Talk:Oatcake

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[edit] N. Staffs oatcakes more well known

Prior to this article, I was unaware of the existance of Scottish oatcakes. I have seen North Staffordshire oatcakes sold everywhere, from Cornwall to Rhyl and I know of some people in Scotland who claim to have seen North Staffs. Most people I speak to from outside Stoke-on-Trent have no knowledge of the Scottish oatcake either, but have are aware of the North Staffs one. User:MysticalDescent


This article is misleading as it stands, as Scottish oatcakes are far better known. Bovlb 04:22, 2005 Jan 12 (UTC)

I'm going to rectify that. I'm removing the recipe, which is simply copied from the Wikibooks recipe (which is linked to). As well, Scottish Oatcakes are better known, and the article should reflect this. Canaen 00:59, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] North Staffs Oatcake

an oakcake is definately not a type of pancake. The north staffs oatcake is the true form of the 'oakcake'. (Unsigned comment by anonymous reader moved here from the article.)


Just a thought - the Staffs oatcake is not really a delicacy; more a staple food Alsager boy 12:26, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] N Staffs?

At the risk of annoying Staffordshire readers, I really think the section dealing with Scottish oatcakes should come first, since they're widely available and known in other parts of the UK, whereas the N Staffs version seems to be very much a local speciality. I'm also inclined to remove the sentence saying the recipe "is a secret", since (without any further qualification) that's clearly not the case: see here for example. I'm sure individual bakers have their own secret recipes, but that applies to any number of foods and is not a remarkable feature of the N Staffs oatcake. Loganberry (Talk) 00:48, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't care which comes first, but I would like to point out that North Staffordshire oatcakes are available from Sainsbury's in Waterloo Road, London SE1 (and probably other branches too), so they're no longer just a local speciality. Charivari 07:00, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Im a stoke lad, and eat oatcakes for breakfast, dinner and tea. As do most of my friends. On our last college trip the hostel we were staying in got us oatcakes, yes you can get them anwhere. Only the thing is guess where they were sent from :P I know lads in sweden and many other countries all over the world that have oatcakes delivered to them from stoke. Just because you can get olives in sainsburys dont make them not from Italy or whatever :D For some real info on oatcakes (and unfortunately portvale visit www.oatcakes.net) I eat there oatcakes!

Well, just about anything's available in London if you know where to look, whether it's a local speciality or not, so that doesn't really mean anything. Now if North Staffs oatcakes were available in Medicine Hat that would be different... -- Derek Ross | Talk 15:26, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
I've put the Scottish section first, again. A national staple is bound to be more significant than a local delicacy. One of these days I'll find a decent image for real Scots Oatcakes. Staffs oatcakes aren't known outside of the UK, save for expatriots and the like, whereas Scottish Oatcakes, especially those marketed by Walkers, are widely known here. Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 08:57, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

How about splitting the article, then the question of which should come first wouldn't arise. The two types are sufficiently different that separate articles would make sense. Charivari 01:52, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Newbie question

A California "Suncake" Oatcake with Cranberries.
A California "Suncake" Oatcake with Cranberries.

Hi...I am looking for info on the California Oatcakes you find in the cafes of San Francisco and many other areas. They are similar to a hockey puck shape and are dense. I believe they have dates in them as well. It's been 15 years since I had one, and I live on the East Coast, so looking to see if anyone is familiar with these cakes and how they're made.

Hi newbie. I'm from California, and I know what you're talking about! I have one in my backpack right now, actually. They're much, much thicker than Scottish oatcakes, about an inch or two high, and maybe 3-4 across. Filled with fruits, nuts, what have you. Commercially available, particularly under the name of Suncakes. Perhaps mention of these should be made in the article, somewhere. I might be able to get an image for them. Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 08:59, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
Sounds like a round date slice (we don't have an article on date slices yet ?) to me. A picture would definitely be in order to clear this up. -- Derek Ross | Talk 15:32, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
Pretty much. The one I've got in front of me right now is called a California Suncake, it's about 2 & 1/2 inches wide (diameter), and about an inch high/tall. It's quite a bit more oaty than the date slices you've linked to, but essentially the same. I've included a poor-quality picture here, but ce la vie, eh? Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 04:18, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

So, how can we classify something like this? I'd put forth biscuit, but I'm thinking I just have a fondness for the term. Small cake? Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 04:30, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Crackers / Pancake or Cracker?

For the British view on crackers see http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/index.php3 which should leave you in no doubt that Scottish oatcakes are crackers whichever side of the Atlantic you live on. -- Derek Ross | Talk

A thicker-than-average oatcake could scarce be called a cracker. I think that biscuit is probably the best term for desrcibing Oatcakes. However, we should try to be encompassing here. Obviously, the North Staffs. style is neither cracker nor biscuit. Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 01:52, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
Well even a thick oatcake is rarely more than 1/4 of an inch thick and I'd have no objection to classifying an oatcake as biscuit if it weren't for the ambiguous meaning of "biscuit" but I see what you mean about the North Staffs variety of oatcake. It is rather different. -- Derek Ross | Talk 05:03, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

So I know what a nice real Scots Oatcake is like, and it quite resembles a cracker. However, its make-up is that of a pancake. Not in the flapjack sense that Americans would think of, but in the sense that an Oatcake is a cake of oats, cooked in a pan, or on a skillet. Thus, pancake, which is how that is meant. Just because Scots (rightly, I might add) refrain from adding yeast, or other things which would liven up the cake, does not make it any less of a pancake. Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 01:44, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

That makes senes, although as an Englishman, I think of oatcakes as a type of food in their own right, not as a subset of anything else. I certainly wouldn't use any of the terms cracker, pancake or flapjack to describe one in everyday speech. (Of course, a UK flapjack is a very different animal from a US flapjack anyway!) Loganberry (Talk) 01:48, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
Canaen, the trouble is that when we say pancake, people think large, soft, floppy disc, no matter which country they live in. While you are technically correct about the manner of preparation being the same as that of a pancake (or a drop bannock or a girdle scone for that matter) you have to agree that the end product is totally different, so describing them as a pancake is misleading to people who don't know what they're like. And despite the widespread availability of Walker's and Nairn's oatcakes in North America there are still a large number of people who don't know what they're like. For these people it's far more useful to describe an oatcake as a cracker than as a pancake. Even describing it as a biscuit isn't that helpful since people may then think you mean a scone-type US biscuit rather than a cracker-type UK biscuit. Loganberry is right that we don't normally think of an oatcake as a kind of cracker in the UK. It's just that if you have to classify it, then that's what it most closely resembles both in its savoury brittleness and in the use to which it is normally put (it is the finest accompaniment to cheese). That's why I wanted to say cracker rather than pancake in the article. -- Derek Ross | Talk 04:52, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
Alright then. I can accept cracker here. Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 04:24, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

The oatcake is not a cake at all really Not a cake in that way More of a Potteries Poppadom A sort of Tunstall Tortilla A clay Suzette

                     Arthur Berry

Hmmm. I've just thought. Oatcakes are barbecue food. By which I mean they would be dead easy to make on the barbecue when I'm cooking other stuff. Time for an experiment tomorrow! -- Derek Ross | Talk 05:07, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Ooo... nifty. Shall we enjoy a report? Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 04:21, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Irish Oatcakes

Unsurprisingly given the shared cultural background and similar environment of Ireland and Scotland, oatcakes are pretty common in Ireland and are virtually indistinguishable from scottish oatcakes (Staffs. ones are unknown, sorry guys...). Not sure it's worth mentioning -anyway here's a trivially googled example - as it's for export, they're called "Irish oatcakes" rather than just "oatcakes" as an Irish or Scots person would say: http://www.irishgourmet.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/22_23/products_id/177 Worthy of inclusion in-page? Meh. 83.70.219.237 17:46, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

I think we might just change "Scottish oatcake" to "Oatcake" or something. Thanks for point this out! It doesn't really need a separate section, just an inclusion, I think. It's the same thing as the Scottish kind, the Irish were just lucky because once in awhile they could get something besides oats to grow in their soil. ; ) Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png Canæn Image:Icons-flag-scotland.png 05:27, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 19-oatcake

What does the expression "19-oatcake" mean? Pimlottc 13:02, 19 July 2007 (UTC)