Savoury.. Oats.
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I don't mind if we can keep it Oats related - sweet , savoury , somewhere in between... bit like Goldilocks.
Here's an Yank's take on savory oatmeal. I developed this when I joined a Scottish Heritage Society in my hometown and wrote a recipe for Mock Haggis for folks who were too scared to try the real thing. This is an adaptation of the filling I used to stuff a chicken. Please let me know if anyone tries it. It has gotten good reviews so far from friends and family.
Jefferson Kirkland's Savory Oatmeal (PDF)
Jefferson Kirkland's Savory Oatmeal (PDF)
Oats formed a basis for a great deal of welsh cooking as it did for Ireland and Scotland. The basic Oatcakes (bara ceirch - bara being bread and ceirch being oats 
) were just simple flat breads that were then consumed with anything - dunked in stews or used as a wrapper for other foods. Skilled cooks could make them thin (the thinner, the better the cook) which is very difficult - the secret being the use of plenty of lard or pig fat in the mixture.
I have experimented with mixed results and added egg to help hold it together (out of desperation if truth be told). Cheese, herbs, & spices can all be added to vary the taste and quality of the bread.
) were just simple flat breads that were then consumed with anything - dunked in stews or used as a wrapper for other foods. Skilled cooks could make them thin (the thinner, the better the cook) which is very difficult - the secret being the use of plenty of lard or pig fat in the mixture.I have experimented with mixed results and added egg to help hold it together (out of desperation if truth be told). Cheese, herbs, & spices can all be added to vary the taste and quality of the bread.
I make oatcakes, but mine are crisp. Awfully good with cheese, or jam, or butter, or marmite, but tbh I quite like them on their own.
Is bara ceirch made with oatflour or oatmeal ?
I can make really thin oatflour crepes, like Indian dosa, but I don't think I'd manage them thin with the meal in it.
Is bara ceirch made with oatflour or oatmeal ?
I can make really thin oatflour crepes, like Indian dosa, but I don't think I'd manage them thin with the meal in it.
Traditionally oatmeal but often now with a mixture or even with some wheat flour. They are flat but big, not like what is currently called oat cakes - think more a flatbread, 10" or so diameter. When cooked they could be 5mm or so thick but, often (especially when I try) thicker than that.
At 5mm those are like pretty thick crepes, or potato scones.
If you use oatflour you might well manage something as thin as a tortilla though
I need to have another play with this
If you use oatflour you might well manage something as thin as a tortilla though
I need to have another play with this
When I was younger we used to be able to buy oatmeal in several grades. I think at one point they milled seven grades, but don't quote me on that.
I could still buy 'fines' when my sons were little, and that's what I used to make their baby food, to bake cakes/bread, etc., It's like a coarse oatflour.
Now, if you're lucky you'll find a middling grade pinhead meal and that'll be it really. Though oat flour is sometimes available.
I gave up looking for it and just make my own.
I do have a hand mill but it's blooming hard work cawing that handle for long, while sieving rolled oats usually gives enough to work with, and the rolled oats whizz up more easily into flour in a food processor too.
I usually grow at least a decent handful of oats every year, just because I can but you can't eat those oats that you grown just as they come. Oats have many layers of chaff that needs to be removed first, so the oats are heated and the layers kind of fluff up and can be beaten off. The resultant seeds are known as groats, and that's what is used to make oatmeal or rolled oats, or indeed flour. You can buy whole groats though (hah! with a lot of searching) and those cook up like barley.
It was such an amount of work getting the groats out of the chaff though, and there was always waste (think trying to get walnuts out of their shells, bits get stuck), bran, etc., (called Sids) so folks soaked those bits in warm water and let it sit for a few days. Swirl it about a bit. It ferments a little, and makes a tasty nutritious drink when strained. That drink is called Swats, it's a kind of probiotic, but the white starch that settles at the bottom is called Sowans. Sowans is really the oat starch and it boils up into a thick white paste.
I can't say I'm fond of the sowans paste, but it's good for roti, while the sowans drink, swats, is kind of tangy and tasty
I could still buy 'fines' when my sons were little, and that's what I used to make their baby food, to bake cakes/bread, etc., It's like a coarse oatflour.
Now, if you're lucky you'll find a middling grade pinhead meal and that'll be it really. Though oat flour is sometimes available.
I gave up looking for it and just make my own.
I do have a hand mill but it's blooming hard work cawing that handle for long, while sieving rolled oats usually gives enough to work with, and the rolled oats whizz up more easily into flour in a food processor too.
I usually grow at least a decent handful of oats every year, just because I can
but you can't eat those oats that you grown just as they come. Oats have many layers of chaff that needs to be removed first, so the oats are heated and the layers kind of fluff up and can be beaten off. The resultant seeds are known as groats, and that's what is used to make oatmeal or rolled oats, or indeed flour. You can buy whole groats though (hah! with a lot of searching) and those cook up like barley. It was such an amount of work getting the groats out of the chaff though, and there was always waste (think trying to get walnuts out of their shells, bits get stuck), bran, etc., (called Sids) so folks soaked those bits in warm water and let it sit for a few days. Swirl it about a bit. It ferments a little, and makes a tasty nutritious drink when strained. That drink is called Swats, it's a kind of probiotic, but the white starch that settles at the bottom is called Sowans. Sowans is really the oat starch and it boils up into a thick white paste.
I can't say I'm fond of the sowans paste, but it's good for roti, while the sowans drink, swats, is kind of tangy and tasty
When I was younger we used to be able to buy oatmeal in several grades. I think at one point they milled seven grades, but don't quote me on that.
I could still buy 'fines' when my sons were little, and that's what I used to make their baby food, to bake cakes/bread, etc., It's like a coarse oatflour.
Now, if you're lucky you'll find a middling grade pinhead meal and that'll be it really. Though oat flour is sometimes available.
I gave up looking for it and just make my own.
I do have a hand mill but it's blooming hard work cawing that handle for long, while sieving rolled oats usually gives enough to work with, and the rolled oats whizz up more easily into flour in a food processor too.
I usually grow at least a decent handful of oats every year, just because I can
It was such an amount of work getting the groats out of the chaff though, and there was always waste (think trying to get walnuts out of their shells, bits get stuck), bran, etc., (called Sids) so folks soaked those bits in warm water and let it sit for a few days. Swirl it about a bit. It ferments a little, and makes a tasty nutritious drink when strained. That drink is called Swats, it's a kind of probiotic, but the white starch that settles at the bottom is called Sowans. Sowans is really the oat starch and it boils up into a thick white paste.
I can't say I'm fond of the sowans paste, but it's good for roti, while the sowans drink, swats, is kind of tangy and tasty
Brilliant, thanks for that
Just seen this thread.....
My go-to savoury oats recipe is:
A cup of oats.
Chicken stock.
Chopped onion.
Garlic.
Dried herbs.
I make it like porridge. Sometimes I'll throw in bacon, or some other meat as well. Hearty food.
I also recently made ships biscuits with a mix of course ground oats and wholemeal flour. Really easy to make, last forever and quite tasty. Best after a long dip in some kind of warm liquid to soften em up.
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My go-to savoury oats recipe is:
A cup of oats.
Chicken stock.
Chopped onion.
Garlic.
Dried herbs.
I make it like porridge. Sometimes I'll throw in bacon, or some other meat as well. Hearty food.
I also recently made ships biscuits with a mix of course ground oats and wholemeal flour. Really easy to make, last forever and quite tasty. Best after a long dip in some kind of warm liquid to soften em up.
Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk
I make my own Trail Mix (Almonds, Cashews, Hazelnuts, Pecans, Walnuts, Brazils, Apple Rings, Coconut Flakes, Apricots, Cranberries, Dates, Figs, Mango, Pears, Pineapple, Chewy Banana Chips). All pretty good on its own.
For breakfast I have some of the above, along with a (home-made) Wheat, Oats, Barley and Rye flake mix as muesli. But the key is to soak it overnight in some water or milk for a mega-feast. If you use water overnight then a couple of blobs of plain Greek Yoghurt on top when when one eats rounds it off well nicely.
Beats a coffee and a ciggy any day!
For breakfast I have some of the above, along with a (home-made) Wheat, Oats, Barley and Rye flake mix as muesli. But the key is to soak it overnight in some water or milk for a mega-feast. If you use water overnight then a couple of blobs of plain Greek Yoghurt on top when when one eats rounds it off well nicely.
Beats a coffee and a ciggy any day!
you give me an idea hereI make skirlie.
It's, I think, the British equivalent of the American's 'grits'.
It's basically just a bit of oil or fat of some kind, a finely chopped up onion or foraged oniony thing, a bit of salt and some oatmeal.
It's savoury, it's tasty, it's filling and it's nutritious. It's long lasting in you kind of food. Working hard kind of food.
Take whatever fat you have, doesn't matter whether it's bacon fat or stuff from the Sunday roast, or olive oil or butter, and melt a couple of tablespoonsful in a pan.....if you're using the pan after a fry up that's fine, just don't leave too much fat in it.
Peel and chop up the onion and fry it gently until it's just turning golden. Shake over salt, maybe pepper, up to yourself, and then add a good handful of oatmeal. Not rolled oats, not the fluffy stuff in sachets, but oatmeal.
Stir that over a middling kind of heat until it starts to colour, smells wonderful
please forgive my lack of knowledge, but what's the difference between oatmeal and rolled oats?!
you give me an idea here
please forgive my lack of knowledge, but what's the difference between oatmeal and rolled oats?!
In short the size achieved in the Processing element
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wish i'd known this thread (or forum) in april 2007 when i walked the "south coast track" in tasmania: as fires weren't allowed and i had no stove my provisions for 7days consisted of oats, sugar and cocoa powder (milk powder didn't agree with my digestion) -- a Spotted Quoll pinched the jar with cocoa powder at on campsite out of my open backpack (but was kind enough to leave it behind a nearby bush)...
afterwards i couldn't see oats for a while
afterwards i couldn't see oats for a while
If you do something like that again, without a stove, you could try making yourself a batch of Logan Bread before you start. High energy food. Numerous recipes out there...wish i'd known this thread (or forum) in april 2007 when i walked the "south coast track" in tasmania: as fires weren't allowed and i had no stove my provisions for 7days consisted of oats, sugar and cocoa powder (milk powder didn't agree with my digestion) -- a Spotted Quoll pinched the jar with cocoa powder at on campsite out of my open backpack (but was kind enough to leave it behind a nearby bush)...
afterwards i couldn't see oats for a while
thanks for your idea
i never heard of logan bread before... i don't have a stove but i'll experiment with small batches made over a campfire once i've a bit more funds available it recently got mentioned in another thread i can't find right now, but recently a guy doing historical living (as a 17th century highlander) on youtube posted a similar idea...
I like skirlie my dad's glaswegianI make skirlie.
It's, I think, the British equivalent of the American's 'grits'.
It's basically just a bit of oil or fat of some kind, a finely chopped up onion or foraged oniony thing, a bit of salt and some oatmeal.
It's savoury, it's tasty, it's filling and it's nutritious. It's long lasting in you kind of food. Working hard kind of food.
Take whatever fat you have, doesn't matter whether it's bacon fat or stuff from the Sunday roast, or olive oil or butter, and melt a couple of tablespoonsful in a pan.....if you're using the pan after a fry up that's fine, just don't leave too much fat in it.
Peel and chop up the onion and fry it gently until it's just turning golden. Shake over salt, maybe pepper, up to yourself, and then add a good handful of oatmeal. Not rolled oats, not the fluffy stuff in sachets, but oatmeal.
Stir that over a middling kind of heat until it starts to colour, smells wonderful
It's good food
it's good comfort and satisfying food, and tasty and chewy too. All good 
