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Hatepe (R.I.P.)
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 Posted -
15/12/2004
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22:11
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Does anyone remember the oatcake man who had a shop at the bottom of Barkerhouse Rd., Nelson and who hawked oat cakes round Kelbrook, Earby and Barlick, mainly in the pubs and clubs for that wonderful drinking man's delicacy "STEW and HARD"????
My father-in-law kept the Stone Trough Pub for over 21 years and the racks in the kitchen were festooned with soft oatcakes drying to make the "hard" for the stew and hard.
The "Stew" was a concoction of meats, pigs feet or a cow's foot and a touch of gelatine, peppers and salt, that were boiled for ever and ladled into basins to "set".
Commercial Travellers would congregate daily at dinnertime for a Gill of ale and a stew and hard and walk out smacking their lips.
My mouth waters at the thought of an oatcake with thick slices of stew and raw onion and a pint of Tetley's bitter beer. Food of the Gods!!!
Unfortunately we cannot get oatcakes in New Zealand, but from time to time I make the "Stew" and eat it with an oat biscuit similar to "hard", the missus thinks I've got summat wrong with me, just shakes her head and says "Who the hell eats that kind of tucker....???"
Aye Hatepe
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 12/02/2005 : 14:05
Barry, I found the pic and tweaked it a bit. I think the problem was it was Bitmap format, JPEG works best.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 17:43
I had a crack at the oatcake recipe. I added sugar to help the yeast work and left the baking powder out. They are soft at the moment and I don't think they'll survive long enough to dry out. I tried one with honey.... I know what I'm having for my supper tonight.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
lou
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 19:09
They look yummy!
Are these the same oatcakes that in past generations would be hung over ceiling-mounted clothes airers to dry? If so, how long would they stay up there for?
Lou
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bazshar
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 19:19
Well done Stanley,
They look delicious.
Rather different to the traditional oatcake made by the Stanley's and delivered all over Lancs.
There were a roughly oval 14" x 6" and quite pale in colour.
Do you do mail order? (You must have lots of spare time on your hands) 
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt! |
Ringo
Site Administrator
3793 Posts
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 19:43
Stanley doesn't have spare time !!!!! He's just good at organising the 24 hours in a day so he can do what he wants when he wants.....
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lou
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 19:51
It is called retirement ....................and it's lovely!
Lou
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bazshar
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 20:25
Ringo, yes you have probably hit the nail in the head there. Trouble with me is I am too soft, always willing to permit others to muck-up my carefully laid plans.
Oh and by the way Lou, yes it certainly is!
When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt! |
Hatepe (R.I.P.)
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Posted - 15/03/2005 : 22:16
Stanley, like you I have been experimenting with the oatcake recipe, I did produce summat like yours in the picture and I did eat what I'd made. But I still couldn't get them thin enough to hang over the rack and for them to harden.
The ones the oatcake man made seemed to be as thin as wash leathers and almost flexible, mine hadn't got those qualities. However back to the kitchen for more experiments. Perhaps the batter needs to be a bit thinner.
Aye Hatepe
R.W.King |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 16/03/2005 : 09:14
Bob, I came to the same concusion, I'd make the batter thinner and probably leave out the yeast, just let the mixture stand longer. I think I'd also put some coarser oats in as well. I had another thought; suppose you made thin porridge and then used that as the mixture..... These that I have made are great but a bit doughy in the centre, I don't think they'd dry properly.
Ringo has the time management thing about right. It's amazing how much time you can waste in a day if you let your mind slip out of efficiency mode.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 18/03/2005 : 14:42
I'm attacking the stew again but keeping it dead simple. One and a half pounds of shin beef, two trotters, one onion. Onion fried in the pot in a bit of olive oil; shin thrown in with salt, pepper and dried garlic. White wine poured in and trotters laid on top. The whole lot is on a slow boil and will stay there for at least three hours.
I'm going to try making thin porridge with salt and use that for the oatcakes. I'll let you know what happened.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
andydiamond
Hairy Horologist
424 Posts
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Posted - 18/03/2005 : 19:30
Last year I got a phone call from a friend who owns a bakery equipment business. " Come down and look at this machine we have just built, it makes crumpets."
"Yes, but I have seen one of your machines before." " Not like this one you haven't, IT'S THE BIGGEST CRUMPET MAKING MACHINE EVER MADE!"
So I went to have a look, Stanley, you would have LOVED it. About 15 feet wide, around 100 feet long, plus the same again for wrapping the finished crumpets, 100 H.P. motor, plus a huge gearbox. . . . .
This thing makes 20 crumpets a second !? which is why they have to be wrapped by machine as well.
On the initial test, which I was invited to, the thing was fired up for the first time, and worked perfectly, the problem was how to get rid of around 5000 crumpets which flew out of the machine in the five minute test run !
Lets just say I have not had a crumpet since then, although I may be ready to try again now. . . . .
The machine was custom built for one of the national bakeries, and I remember they were looking very seriously at ordering another one to make square crumpets, I don't know if it ever got built though, I suppose at over a million each they have to give it a great deal of thought first.
Andy.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 19/03/2005 : 04:46
Quote: 'THE BIGGEST CRUMPET MAKING MACHINE EVER MADE!"' Isn't it wonderful how a collection of words can have a life of its own. Why is that phrase so funny?
I was once in the factory where they make Conqueror tanks at Leeds and the bloke showed me their planing machine. I was stood there looking for it and he gave me a clue; it was so big we were stood on the bed and I thought it was a building.
The stew is pretty good stuff. I'm going to take some up onto the moor for an independent taste test.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Hatepe (R.I.P.)
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Posted - 20/03/2005 : 02:06
For two days, Stanley I have pigged out on home made stew and a type of biscuit like Rye Vita, I haven't got fed up with it yet and enjoyed it this lunchtime with a bottle of Stella Artois. I have another basin of the stew, so tomorrow I might make a feed of "Potato Slosh" with some stew and onions in it.
At the back of my mind I seem to think that the man who made oatcakes in Nelson added some dried egg powder, don't ask me why, but I am sure he had some boxes of dried egg near his machine.
Like you Stanley I have all the time to experiment, the only drawback is that I have to clean the kitchen to it's sparkling self that the missus left it in the early morning!!!
Aye Hatepe
R.W.King |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 20/03/2005 : 08:58
I fed Doc and Carole a taste of the srew yesterday evening. They were impressed. I'll bet you Doc makes some of his rough pate before long. He hasn't had a play in the new kitchen yet.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
lou
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Posted - 20/03/2005 : 16:19
That sounds good ............... Doc please can we have your recipe for rough pate next?
Thanks
Lou
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Stew and Hard
