Our Club takes the Easy way out regarding Oatcakes, one of the traditional elements of a Burns Supper, by purchasing Walker's Oatcakes.

The oatcakes are served as an appetizer with fish (salmon, herring) and cheese, and should be savory rather than sweet. There are many different recipes for oatcakes with regional variations. Here are three to try:

Midlothian Oatcakes
A style popular around Edinburgh. We have kitchen-tested this recipe and it produces a crisp, neutral, oat-flavored biscuit that is similar to Walker's (which for some reason have become scarce in our local grocer's.)

Ingredients

1/2 C (2oz) flour 1/2 C (2oz) oat flour 1/2 C (2oz) medium oatmeal1 Water

1 t baking powder2 3 oz butter 1/2 t salt

Procedure

Place dry ingredients in a bowl. Blend in butter. Add enough water (approx. 1/4 C) to make a stiff dough. Roll out on a floured board and cut into rounds (2 1/2" dia) bake at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes.

Makes about a baker's dozen.

Note: This recipe works very well in a food processor:

• Combine dry ingredients in food processor. Pulse several times to blend
• Add softened butter in chunks. Pulse to blend.
• Add 1/4C cold water. Blend until soft dough lump forms
• Roll, cut and bake as above




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Highland Oatcakes

This recipe calls for oats only and are quite brittle.

Ingredients

1/2 C (2oz) oatmeal3 2 oz butter Water to mix

Pinch of salt Pinch of baking soda

Procedure

Put dry ingredients in a bowl. Melt fat in 3T boiling water, add to mixture to make a stiff dough. Roll 1/8" thick and cut into rounds. Bake at 350 degrees. For a more traditional approach, roll dough into a single round and cut into farls (quarters) and bake slowly on a girdle (griddle). Serve warm. Makes 4-6 oatcakes.

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Bonnach Imeach

This recipe is from the Hebrides and is thicker and heavier than the others. The name is Gaelic for "cakes with butter".

Ingredients

1 C (4 oz) medium oatmeal1 1 egg

1/2 C hot milk 4 oz butter

Procedure

Place oatmeal in bowl and add salt and butter. Make well center of the mixture and add egg and milk. Mix to a stiff dough. Roll out 1/4" thick into a large round and bake 5 minutes on each side on a hot gridle. (Or, roll, cut into rounds and bake at 375 degrees in an oven.)


Notes

1. NOT rolled oats. Medium oat meal is a coarsly-ground oat flour. Look in your grocer's health food section for Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal.

2. We used ammonia powder rather than baking powder. Ammonia powder (ammonium carbonate), also known as hartshorn, is available through mail order catalogs (The Baker's Catalog from King Arthur Flour in Vermont), gourmet shops, and some ethnic groceries (Greek and Middle Eastern). Ammonium carbonate is a mild leavener, but it has the advantage of being converted by heat entirely into gasses (ammonia and carbon dioxide), leaving no residue in the baked goods. Your kitchen will smell strongly of ammonia while they are baking, but no ammonia flavor will remain in the finished product. Other baking powders leave salts and minerals behind, and these affect the taste. Made with ammonia powder, these biscuits have a very neutral flavor and are perfect with cheese and fish.

3. This recipe might be better made with a mixture of oat flour and medium oatmeal. Check your grocer's health food section for Bob's Red Mill Oat Flour and Scottish Oatmeal.