This is going to hurt, but rissoles aren’t Australian
The dish
Rissoles, Australia
Plate up
“This is beautiful darl. What do you call these things again?” With just a few words, a simple Australian dish was preserved in pop-cultural history. The quote is from the 1997 movie The Castle, and most Australians who were alive at that time will be able to recite the lines that follow. “Rissoles. Everybody cooks rissoles Darryl.” The reply? “Yeah, but it’s what you do with them.” Australian homemakers have been doing things with rissoles for many years, though the basics remain the same: this dish falls somewhere between a hamburger patty and a miniature meatloaf, with (usually) beef mince mixed with diced onions, breadcrumbs, dried herbs and an egg for binding (and sometimes grated vegetables to fool kids into consuming), formed into balls and pan-fried with a little squish to make them rough patties. Served with tomato sauce and mashed potatoes, they’re an Aussie classic that may sound simple – but, it’s what you do with them.
First serve
Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter
Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.
This is going to hurt, but rissoles aren’t Australian. They’re not even meatballs. The word comes from the French “rissoler”, to brown or redden, and in many parts of France a rissole is a pastry with sweet or savoury filling. Across the channel in the UK in the 19th century, those French rissoles were adapted to local tastes and available ingredients: the legendary Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, published in 1861, contains a recipe for “savoury rissoles” using leftover meat to form into patties. In Australia, rissoles became popular during the world wars as a way of using off-cuts of rationed meat and stretching them out with breadcrumbs, vegetables and dried herbs to improve the flavour.
Order here
Rissoles are an Australian classic, but you will almost never find them on a restaurant or even a pub menu. Your best bet is to just make your own at home (see below).
Cook it
Make your own rissoles at home following Nagi Maehashi from RecipeTin Eat’s recipe on Good Food.
One more thing
The Castle is filled with quotable quotes, but there’s another food-related line that is particularly memorable. “What’d you call this?” Darryl asks of his dinner. “Chicken,” his wife, Sal, replies. “And it’s got something sprinkled on it?” he asks. Sal nods: “Seasoning.” Darryl replies: “Seasoning! Looks like everybody’s kicked a goal.″
Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.