Oatcakes

the bread of the oat lands: thin, hard, three-cornered farls of oatmeal and a little fat, baked and dried on a girdle, eaten with cheese, butter, herring, or broth

Origin: Scotland

From the journey of Oat.

Where wheat would not grow, there could be no raised loaf, and the oat lands of Scotland made their bread instead from oatmeal, water, and fat, baked flat and hard on the girdle (the Scots griddle) and dried before the fire. The oatcake is that bread: a thin, crisp, biscuit-like round, scored into triangular farls, that served the Scottish table for centuries in place of the wheaten loaf and that remains one of the country's most characteristic foods. Oatmeal has no gluten and cannot be leavened, so the oatcake is unleavened by nature; it keeps for weeks in a dry tin, which made it the ideal food of the drover, the shepherd, and the soldier, carried in the pocket and eaten cold. The method is old and simple, and the only real difficulty is speed: the hot oatmeal dough stiffens and cracks as it cools, so it must be mixed with boiling water and rolled out quickly while still warm, its crumbling edges pinched together as it goes. A cast-iron girdle is traditional, the oatcakes cooked on top of the stove and then hardened off in a low oven or before the fire, though a modern oven does the whole job well. The grade of oatmeal is a matter of taste and region: fine oatmeal gives a smooth, crisp oatcake, medium a nuttier, rougher one. Oatcakes are the natural partner of a good cheese, spread with butter, topped with a slice of smoked fish, or crumbled into a bowl of broth or a glass of milk. They are as much a part of the Scottish table as the porridge from the same meal kist.

Ingredients

  • 250 g medium or fine oatmeal, plus extra for rolling
  • 0.5 tsp fine salt
  • 0.25 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 30 g butter, lard, or beef dripping, melted
  • 90 ml boiling water, approximately

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan). Mix the oatmeal, salt, and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Stir the melted fat into the boiling water, then pour the hot liquid into the oatmeal and mix quickly to a stiff, warm dough.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted generously with extra oatmeal. Knead briefly, then roll out to about 3 to 4 mm thick, dusting with more oatmeal to stop it sticking and pinching any cracked edges back together as you go.
  3. Cut into rounds with a cutter, or cut the whole sheet into quarters (farls) or triangles. Transfer to a baking tray.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until firm, dry, and pale gold at the edges but not browned. They will crisp further as they cool.
  5. Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight tin.

Notes

The grade of oatmeal changes the character: fine oatmeal gives a smooth, crisp, cracker-like oatcake; medium a rougher, nuttier one; a mixture works well. Beef dripping or lard gives the most traditional savoury flavour, but butter makes an excellent oatcake and keeps them vegetarian. For a plainer, more austere oatcake omit the fat entirely and bind with water alone, as the old crofting recipes did. The bicarbonate of soda is a modern refinement that lightens the texture slightly; leave it out for a denser, more historical result.

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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