Corsie Orkney Oatcakes

This is a tradition Orcadian family recipe for oatcakes from my Great Uncle Thomas Corsie and his wife Mary. These are absolutely fabulous served with butter and cheese and pickle or with butter and rhubarb and ginger jam

Ingredients
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup melted shortening
3/4 cup luke warm water

Method
1 Mix dry ingredients.
2 Add the melted shortening and water.
3 Roll out very thin, cut like cookies or cut 8" circles in quarters.
4 Bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees farenheit (200 degrees centigrade/gas mark 6 for 15 to 20 minutes.
5 Cool on the baking tray on a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight tin.

Clanger

This traditional recipe is both savoury and sweet (the savoury filling is at one end of the clanger and the sweet at the other), which was made for farm labourers especially at harvest time. It comes from the county of Befordshire in England.

Ingredients

Savoury Filling
1 large finely chopped onion
1 heaped teaspoon of mixed herbs
8oz minced pork
1 peeled, cored and diced cooking apple
1 - 2 tablespoons oil
salt
pepper

Sweet Filling
2 peeled, cored and diced eating apples
grated rind and juice of 1 large orange
1oz granulated sugar
4oz any dried fruit

Pastry
12oz suet pastry

Method

Savoury Filling
1 Heat a frying pan on the hob.
2 Pour in 1 tablespoon of oil.
3 Add the onions and cook until softened.
4 Add the minced pork and herbs, cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes.
5 Add the apple and continue to cook until the meat is browned.
6 Season to taste.
7 Remove the frying pan from the heat and allow to cool completely.

Sweet Filling
1 In a large mixing bowl, mix together all of the ingredients and set aside.

To Make Up
1 Roll the pastry out into 2 x 10" circles on a floured surface.
2 Cut 2 x 10" strips from the left over pastry.
3 Brush the outside of the circle of pastry with water.
4 Brush a line down the centre of the pastry.
5 Attach a strip of pastry down the centre of the pastry.
6 Put half of the cold pork filling into 1 half of each pastry circle.
7 Put half of the apple filling into the other half of the pastry circle.
8 Fold the pastry over the two fillings and seal the edges thoroughly.
9 Sprinkle 2 muslin cloths or clean tea towels with flour.
10 Place a clanger on each of them in the centre.
11 Tie up each clanger with string, leaving air space for expansion.
12 Place the clangers into a saucepan of boiling water and place on the lid.
13 Boil for 1 hour.
14 Remove the clangers from the saucepan and place on a baking tray.
15 Place in a cool oven and allow the clanger to dry.

Serves 2 people.

Sussex Blanket Pudding

A traditional savoury or sweet pudding from the county of Sussex in England.

Ingredients
12 oz flour
a little pepper
a little salt
2 large beaten eggs
12 oz suet
8 oz breadcrumbs
a little milk

Fillings (choose one)
savoury
minced liver and bacon with parsley and onion
sausage meat
chopped cold roasted meats

sweet
jam
golden syrup
sweet mincemeat
chopped apples, little dots of butter and granulated sugar to taste
marmalade
chopped mixed peel, dried fruits and granulated sugar

Method
1 Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl.
2 Add the remaining dry ingredients.
3 Mix together well, make a well.
4 Fold in the eggs.
5 Make into a light dough with a little milk if necessary.
6 Roll out onto a floured board with a floured rolling pin.
7 Spread on one of the fillings over the dough leaving a 1 inch gap all around.
8 Dampen the edges with water.
9 Roll up and seal the edge swell.
10 Carefully transfer onto a floured cloth or aluminium foil.
11 Boil for 3 hours.

Serves 6 to 8 people

Corsie Orkney Drop Scones

Another recipe from my Uncle Thomas Corsie and his wife Mary.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
buttermilk

Method
1 Mix the dry ingredients.
2 Add buttermilk until the mixture is the consistency of powder biscuits.
3 Bake on a griddle on top of the stove until light brown on both side.
4 Place on a dampened tea towel placed on a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container or can be frozen for about a month.

Oatmeal Sausages

This is an old scottish recipe, it is ideal for using up little scrappy bits of chicken.

Ingredients
1oz butter
1 finely chopped onion
2 diced rashers streaky bacon
1/2 pint water
4oz oatmeal
salt
pepper
8oz chicken scraps
1 - 2 tablespoons plain flour
1 small beaten egg
3oz fresh white breadcrumbs
vegetable oil

Method
1 Heat a frying pan on the hob.
2 Place all of the butter in the pan and melt.
3 Add the onion and bacon and cook until the onion is just soft.
4 Add the water, bring to the boil.
5 Sprinkle the oatmeal into the pan, stir well.
6 Cover and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
7 Add the salt and pepper to taste, mix thoroughly.
8 Remove from the hob and allow to cool completely.
9 Add the chicken to the oatmeal mixture and mix thoroughly.
10 Divide the mixture into 6 or 8 portions.
11 Roll each portion into a sausage shape.
12 Coat each sausauge in the flour and shake off the excess.
13 Dip the sausage into the beaten egg.
14 Roll the the sausage in the breadcrumbs and shake off the excess.
15 Repeat stages 12 to 14 with each sausage.
16 Heat a frying pan on the hob.
17 Add a little vegetable oil.
18 Fry each sausage on all sides.
19 Drain each sausage.
20 Serve immediately with potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Serves 4 people

Twice Laid Codfish

This is an old recipe from the county of Kent in England.

Ingredients
codfish
little milk
salt and pepper
a little fat
cold mashed potatoes
1 beaten egg

Method
1 Flake the codfish.
2 Mix in twice as much mashed potatoes.
3 Add a little milk.
4 Season with salt and pepper.
5 Make into balls.
6 Dip into the egg.
7 Roll in breadcrumbs.
8 Fry in fat until brown.

Serve immediately.

Corsie Orkney Shortbread

While researching my family history I came accross a newspaper article from the 1950's from an American newspaper. There was an article and a photograph of my great uncle Thomas Corsie and his wife Mary. Included in this article was a recipe for shortbread. This now is the only shortbread that I will eat.

Ingredients
1 lb butter
1/2 lb sugar
2 lbs flour
2 eggs (optional)

Method
1 Rub butter and flour as for pie crust on a table or workbench.
2 Make a well in the centre.
3 Mix eggs and sugar together in the well.
4 Mix all the ingredients and continue rubbing on the board until the mixture forms one solid piece.
5 The dough can be made into cookies or cakes.
6 Bake in the oven at 350 degrees farenheit (180 degrees centigrade/gas mark 4) for 35 minutes or until golden brown.
7 Cool in the tin on a wire rack.
8 While still warm mark into sections.

Makes 4 round biscuits 8" in diameter, 1" thick.

Store in an airtight tin.