - that’s Coober Pedy Stew.

Listen up you townies; pay heed, and I’ll tell you what to do,
for us Bushies are inventive and we know a thing or two.
First you need Braised steak and onions, and a tin of Kraft is best,
then you open up baked beans, and Hien’s have long now stood the test.
Finally you’ll need some greens and any can of peas will do,
then you mix it all together and you have a luscious stew.

Heat it up and simmer for awhile – just one last thing to do,
serve on toast that’s made from month old bread, without too much mildew.

******
©T.E. Piggott

bit of a Heinz combination you've got going there Terry - the mildew on the bread contains penicillin so I wouldn't be to worried about it I think you've got the 5 food groups covered

I really love that first stanza Terry. It sounds very Lawsonish.

Heather

We used to call it porcupine stew as Kids Terry.
Not exactly the same recipe but good tucker just the same.


Bob

There's an organic eatery around here with bean sprouts and lentils and quinoa and things, they don't seem to have Coober Pedy Stew on the menu.

Enjoyed the poem Terry especially, as Heather remarked, the first verse... a humdinger, but I'm still going to pass on the stew mate.
Wazza

That's not bad terry and wazza but here is a yarn about tucker in the yarns segment

Hi Maureen & Heather

Maureen the meal is true enough and believe me it's not bad tucker either,
Especially if as the poems states, that you've had a hard day and the last thing you fell like doing is making a meal.
Although called Coober Pedy Stew it was first concocted on the WA Gold Fields in the mid seventies when we were just about out of everything, In desperation I managed to find the three tins and thought what the hell, turned out OK as well.
After a couple of weeks the bread starts to go mouldy so we'd try and pick out the less affected slices and repreat the process until the slices were completely overwhelmed with mould.

G/day Heather,
Thanks.
I have written a couple of other poems that are very similar in style to this,
In fact I'm messing around with one now that's why I used it here.
I hadn't thought of it being a little like Henry's though.

Cheers Terry

Hi and thanks, Bob, Neville, Wazza & Bill

Bob
I'm guessing someone had long before used the same concoction in the past and since.
But as you say not but tucker.

Neville
You need to go to a pretty high class Noshery to find this type Gourmet food mate.

Wazza
Even if you don't sample it yourself you have my permission to add the recipe in your the cook book that Heather suggested could be in wings.

Bill
I'm guessing that like me you're a pretty dab hand with a can opener.

Cheers all

Terry

Terry it is so Lawson I'd swear he wrote it. I can hear him.

I remember a stew I had in a camp oven in the Flinders Ranges when I was about 15 - rabbit stew with all the vegies thrown in. I still remember it (go on Bob, there's your cue!)

Heather