This picture (click to enlarge) has always intrigued me, with one of my 'fluezies' - backstone or bakestone. But also with the batter so far from the cooking surface so not poured directly as we would crepes or pancakes. Several years ago, I finally found the accompanying pages which described the use of the board in her hand - like an oven peel to transfer it. Wooden peels feel so perfect when used in brick ovens, so I had to make a post about these oatcakes and their board. Though I wonder the consistancy of the batter to be able to ladle out then transfer off the board to the hot top.
Has anyone used this method to make oakcakes - swirling batter over the meal on a board, then transfering to hot surface?
Woman Making Oat Cakes.
"It is a very thin cake, composed of oatmeal and water only, and by no means unpalatable, particularly while it is new. The mixture is made of a proper consistence in a large bowl, and measured out for each cake by a ladle. As the price of an oat cake is invariably one penny, the size of the ladle of course depends upon the rate of meal in the market.
The actual utensils/tools, with images, to make oat cakes will be in a later post - Oat Cakes utensils HERE
Oat cakes made by Scots going to battle on horseback with iron plate and bag of oatmeal. past post HERE
CALENDAR OF VIRTUAL FOOD HISTORY TALKS HERE
THIS WEEK'S TALKS deleted
Stir up Sunday for Christmas pudding post HERE
©2021 Patricia Bixler Reber
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This is a WONDERFUL post. It reminds me of so many interesting facts about flat bread and their storage. I've made both oat cakes and corn cakes on an open hearth, consisting of nothing but the grain and the water, and they taste very good. The reason is that the heat from a hearth is so much more intense than that from our conventional stove. You just can't get the same result cooking in the modern way on a stove top. We know that we want to dry out any flat cake for storage, as the moisture will cause it to spoil. And you have to keep it from the "critters" who love to eat it as much as we do. I remember seeing in the Swedish Museum in Philadelphia, PA a recreation of a old Swedish Kitchen. It had rods mounted along the ceiling that they used to store their Knackebrod, and that is why it was made with a round hole in the center.
ReplyDeleteI note the use of a 'bread creel' to dry the oat cakes (?also keep them away from rats). In my part of West Yorkshire this is known as a bread/oat fleak/fleke. We still have a very old one but use it to dry clothes
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