Potato cakes v potato scallops: which state is correct?

Why do Victorians call potato scallops "potato cakes"? N Riordan

Why Victorians do many things differently, from their aerial code of football to their confusing and insufficient "pot" of beer, is a historical matter due to because of different waves of migration and the colonies' cultures developing separately from each other. In South Australia, for example, they drink a 200ml "butcher" of beer, the word derived from German settlers' becher or convivial drinking cup.

Studies of Australian English show wonderful variations and idiosyncrasies, such as the rural Queensland expression for egg: chicken rock. Up north of that state what are known as icy-poles in other parts of the country have been referred to up there as "by jingoes".

Then there is the sausage. Sausage makers before World War I were quite happy to refer to a fat, cooked, lightly spiced sausage as strasbourg. The sausage was loosely based on the saucisse de Strasbourg from the then-German city in Alsace called Strasbourg. When World War I broke out, Australian butchers Anglicised the smallgood and so today we have the devon sausage in parts of New South Wales, the empire sausage in Newcastle, windsor sausage in Queensland, belgium sausage in Tasmania and, occasionally, the byron sausage on the Central Coast of NSW. Only in Victoria will you find the name strasbourg, which has been truncated to "stras".

On the potato scallop/potato cake divide I can't cannot find research as to why there is this dichotomy. What I will comment on is that scallop is a better culinary description because it comes from the French word escaloper, meaning to cut in fine slices. A potato cake is not, in fact, a cake. It would be best described, however, as a potato fritter, as they do in South Australia.

The best potato scallop/cake/fritter in the nation is possibly made in the Victorian town of Beechworth, where slices of potato are pre-boiled in salted water with a little garlic and rosemary before being dipped in batter and fried to order.

My favourite recipe, golden syrup dumplings, sees some turn out light and fluffy and others in the same batch heavy and dense. B Stuart

You, my friend, have a crowding problem. For those who don't know, golden syrup dumplings are sweet and wonderfully stodgy flour, milk and butter dumplings that are cooked in a syrup made with brown sugar, golden syrup, water and butter. The dumplings are placed in the syrup and slowly cooked on the stovetop or baked in the oven. The flour in the dumplings is heated by contact with the hot syrup. When hot, the starch in the flour absorbs water from the milk and syrup, it swells and softens. At the same time, the raising agents in the self-raising flour are activated by heat and release gas that is trapped by the elastic proteins in the flour. If the dumplings are touching or too close together they won't get hot enough to activate the raising agents and there won't be enough liquid absorbed to swell the starch. Make sure your pan or pot is big enough so there is space between the dumplings.

How do I make barley water? M Casey

Don't you people have grandmothers? Ring and ask them. They'd appreciate the call. Sorry. This is a surprisingly refreshing beverage that was the sports drink of the Edwardian era. Take 60 grams of pearl barley, the type one would use for soup, and cover with water, b. Bring to the boil, strain and rinse with cold water. Place the blanched barley in a heatproof jug with the zest of a lemon and 20 grams of sugar. Pour over 600ml of boiling water and let stand until cold. Strain and serve over ice. Delicious with cucumber sandwiches after a spot of tennis.

Letters

On storing fresh herbs, B Warner wrote: "I find the best way to keep herbs is to freeze them. I wash them, spin them in an old tea towel and put them on a tray in an airy spot until they dry. I then put them through the food processor, bag them and freeze. Chives can be cut finely with the scissors after cleaning. If they clump, 10 seconds in the microwave will thaw enough to use. They last forever."

Send your vexing culinary conundrums to brainfood@richardcornish.com.au or tweet @FoodCornish