Genuine Staffordshire Oatcakes

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 126, 21 November 1941, Page 46

Genuine Staffordshire Oatcakes

Dear Aunt Daisy, Like your correspondent "C.G." whose letter appeared in The Listener of September 5th, I have been very interested in the letters which have recently been published by you about " Soft Oatcakes,." "C.G," speaks of memories of fifty years ago, and as he mentions the town of Leek in Stafford.

shire, a town in which I lived when a boy just over fifty years ago, I feel it is about time that those of your readers who desire it, should have the genuine "Staffordshire Oatcake" recipe, which my mother had in her possession for over eighty years. It is as follows: Eight heaped tablespoons of oatmeal; 2 heaped tablespoons of flour; 1 teaspoonful. salt; 1 quart hot water. Mix together and add 4% cake compressed yeast, or some brewers’ yeast if obtainable. Leave to rise overnight, or for 6 or 7 hours, in a warm place. Cover the mixture with a cloth while rising. When it has risen, stir in 4% teaspoonful of baking soda dissolved in warm water, Cook on a hot girdle like pikelets.

Keep wrapped in a cloth, one on top of another. : In this way they will keep soft for days if necessary, and can be warmed up in the frying pan. They can be eaten hot, buttered, with a pinch of pepper and salt, or fried with bacon. If desired cold, butter and syrup may be used, The recipes you have already given have a larger quantity of flour than oatmeal, but I am sure if the above recipe is tried by "C.G." he will find it comes very close to those oatcakes he remembers of fifty years

ago.

J.Y.

R.

(Oamaru).

I am sure that "C.G." especially, besides many other Old Country contemporaries, will appreciate your letter, and be glad to try your genuine old , recipe. Thank you very much