Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Derbyshire oatcakes

I made a daring experiment last night – life is quiet up here

Derbyshire oatcakes are not at all like the hard Scottish biscuits. More like pancakes or crepes – thin, flat, soft & pliable, about 8” across

Best fried in bacon fat, part of the kind of decent breakfast which every proper mother would have made sure was inside her children before they set off to walk to school

Good for tea as well. You can toast them, but I prefer them cold. With honey, Golden Syrup or a crumbly white cheese. Derbyshire White Stilton for preference but Wensleydale, Cheshire or Lancashire will do

I think the authentic traditional ones must have used suet for the fat content – why else did we buy them from the butcher? But last nights came from the supermarket & are made with vegetable oil. The ones from Sainsburys are actually labelled Staffordshire oatcakes

We had a curry supper. My tried & tested repertoire – creamy prawn curry, aromatic yellow rice (Madhur Jaffreys recipe) & same old, same old accompaniments: very garlicky cucumber raita; sliced bananas with coconut, brown sugar & lemon juice; tomato, spring onion, coriander salad; green leaf salad; mango chutney

Tired & tested perhaps. Need to try something different

I have been meaning to try oatcakes instead of roti for years. Should have tried in private first. But –

I also meant to buy some naans, as a fallback, but I forgot

Hey! Oatcakes work really well. Though you are perhaps slightly more likely to get gravy dribbles down your chin than you are with more absorbent naan or roti breads