Putting a damper on things

No one but the phlegmatic English could have invented something as obnoxiously bland as Yorkshire pudding, and tapas could only come from a culture that needed to support the late-night Spanish drinking habit. No early Japanese foody would ever tolerate a cuisine less obsessively anal than sushi.

Which is why it’s unsurprising that the few truly authentic Australian foods all require beer. After all, they are all invented by Australians, a bunch of lanky crocodile wrestlers who nightly drink me under the table with Carleton Draft, Toohey’s New, and Victoria Bitter. That’s not true actually; some of them wrestle emus instead.

While camping in Kings Canyon (of 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ fame) our bushman guide started with a bowl gripped between his knees, filled with flour. No, wait, first he got a stubby out of the esky and knocked back half of it. There was a hose with running water, so that got sprayed into the bowl for a bit, as did all the remaining beer. He kneaded it a few times, formed it into a round shape, stuck it in a black cast-iron pot, and buried it under the coals of our camp fire with a big-assed shovel.

About forty five minutes later we had a really decent loaf of heavy, crusty bread to go with our dinner of beer, more beer, and a different type of beer.

Here’s a slightly less authentic recipe.

Australian Cattleman’s Damper Bread
Preheat the oven to 350. Stir together 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 3 teaspoons of double acting baking powder, a teaspoon of salt, and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Then mix in 24 ounces of beer. That’s important.

Spoon the whole thing into a greased pan, smooth the top (and maybe dust with some flour if you’re feeling posh). Bake it for an hour until the top looks golden brown. Rip off chunks and shove in mouth.