Readers fall for romance of high country life, recipes

Gisborne women Holly Hansen (left) and Fiona Dawson enjoy a chat with high country station cook and Winter Warmers author Philippa Cameron during a book signing at Muirs Bookshop on Saturday.Picture by Mark Peters

Among post-cyclone events organised by Farming Women Tairāwhiti was a high country cuisine workshop held on Sunday by Philippa Cameron, author of two popular recipe books.

Before her workshop at the Matawhero saleyards cookhouse, the Otematata Station cook and author visited Muirs Bookshop on Saturday to sign copies of her most recent book, Winter Warmers, and to chat with enthusiasts.

“Philippa’s just wonderful,” said Farming Women Tairāwhiti executive committee member Storm Clark.

“She cooks  smokos (morning and afternoon tea) and posts them on social media. A lot of us farmers’ wives do that.

“A lot of it is about using food from the pantry, food gathered from the farm, and tinned produce. Isolation means having this produce on site. A lot of the food is for smoko and lunches for shepherds and shearers.

“Philippa is relatable to farming women particularly.”

Mrs Cameron took over the role of Otematata Station cook after her mother-in-law passed away.

“I started an Instagram account — #whatsforsmoko — and got more recipes. People gave me tips and ideas about how to make dishes look more beautiful.

“People fell in love with the romance of the high country.”

Her Instagram posts became as much about that romance as the recipes, she said.

The recipes and romance caught the attention of publishers Allen and Unwin who approached her about producing a book of recipes. Mrs Cameron has since written A High Country Life, and her latest, which is called Winter Warmers.

Before coming to Gisborne, Mrs Cameron made bread, food for smoko and lunches for shepherds who will travel into a remote area of the South Island station for a sheep muster.

“The food gets packed into packer boxes and off they go. A packers truck takes out the food. They’ll stay out there for three nights and muster 11,000 wethers home.”

One challenge Mrs Cameron encountered while designing recipes for her cookbooks was in cutting down cook-ups for shepherds, shearers and staff to recipes for four people.

“Normally I’m a chuck-a-bit-of-this in and a bit of that in cook. But in recipes you can’t use the word ‘glug’ as a measurement.”

So she learned to refine quantities and amounts.

Mrs Cameron’s recipes go beyond meat and two veg. Winter Warmers includes curries built from scratch.

One or two older station hands might raise their eyebrows at some of the non-traditional tucker but younger generations are in favour of new flavours, said Mrs Cameron. Even dishes made with less-than-popular mutton can be delicious.

“Making a mutton curry is much nicer than lamb curry — all those flavours.”

Farming Women Tairāwhiti aims to improve regional contact in this region through regular meetings, personal development and education.

The group can be contacted via Facebook.