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You know work and you’ve tasted her food. Although you may not have known it at the time, your mum probably used Clark’s recipes to make your childhood birthday cakes.
For 50 years, Clark was the home economist, recipe developer and test kitchen expert behind thousands of Australian Women’s Weekly (AWW) recipes. Her name is also featured on the first Women's Weekly Cookbook published in 1970 and the Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book of 1980 that later became enshrined in Aussie food culture.
“The test kitchen at Women's Weekly really did define Australian food for an entire generation of people,” says Adam Liaw, co-host of SBS series . “I still hear about the legends from the test kitchen [today].
The kitchen consisted of about eight people who created the brand’s recipes, tested the food and photographed the varied dishes that appeared in AWW’s magazine and cookbooks.
“The recipes that came out of the kitchen were dishes like curried eggs and apricot chicken – recipes that became the icons of Australian food at the time.”
Clark started her role as the chief home economist in the Leila Howard Test Kitchen (otherwise known as the AWW Test Kitchen) in September 1969. Since then, she’s written over 400 of ‘The Weekly’ recipe books.
“It was terrific,” Clark recalls, while talking to Liaw on the show. “We worked hard in the test kitchen and it was highly organised. It had to be.”
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Apple charlotte
Although the famous kitchen was high performing, things didn’t always go to plan. Clark tells SBS the story of how she made to be photographed in the 1980s. Once it was made, the cake went into the studio to be photographed. The shoot proceeded as usual, or so everyone thought at the time.
“Somehow, during one of the shots, a blowfly moved in on the apple Charlotte and had his photo taken,” she tells SBS. “No one knew.
“A couple of years went by when someone dug out the photo and wanted to use it. The photo was inspected carefully but no one saw the fly. Somehow, that photo of the apple Charlotte cake and blowfly got printed. It caused a real riot!”
The test kitchen’s phones rang off the hook for weeks, while radio, newspaper and television commentators went wild with constant conversations about ‘the blowfly’. “Some people thought the photographic studio must have been a dirty place to have a blowfly in it while others found it funny.
Credit: Great British Food Revival
Apple charlotte
Apple charlotte with thyme custard
“But to think – we all looked at the photo and let it go by. We just did not see the fly: it looked like a rather large passionfruit seed or something. It was a very memorable time.”
Cooking advice from a legend of the kitchen
A lot has changed since the days when Clark was at the test kitchen. Photography is now digital and social media plays a major role on the food we eat and aspire to cook.
There are a lot more high-end cooking influencers in Australia than there were decades ago and people are eating much more culturally diverse meals.
So what advice does the highly skilled cookbook author and recipe developer have for people who want to make beautiful meals at home, today?
Tips and tricks
Where to start if you don't know how to cook
“If you're an inexperienced cook, start off by making simple dishes,” she says. “Don't be swayed by the complicated meals you see on television programs or even the recipe books.
“You have to learn basic cooking skills first. You have to understand how different textures feel and how various mixtures go together before you tackle more complicated techniques.”
The queen of recipe development reminds readers that there are no shortcuts to becoming more skilled in the kitchen. Just like everything in life, practice makes perfect.
“…After a while with experience, you just get to know stuff.”
