Recipe - Oatcakes (Traditional Method)

4 ounce Oatmeal
1 teaspoon Fat
;Water, hot
1 pn Salt
1 pn Baking soda

As the dough stiffens when lying about, it is best to make a bannock at a
time, using the above quantities, the next being prepared whilst the one is
on the girdle [not a typo!].

Put the oatmeal into a bowl and add the salt and soda. Melt a teaspoon of
dripping or fat (bacon fat, goose fat, or poultry fat are all excellent).
Make a well in the centre of the meal, put in the dripping, and add as much
hot water as will make a stiff paste. Rub plenty of oatmeal on to the
baking board; turn out the mixture and form into a smooth ball. Knead and
roll out as thinly as possible. Rub constantly on both sides with dry meal
to prevent sticking, and keep the edges as even as possible by pinching wit
finger and thumb. Give a final rub with meal, cut into a round, using a
plate, and then cut the bannock into farls (fardels or quarters) or into
smaller pieces. Place on a moderately hot girdle and bake steadily till th
cakes curl up at the edge; then toast the other side slightly before a clea
fire or finish in the oven.

If you have neither a girdle nor a thickbottomed fryingpan, you may bake
the oatcakes in a moderate over for 2030 minutes, till quite dry and curle
at the edges.

Buttered oatcakes are particularly good with marmalade, honey, cheese, frie
herrings, and sardines.

*Recipes from Scotland*, 1946

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini