Some words have different meanings in different places. Normally this discrepancy is inter-continental, the go-to example being the US/UK disagreement over the definition of pants. (Americans, it is very rarely acceptable to say Nice pants! in England, no matter how much you like someone’s trousers).
Occasionally however definitions change within countries. As a fr’instance, I bet you think you know what an oatcake is. If you come from pretty much anywhere in England you’ll be imaging a small, hard, dry biscuit. The sort that makes up for its lack of taste by making you feel you are being very healthy when you eat it.
If however you come from Stoke-on-Trent an oatcake is something very different. And much more delicious.
They even have poems written about them…
…these cakes can play the very
devil with your waistline
I must warn
Indulgence leads to Bulgence
from Homage to the Oatcake by Arthur Berry
The Stoke oatcake is more of a rolled up galette, a local street food to rival good old fish and chips. They are made with oatmeal and filled with ham and cheese, cheese and mushrooms, or similar delicacies.
I was told by a local that the recipes are secret, that each oatcake seller has a different recipe, that the only way that you can find out the recipe is to buy an oatcake bakery.
Maybe that was the case a hundred years ago, but in the age of WIkileaks it is harder to keep things secret. I typed Stoke Oatcake Recipe into Google and not all the results had been redacted. It turns out these oatcakes also go by more exotic names – the Tunstall Tortilla, the Clay Suzette.
If you can get your hands on 100g of oatmeal, 100g of flour and some yeast you’re well on the way to making one yourself. Having discovered they were rather tasty I’m going to give it a go. Any food that can popularise the word bulgence has got to be worth cooking. Expect a report on the success or otherwise of a homemade Potteries Poppadum soon.
Leave a Reply