Peat fires provide a distinct aroma and tend to be smokier than wood fires that are easier to keep burning bright. The receipt (recipe) for Oat Bannocks on the barred girdle consists of three ingredients: meal of oats, butter melted and salt. The barred girdle is more challenging than baking the oat bannocks on a flat girdle but the pattern produced on the bannock is pleasing.
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Posted in bannocks, Barred girdle, culinary history, food, food history, oats, receipts, recipes, Scottish Foodways | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, Scottish Foodways
A girdle was used in the Highlands of Scotland for baking oat bannocks. Most commonly used was a flat iron girdles but a variant of the plain flat girdle was the barred girdle. The barred girdle were made with narrow bars of iron with some bent into pleasing designs. Pictured is my reproduction barred girdle with oat bannocks.
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Posted in bannocks, Barred girdle, culinary history, food, food history, receipts, recipes, Scottish Foodways | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, Scottish Foodways
The outside hearth for the peats was made to be similar to the hearth in a Scottish blackhouse by the use of a slabhraidh (iron chain) that could be looped up or let to hang straight down close to the fire as the cooking process demanded. Whether the chain was thick or thin gave a indication of a person’s financial status as iron had to be purchased and it was a luxury. Hanging from the iron chain is a barred girdle for the bannocks and the always necessary iron pot.
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As it was not possible to create the blackhouse earthen floor hearth with a few slab stones set in the middle of the living room to cook the oat bannocks, brick was laid outside on the ground to safely burn the smokey peat fire with its definite aroma. Historiaclly, the most frequent smoke escape in Scottish blackhouses was a hole in the roof not even placed directly over the hearth. Thus much of the smoke rose and settled in the top of the family area and the air would stay relatively clear near the floor. This writer has first hand experience as I started a peat fire in a recreated blackhouse at The Highland Folk Museum near Kingussie, Scotland.
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Posted in culinary history, food, food history, Peats, receipts, recipes, Scottish Foodways | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways
Peat is formed by the partial decomposition of plants in the wet, acidic conditions of bogs. Peats were the main form of cooking fuels historically in the Highlands of Scotland. The process of cutting, drying, and leading peats to the homes in peat barrels was a multi-family process. The men cut the oblong peat cubes and women and children carefully spread the very soft, newly cut peats to dry. This picture is the peats used for cooking bannocks.
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Posted in bannocks, culinary history, food, food history, Peats, receipts, recipes, Scottish Foodways | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, Scottish Foodways
Pictured is half the receipt plated of H. Glasse’s 1747 A Boiled Plumb-Pudding. Take a pound of Suet, cut in little Pieces, not too fine, a Pound of Currants, and a Pound of Raisins stoned, eight Eggs, half the Whites, the Crumb of a Penny-loaf grated, and a Tea Spoonful of Salt, half a Nutmeg grated, and a Tea Spoonful of beaten Ginger, a Pound of Flour, a Pint of Milk. The full receipt would boil for five hours in a pudding bag. The half receipt boiled for three hours.
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Posted in boiled pudding, culinary history, food, food history, receipts, recipes | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, puddings
After the pudding bag with the receipt (recipe) A Boiled Plumb-Pudding inside has been hung to set the pudding for an hour, the string is carefully cut without hurting the linen pudding bag and opened to reveal what will be the bottom of the pudding. Next place the bottom on the serving dish, making certain the linen bag is free and then very carefully and slowly start peeling away the cloth from the pudding being very careful not to remove any of the pudding with the bag.
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Posted in boiled pudding, culinary history, food, food history, pudding bag, receipts, recipes | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, puddings
After the receipt (recipe) A Boiled Plumb-Pudding has boiled for five hours, the pudding bag needs to be removed from the kettle and allowed to drain and set. I have been very successful with allowing a boiled pudding hang and set for an hour before opening the bag.
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Posted in boiled pudding, culinary history, food, food history, pudding bag, receipts, recipes | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, puddings
After the batter for the receipt (recipe) A Boiled Plumb-Pudding is tied in the pudding bag the receipt reads to boil it five Hours. I prepared half the full receipt and after wrapping the string around the trammel tight to keep the pudding bag from touching the bottom of the kettle boiled the pudding for three hours.
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Posted in boiled pudding, culinary history, food, food history, pudding bag, receipts, recipes | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, puddings
After as much milk is added to the receipt (recipe) A Boiled Plumb-Pudding to mix it together and make it very thick, the batter is placed in a pudding bag (a yard square of linen) and tied with a string.
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Posted in boiled pudding, culinary history, food, food history, pudding bag, receipts, recipes | Tags: culinary history, food, food history, foodways, puddings
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