Making OATCAKES on a Fire (Highlander Trekking Food, Wild Edibles)
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- čas přidán 11. 04. 2019
- Oatcakes were a staple food for Highlanders and were made prior or during long treks. So i decided to try make some basic oat cakes, cooked on a old school fire place.
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#highlander #oatcakes #cooking #fireside #Scotland - Zábava
The reason they are oat cakes is cake originally just meant a flat baked good. Bread meant a risen baked good.
Not "flat" but rather "leavened using something besides yeast, such as heat or whipped air".
Add some finely chopped nuts and dried fruit to the mix and you would have a Highlander version of a Trail Mix Energy bar.
You might heat the water to boiling before you add it to the oats to prevent them from crumbling. It hydrolyzes the starch in the oats and they hang together. I also add a little brown sugar (loaf sugar?) for a sweet note. It also helps to add a bit of bicarbonate was well.
I like oatcakes with a slice of sharp cheese on it.
How would the highlanders get the sugar in the harsh Scottish weather?
@@ruthstewart6242 There are about two and a half thousand beekeepers in Scotland today, if you want regional produce.
@@ruthstewart6242 I realise how long it's been since you left your comment but... there are quite a few alternatives to sugar in the wild in pretty much every country in the world.
In Scotland, if we're just talking about adding a touch of sweetness to make things palatable you have the following options...
If you're brave enough, a wild bee hive would be a source of honey.
Various berries and fruit such as blackberries or wild apples etc, though the apples are likely very rare.
Birch tree sap.
There are other options amongst the wild edibles but again they're only useful for a little added sweetness rather than a lot and it would often depend on the season but they're out there and would have been plentiful back when the highlanders were about.
Hello Robin Poe, i know i am a bit late but mabey you have an idea what i am doing wrong; my dough is still very oaty and crumbly, yesterday i did it with lots more hot water; that made it way stickier but i just can't figure out how fandabi Dozi managed to make it that smooth ... Do you know what might be wrong?
@@marastuff9256 crumby means too little water, sticky means too much, use a medium amount
Just gave these a shot the other day. Being Hispanic down here in South Texas I haven’t found many old world recipes for outdoor excursions from my own native cultures. So I’ve expanded into other cultures over the years taking what know how I can. Admittedly these didn’t seem hard at all! The basic ingredients reminded me so much of quick and dirty corn tortillas or even “pan de campo” camp bread literally translated. So not only did I get a easily adaptable on the go camp grub but you actually reignited a look into my own cultures outdoor foods again.
I'm a FRIJOLERO. IN n.Texas glad your watching these videos as well...🎉🎉🎉😅😅😅
Scots food was made to be portable and on the go as journeys between places are often long. Bannock and oatcakes have a good shelf life and are easily prepared as needed and haggis also comes sealed in a bladder so it keeps really well ready to be eaten kind of like pemmican or heated if possible. Ancient ready meals with easily obtained ingredients.
As a kid my dad would take us back packing into the woods and we would take oats, Folgers instant coffee crystals, and a bottle of molasses and make fire cakes over a fire on a rock . Dad would add the coffee to the oats and water and then after the cakes had been turned once my and my brother would take green sticks that had one split into an crude brush by beating it with a rock and brush the molasses onto the cakes so it would warm and soak in
Sounds delicious.
The thieving hand at the end 😂😂 The oatcakes look kinda delicious!
I agree. The little things like this in his videos (like the "thieving hand" at the end of this video) really add a nice personal and humorous touch.
I support him by buying his merch and wearing it out and about.
Hello from the great state of Georgia (not to be confused with the country). My Scottish ancestors made their way over here in the 1600s and brought their love of oats. Some say the introduction of corn meal as a substitute for oats helped lead to the Journey Cake, later evolving into the Johnny Cake or Hoe Cake. It's a similar simple cornmeal cake with a little salt, made a bit more fancy with flour or milk instead of water, wild onion, or topped with molasses then cooked with butter or suet. There are many different spins on the same principles of the idea but the recipes are still alive and well today!
I would agree there was no large cultivation of wheat. barley or oats which were all staples in Britain so they adapted what there was and readily available.
Many Scots settled in the Appalachian Mountains of North America, and there is still the tradition of the Ramp Festival in early Spring. The various forms of wild garlic, what mama's folks call ramps, are the earliest form of vitamin 'C' available in Spring. While you might have gotten an imported and expensive Moroccan orange in the toe of your Christmas stocking, scurvy was a real threat over a long Winter. The reason to have a festival is the same reason you don't eat a dish with garlic in it if your dinner date is not: It makes you reek. Ramps do much more so. So everybody would eat ramp dishes on the same day as a festival, so they would be neither offensive nor offended by the smell of each other.
I think Scottish oat cakes are probably the closest thing we have to Elven Bread ( Lord Of The Rings ) Must try this recipe 😀
Elven bread is more of a shortbread
Chaos Reigns Mix the two together. Mmmm
@@nightwolf1592 that sir, is a wonderful idea!
Chaos Reigns
Oatcakes without wheat flour are always “short” in texture, since oats don’t contain gluten.
@@chaosreigns7386 I'm not saying you're wrong, but is there proof of this? I would think that elven bread is like ANZAC biscuits
Scotland and Sweden (well, Scandinavia really) have so much in common. We still make oat cakes for christmas, just because we like them so much. And we still eat oat porridge, staple food never go out of style! Blood in food is still used up here in thee north of Sweden, and I bet we have a lot more in common as well.
You would find even more similarities in the Orkneys and Faroe Islands, as they were both provinces of the Norwegian crown until the 15th century, I think.
Alfie Nicholson lets not forget that there is a long history of Scottish mercenaries serving under the Swedish banner during the 16 and 17th century, I know a few people here in Sweden who have Scottish ancestors.
Most early Scottish peoples came from Scandinavia, my family the Forsyth's came from Frisia which is in the Netherlands. But we are a Scottish clan since the 11the century.
Viking ancestry cannot be denied
Gosh, its already 3years old, i remember when this came out
I am a real history fan so this series is really right up my street, have you thought of a video about hunting techniques by the ancient Scots, all the best and keep them coming.
Regards
Bob
Great to hear! I might mention it in a future video as it comes up in Gealic place names. Such as "Deer traps" So valleys that you can chace deer into a killing area where archers/ muskets wait.
wow made me peckish. I'd give that sneaky hand a rap ;-)
Would definitely like to see another cooking video in the future!
Brilliant definitely going try these thank you for sharing keep them coming
You're welcome! Good luck with them :D
I've made oatcakes before at home and they go really well with an accompaniement of either black or white pudding, and some bacon, and a runny fried egg. Probably a wee extravagent for on the trail though.
Sounds lovely! Im sure people may have carried black pudding or cured meat like salted beef. So thats not a bad breakfast either :)
You did a great job with the scenery!!😀🌟
The Oatcakes looked really yummi😋
Thank you for this interesting video! 🌼
Over here in the Americas we would make something similar but use cornmeal instead. So many different ways to make it into something for the trail. Wild edibles, nuts and dried fruits plus some pemmican. Great video.
My ancestors were Scottish Presbyterians who fled to the New World's Appalachian Mountains, (clan Morrison). Seeing this is deeply reminiscent of how people made trail food here, with the substitution of corn for oats.
Good video...they used to mix eggs into the oatcakes as well before cooking...it stopped them breaking up when travelling.makea them bend more than break.pretty sure it was dwellys Gaelic dictionary I saw that...an amazing amount of information in there plus the original dialect of the area for it too.porridge was stored after cooking in a drawer as well and that could be carried in a block .same with the broth like a modern cup a soup,😉
I read that the Scots were an outlier example of massive Oat consumption that wasn’t hampered by the phytic acid (which bonds to and locks away many nutritious minerals) in Oats. The theory was that they consumed massive amounts of dairy AND/OR their oats sat in grain sacks thus trigging the release of phytase to unlock and partially or fully sprout the Oats that they ate. Another was that many of the Oat related meals were fermented (also releasing phytase and unlocking the phytic acid) so ALL the minerals then were absorbed. But acid baths of oats (lemon juice, vinegar, apple juice, etc.) can also release phytase. Since oats were such a staple, and highlanders were known for having amazing teeth and bones (high mineral absorption), what do you make of that? Is it accurate or are there more factors, environmental or otherwise, going on?
Wow! I had no idea. I haven't heard of many fermented dishes, but I could be wrong. I will look into it and see. Thanks for sharing :)
Fandabi Dozi I hadn’t either!! But you know history, especially mundane or culinary history does tend to get buried quickly, purposefully or otherwise. I only even learned about it because I make my own Oat Milk and was doing scientific research into what naturally has phytase so that I could add it in (and in what ratios) so that I’m absorbing the nutrition/minerals properly. So much bullshit out there about Oat Milk, like how washing or cooking your oats is somehow magickally going to make the phytic acid layer go away 🤦🏽♀️ I was reading that some have even postulated that the heritage strains of Oat in the highlands are significantly different compared to modern and or commercial Oat strains now, in that they were either lower in phytic acid or higher in phytase or a combination of both. I wish there were studies because it absolutely would help a lot of people with a healthier and more traditional diet NOW.
Fandabi Dozi Oh, also using a shell-aren’t you worried about heavy metal poisoning? Or is that not a thing with your method or type of shell?
Great video Tom, and I bet oatcakes baked over the fire will have this "special ingredient" which can not be replicated in the electric oven. I am myself interested in what Scottish people ate and how they lived before 1700s. I bake and eat oat bannock bread for the last two years, I ferment the oatmeal till is sour and bubbly, not sure people did it in the past, but interestingly, this bread won't go off. it just dries to a rock (then I can crumble it into hot milk for "bread milk soup"). I also make sowans, this is also fermented oatmeal that is then strained with plenty of fresh water and makes real fine custard porridge (boiled with water) which is amazing with cream. I have several jars in the fridge of the raw stuff and this lasts for months. This dish was made in eastern European countries as well. the starch can be dried and carried around to use as an instant porridge. (tried). I am looking forward to seeing more videos. Cheerio.
If the Highlands are a hardwater area - lots of limestone? - that + dairy products might account for the calcium absorption.
You should do a team up with townsends
Mmm! Those oatcakes look far nicer then shop bought ones, and probably taste better
👍👍🧔Nice one Tom👍👍 and you had help eating em at the end 😊
Use hot water to mix the oats, and they will stay together. Also, after you mix the dough, let them sit for about 10 minutes before cooking. They should stay together better for you.
Awesome! Thanks I will try that next time
I have very much like ur video me and my little girl like to try new ways of cooking love the open fire
I'm eating some oatcakes with sunflower and chai seeds for ma breakfast right now! No need to put anything on them. I love a 'dry' oatcake. Such subtle complex flavours that you miss with the butter etc.
My own lembas bread.
I can't remember where I heard it, but I remember reading somewhere that the Scots used to put oatmeal and water together in a leather pouch and keep it inside their shirt and the body heat would sort of cook it over time while they were hiking.
Very good Sir, thank you.
Thanks to these videos I have come to appreciate oatmeal. It lasts long when stored dry, and you only need water(cold even) to make it into a porridge, enhancing flavour with any kind of seasonal ingredient at hand.
Definitely always have some in stock from now on.
The hand at the end made me giggle.
I love oats, and think they're one of the few good grains.
I make a version of this with about 1/3 buckwheat flower, oats, egg, butter, and a little milk or sour cream, and some backing powder. Mix it up, season how you want, and fry them like pancakes. They go with anything. You can make them so they're a little crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside.
Steel cut outs are awesome too.
Didn't know that about the scallop shell. Great to see your channel grow.
What I usually do is mix half cup of Scottish oats (same grind as yours) with half cup of rye flour, add a generous pinch of salt, melt and add a thumb size knob of vegan butter, and add enough warm water to make a pliable dough, and pat into 6 roughly palm size portions, and cook in a 200 C oven until nicely browned. You can also do it atop a campfire. If you haven't tried it, try it, it's very delicious. I like to eat it with a spread of butter and Marmite. So yummy!
leave the dough to sit for twenty-four hours so the phytic acid is neutralised
Adding the wild garlic certainly would make the oatcakes more interesting. I have made oatcakes at home (Sassenach though I am) and they do tend to split rather as one rolls them out. I make my own sometimes as most branded oatcakes have palm oil in and relly one does not need it. Stockan's highland oatcakes however do not have palm oil in.
A couple of years ago I read 'Quest By Canoe' by Alistair Dunnett, later republished as 'The Canoe Boys'. In it he details a trip from Bowing on The Clyde to Mallaig. At many places on the way he visited or stayed with highlanders and crofters. On the trip when camping the primary food source that Alistair Dunnett and his friend Seamas ate was oatmeal brose. It probably sustained them and though it did so the monotony of this fare must have been heavy though as you added garlic, Dunnett and friend added dried peas or what else they could to add interest and flavour. If you have not read the above or 'Kayak To Cape Wrath' which is beautifully written by Jack Lewis Henderson with interesting accounts of isolated crofting communities, then I can thoroughly recommend them.
The idea is not to win any blue ribbons at the fair, if it keeps your energy up.....mission successful. I carry oats with me, and do like the Highlanders did when they had to move quickly. Oats in the mouth, add cold clean water. Not very tasty, but it keeps your belly full.
A girdle! Grandad called a pan by that name! Haven't heard it in 40 years!
Thumbs up like button smashed. Loving this series .
Whenever I think of camp bread, I think, “I wonder how this could be varied?” For these oatcakes, I think some dried berries or dried cherries would work very well. A few cracked nuts too. Some honey on one would be a great meal.
We’re sneaking up on a granola bar here, ehh?!!
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
Definitely going to try this on my next hiking camp because I desperately hate parritch but always liked store bought oatcakes. So thanks for the recipe, the humour and the pretty video shooting!
Cheers from the Aussie Snowy Mountains.
Love the videos, the accent, the different way of living! Absolutely love these videos. Thank you for sharing!!
Add a wee bit of honey and some clotted cream and wow!
Some times the simple things are the best.
When harvesting ramps you can go after the stems and root area to get a more flavorful part of the plant.
They could also dry the ramps to have throughout the year.
Also they could have made a more damp dough with a fine meal of oats and then cooked longer and they would have had something closer to hard tack which would have been more stable/tougher and stood up to travel.
Your distinction between cake and biscuits is from a fairly modern English perspective. This is the same cake as in caked or pancake, sharing a root with cookie. In Swedish what you'd call a cake is called tårta, sharing a root with tart, and this bread could be havrekaka. Biscuit is French and rarely used in Swedish (a couple of things are termed biskvi).
Thanks, I’ll be making these for breakfast
I would to see you make some traditional Scottish cheese! The ancient drover and shepherd lunch of the Celts was a cloth wrapped around a cut of cheese, an end of bread or bread biscuits, and dried sausage. My GrandFather still ate that meal since he was a young boy droving cows.
Love ure vids m8. From south west scotland
Watched it half through, made em with my daughter, tried em while finishing the video. Totally delicious. Gonna have em every sunday. Thank you for sharing. You got a like and sub my man.
Great looking cakes, I use a mix of pinhead and rolled oats with oil instead of butter to give a less crumbly oatcake but I think yours would be more tasty..
Someone came in from the side to try your oatcakes I did look very nice I want to try also
Love the Highlander videos, keep 'em coming! There's so much great information you've been sharing!
I am a person really into nutrition and ancient history so here is a history tidbit I hope you enjoy: I wandered how the Romans conquered a lot of the world on wheat since wheat is not so good for you nowadays. I also wondered how the ancient Scots were known to be a vigorous people even though a lot of the time the poor people had a diet based on a high percentage of oats which are fairly nutritious but not the same as a good well-rounded diet with a lot of meat. Well, the answer probably is fermentation. The Romans used a different variety of wheat which is part of it but they ate mostly things made from sourdough which is wheat that is more fermented which ups the nutrition and gets rid of some bad things in wheat (anti-nutrients) that can be bad for you that non-sourdough wheat has a lot of. With the Scots in ancient times at harvest time of the oats, the oats were cut and stacked in the field and the natural moisture in the plant fermented and also Scotland is often rainy which caused more fermentation (which ups nutrition and helps get rid of anti-nutrients in oats also) unlike the modern harvest which cuts and dries them faster so not as much fermentation. With foods, fermentation almost always gives more nutrition (yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, etc.) If you want to make your oats more nutritious soak them in water for a day or two. It will make them creamier and if you do it on the longer side they will have a sour taste that some people like and some don't. If you don't then soak less.
oats are highly digestible, and people used to eat WAY more then we do today. Your average pre-modern farmer could be burning 4000-8000 calories a day, more during the heights of the harvest or similar busy time.
There's a few theories on why there's more issues with wheat today from the type of wheat, to it not being fermented (yeast breads are comparatively rare today where chemical leavening is so much easier to control), to it's relations to other foods like the insane amounts of pro-biotic/fermented foods they ate each day. There's also been a link between digestive issues and the rise of allergies, which some blame on our sterile living environments and others blame on a lack of early exposure.
I have sooooo many oats that I need to use up sooner than later, but most recipes called for baking soda! I don't think they had it back when the original recipe was created(I so seldomly bake dessert type things and my last tub expired about 4 years ago, oops 🤣), thank you for sharing this version!
Oatcakes are called so because cake is derived from the norse "kaka", originally meaning clump or ball. One can still see a hint of this in the verb "to cake" meaning "to form clumps"
Oatcakes are so good one of my favorites
Thank you for that bit on Oat Cakes, gotta try myself, cheers!
bloody good video.
This is the same way I make press dough for baking shells.
Once again, unreal work mate keep this highlander series up! Love being 50% Scottish
History is delicious!
Thank you for sharing!
I love oat cakes especially with onions and garlic or a bit of beef broth to dip them in. I’m also very fond of another type of cake a potato cake to make an Ireland called Bacstai or Boxty.
One thing you might try next time you make oat cakes is using a bit more fat or grease or butter. They help out when binding it together a bit more. I tried making shortbread a couple of times it takes a lot of butter :-). I’ve never made out cakes but I will eat them all day. On a sidenote the doc leaves that you used as a rapper can also be cooked and eaten although they have to be boiled off the first time and then finished off the second time. They’re also very good on operations from stinging nettles and thistles. The interesting thing if you go down into lower England is you’ll always find nestles and dock grow and close by to each other. If you take the dark leaves and mash them up into a kind of a poultice or a paste and put them on the stinging nettle rash it eases it immediately and after about five or six minutes if you let the juice soak into your skin it counteracts the venom from the nettles
Hello again.
Just want to correct my previous post.
I forgot that James Townsend and Sons, is simply known now, as "Townsends".
Looking forward to your next posting.
I love this channel, if you have the time to make more Highlander cooking videos I will make time to watch and learn.
I would love to see what rations they are and incorporate them into my long hikes along the Thames River here in London, Ontario Canada.
Really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing.
Love this series . I love oat cakes. Love this video.
Well done and I can't wait to use the knowledge!
Absolutely Awesome 😃
Love potatoe cakes made with oats, yummy oat biscuits I’ll give them a try, love the set up you have there, thanks for sharing this .
This Channel is fantastic thank you so much
Very well done mixing technique and detail. Thank you for sharing.
We used to make these in primary school we'd cook then in the ovem and we added golden syrup and had them sweet but still a right trip down memory lane 😀.
Thanks for bringing the passage in Sir Gibbie where he makes ‘cakes’ on the peat fire come to life for me!
👍
I'm planning a trip next month, and I should find myself in the Pindus Mountains of Greece before the end of June. I have taken inspiration from your highland survival videos, which are just incredible by the way. It wouldn't be responsible for me to have a fire on my trip, but I will try your oaty paste as an emergency ration!
Oats are such an awesome food.
Crazy cheap and really good for you too..
Fun video. Well done!
Well done - most interesting.
Cook | kık | câc |
Scallop shells have been used for myriads of years, very versitile.
Oat and onions.
They look really good Tom another intresting video thanks.
Super tip ❤💚💙
That hand! It snatched my cookie back in 2nd grade, too. So now it's in Scotland. Oooo, just wait 'til I get my hands on that ... hand. It sounded better in my head.
Nicely done 👍
More of these videos please mate! I tried this at home, and if it goes well I'll do it out in the wild.
Cooked & ate first batch listening to your story of Finn 😊 heart (and tummy!) warming. Thank you, beautiful videos!
I love the knife!
Great video. Definitely trying that, love making bannock so this will be another camp fire staple! Keep em coming.
Even though I am English and not Scottish, I was taught by my Scottish pals in the Army to drop sugar from my Oats Porridge and use SALT instead. Since my time in Russia who also love their oatmeal porridge, (овсяная каша), I was taught to mix in a knob of butter. However, I still prefer my Oatmeal Porridge with full fat milk as opposed to water and I have to admit my own secret ingredient, a splash of fine Malt Whisky.
If the Highlanders had butter then, they must have had milk at some stage or perhaps they used Lard or Tallow instead. Interesting take on baking the mixture into cakes and I guess they could have added whatever was available in the way of seasonal Nuts grated, crushed or simply chopped. Will give this a try, but mine will have the splash of whisky in them. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome! Yeah they did lots with oats. I recon they would have used what ever was around. If they had fresh milk, they would have mixed that. They made butter to last the winter and store the milk so would use that. If they killed a beast and had left over fat, use that and so on :)
Ahhh. The whiskey idea sounds like a great idea. Can't wait to try it.
These remind me of good old anzacs
Great stuff, I think adding a bit more butter and maybe some grated cheese would definitely hold them together or even an egg!
thanks to the patrons very much. I wish I had some cash for this guy!
You can extract starch from edible water tubers to get your natural breads to stick together*
Fandabi Dozi 👍
Hello great Video. Keep Up the great Work
The place you cook looks so medieval. Earth and relaxing. Greetings from Greece!
Do love these videos :-)
I love oats.
Imma try this recipe as an anabolic breakfast
I like mine with more salt, they also crumble into stew well if you cook them on a lower heat (Thicker stone) for a longer time. Gives them a great toasted flavor.
Thank u