As part of our South Island adventure, I asked our hosts if they would be willing to share their favourite recipes. Over the coming days/weeks these will be posted.
Sari and I had the pleasure of staying with Pam and her husband Colin while we were in Wanaka. They were wonderful hosts, very kind and generous with their time, sharing their home, and showing us a special lake within a lake, within a lake etc. And of course many interesting conversations and laughter was had.
This recipe is one of Pam’s favourites and I’m sure you will love the background story that goes with it!
Ingredients
| 1 tin sweetened condensed milk | 1 tsp dry mustard |
| 6 – 8 Tbsps milk | 6 – 8 Tbsps malt vinegar |
| 1 egg | 2 Tbsps melted butter |
| Pinch of salt |
Method
- Melt the butter then cool enough to add the beaten egg.
- In a Kenwood (or similar) mixing bowl put in the condensed milk, mustard then gradually add the milk, the vinegar and the egg and melted butter mixture. (If it starts to curdle then grab the kitchen whizz to blend until smooth.)
- Pour into a small preserving jar.
- This mayonnaise will keep for 6 months in the fridge!
Story behind the recipe
This recipe was given to me in a recipe book from Phyllis Aspinall, of Mt Aspiring Station just prior to my marriage into the farming fraternity of the Wanaka area.
Phyllis trained as a music teacher in Dunedin before she married Jerry in the 1950s and went to live at the station. Electricity arrived about 1956.
At the second homestead the generator was driven by a waterfall. The generator could be somewhat temperamental at times. Two heat storage ranges were installed to cook for the family, the farming men, and the numerous mountaineers on their way to conquer Mt Aspiring.
In time Phyllis was also able to have lights, a washing machine, a freezer, a vacuum cleaner and a dish washer, but not all these appliances could go on at the same time. Water came from the stream behind the house.
In this beautiful isolated valley, the station could only be accessed by road if the four fords were able to be crossed as there were no bridges over the mountain streams. In heavy rains you had to wait till the streams went down.
Phyllis never learned to drive. To get to the nearest town of Wanaka for groceries etc was at least an hour away, on a good day and she was reliant on her husband to take her. There was no delivery service.
As well, Phyllis taught their four children through the Correspondence School lessons until they went to boarding schools for their High School years.
Leave a Reply