When I was young and living in Bristol (SW England) my Grandmother used to bring Lancashire Oatcakes when she came to visit from Wigan, Lancashire. I fondly remember the oatcakes as a special breakfast treat. She bought them in the local market, wrapped them in a damp tea cloth to keep them moist and we ate them the next day after she arrived. They are best described as soft oval pancakes – but bubbly and grey. I’ve decided to find out more about them, and hopefully to be able to make them. Here’s the best page I’ve found so far (where they describe oatcakes as looking like a wet flannel), although they talk about Staffordshire Oatcakes – other websites point out that oatcakes vary considerably by region and are largely unknown in many parts of England. I also get the sense they are dying out. I’d love to get a recipe, but I expect I’ll have to experiment a bit to create one that matches my memories. We’ll see…
BBC - Stoke & Staffordshire - The Staffordshire Oatcake
Another promising recipe:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fatbadgers.co.uk/Britain/recipe.htm#Staffordshire%20Oatcakes
I've just been searching out Lancashire oatcakes as I remember buying them as a student in the 1970's from a stall on Preston market. We used to eat them rolled up and spread with cream cheese and blackcurrant jam. I've just checked out the Preston markets website and one of the stalls, Old Hegarty's still sell them.
ReplyDeleteSee my latest research on Lancashire oatcakes Diane: http://martin-fulcrum.blogspot.ca/2013/02/lancashire-oatcakes-found.html
DeleteI've made progress finding Lancashire oatcakes - there's much more on the Internet now. See my latest post: http://martin-fulcrum.blogspot.ca/2013/02/lancashire-oatcakes-found.html
ReplyDelete