Puha and Brisket

Te Ao Hou, March 1964, Page 5

Puha and Brisket Now back to my longing for a Maori meal. Puha is picked and got ready, while a good piece of brisket is put on to boil. Kumara and potatoes are peeled. Sometimes I add some light puffy doughboys about ten minutes before the meal is ready. Served with green peas or beans, this makes a very nice meal. Maoris like myself, or let's say most of them anyway, like their brisket fatty, but those people who do not like this can always select a leaner cut of meat. When I have been introducing meals of this kind to Pakehas and others for the first time, I have found that they like it much better when the meat is lean than when everything is served swimming in a bowl of greasy fat. I think that the older generation of Maori mothers, like their Pakeha pioneer sisters, were far better cooks than the women of today, with all their scientifically prepared ingredients and modern aids. Who is to blame for so many of our younger girls being such poor cooks: the society we live in today, or the parents? Personally I blame the latter. For with today's modern gadgets, pre-cooked foods, instant liquids, soups and desserts, etc., I think we tend to become rather lazy in our preparations of meals.