What is Bannock?

wreeder

RGS Railfan
I've been watching a YouTube channel called Kent Survival which is a camping channel in the Kent area of England. It is interesting because he does a lot of cooking over the campfire. One of the items he makes is a bread called bannock. I've never heard of it before and I want to try and make it but I'm finding recipes that are all different. Most describe frying it but he is baking it near the fire but not over it. Also, he adds stuff like nuts and raisins to the dough. Does anyone have a favorite way of making it?

William
 
Thank you very much. That is a wonderful website. Seeing buttermilk used started me thinking about how many baked goods my mother made using buttermilk. Biscuits, pancakes and fried cornbread cakes are the ones I remember the most.

William
 
William,
Here's another odd name for you to ponder - "pigs in blankets". My daughter's partner requested them for a Christmas lunch. I'm told its an old Brit Christmas tradition but I confess I hadn't heard of them until today.
 
Now those are familiar to me here in the states although here they are largely considered a food for children when made with a full size hot dog or finger food for parties. It is interesting that it made it this far but not to Australia. The popular cheat is to get a ready to bake crescent roll dough package made by Pillsbury and cut each triangle of dough in half to make two triangles and use what are called cocktail wieners which are half length sausages.

https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/m...sP2Iexueg9fVsC8O8rqeMTvceAxmD4jRoCWZEQAvD_BwE

For those that might be interested, I did make a bannock using the recipe that Stationbeem provided. It turned out pretty good but I did burn the bottom a bit.

William

PS, Now that I think about it I wonder if America only knows about pigs in a blanket as the result of advertising done by Pillsbury to increase sales. Even though my mother made almost everything from scratch in the 60s, I never saw her make dough of any kind. All the baked goodies were all pre-made and ready to bake.
 
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I only know of Pigs in a Blanket from a Denny's restaurant menu going back at least 40 years. It was there next to "Eggs over My Hammy". I'll have to see if there's a Dennys around here somewhere. I wonder if they still do the 2 dollar Grand Slam breakfast.
 
In the UK, a pig in blanket is a chipolata sausage wrapped in bacon and accompanies the Christmas Day turkey.
I shall have one on Chistmas Day.

Ray
 
Hi Ray, thanks. That makes it even more interesting that the same name is applied to a different item here. Now would that be "streaky" bacon or the larger and more lean bacon found on a Big English? By the way, I had a couple of locally produced pork sausages for lunch today. They were very good with some HP brown sauce.

William
 
I think, IIRC.............that Pigs in a Blanket......at least from Dennys here in the US , are sausages wrapped up in a pancake.
 
Thanks, Jim. It seems like there are lots of ways to keep those little piggies warm. I have this memory floating on the edge of my mind of seeing a TV show once where the lady was making cornbread muffins and she poked a cocktail sausage into the center of the batter before baking. I don't remember her referring to them by name though.

William
 
Hey, that sounds pretty good ! Kind of like a mini corn-dog with a sausage inside instead of a hotdog.
Alabama .....the great state of the Tennessee River , the Shoals, Tuberville and great cooking !
 
Yep, don't forget the accent. Here is a funny story for you. We were in Melbourne, Australia in 2015 and as we were coming back from a long day trip we decided to stop at a KFC restaurant. So I was looking at the menu to see what was unique to the Australian version of KFC. I asked the young man behind the counter a question but he couldn't understand my accent. My friend who is from Montana translated for him but then I couldn't understand his answer due to his accent so she had to translate for me. We finally got it straight but it had all of us laughing.

William
 
Don't think KFC have changed their basic menu much since the 70's but, to their credit, MacDonalds have. We've had various versions of "Aussie" like burgers for years. They also have a decent coffee (latte/flat white/cuppertino) and muffins section that I heard has been picked up by other countries.

But your story reminds of me of when I went to London (UK) for work in 2000 and since I was alone one night I opted for a MacDonalds meal. The girl serving was not English (Scandinavian maybe) and I eventually gave up trying to order a quarter pounder with fries and eventually ordered a "number 4 meal deal" which she did understand. I was born in London but my acquired Aussie accent was obvious too much for her.

BTW, my daughter's partner did get his "pigs in blankets" for Christmas since she and her sister couldn't travel down the highway for Christmas due to a covid outbreak in Sydney.
 
Sorry to hear that the family couldn't be together. I hope that there can be some sort of spring get together for everyone that couldn't be together at Christmas.

William
 
Yes, William, streaky bacon. I made mine with smoked streaky curled round the full length of the sausage, 25 minutes at 180 degrees C. We also in the UK have bread sauce with turkey - is that usual elsewhere?

Ray
 
Hmmm, bread sauce? I have learned that "sauce" can mean many thing is UK food terms. In the States, turkey is often served with what is called "dressing or stuffing" which can be made with either a bread base or particularly in the South with cornbread. A good amount of broth or stock is added to make the base very moist then herbs and vegetables are also mixed in. It seems like every family has a slightly different recipe. Tradition was that the mixture was then placed inside the bird to cook but health concerns have persuaded many to cook it separately. The turkey and the stuffing are served with a giblet gravy which is a light brown or tan color. The perfect cornbread dressing is firm but moist to the taste. I think stuffing might be less firm and but still moist but I'm no expert there as I have always had cornbread dressing.

I must confess that one of my great weaknesses is cornbread dressing with sage.

Here is a recipe that closely matches what I grew up eating. The amount of sage here is what a Southerner would like but it may be too much if you seldom eat sage. Try cutting that amount down.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/19547/grandmas-corn-bread-dressing/

William
 
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'Pigs in blankets'? Crikey, I've just remembered that I've got 24 in the freezer and forgot to take them out over Christmas! :eek: I'd better get them defrosted for New Year..... :hehe:

Paul
 
Hmmm, bread sauce? I have learned that "sauce" can mean many thing is UK food terms. In the States, turkey is often served with what is called "dressing or stuffing" which can be made with either a bread base or particularly in the South with cornbread. A good amount of broth or stock is added to make the base very moist then herbs and vegetables are also mixed in. It seems like every family has a slightly different recipe. Tradition was that the mixture was then placed inside the bird to cook but health concerns have persuaded many to cook it separately. The turkey and the stuffing are served with a giblet gravy which is a light brown or tan color. The perfect cornbread dressing is firm but moist to the taste. I think stuffing might be less firm and but still moist but I'm no expert there as I have always had cornbread dressing.

I must confess that one of my great weaknesses is cornbread dressing with sage.

Here is a recipe that closely matches what I grew up eating. The amount of sage here is what a Southerner would like but it may be too much if you seldom eat sage. Try cutting that amount down.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/19547/grandmas-corn-bread-dressing/

William

Ah! The sage and onion stuffing: https://www.onlinepoundstore.co.uk/product/paxo-sage-onion-stuffing-mix-170g/

Can be rolled into balls! Christmas dinner would be 'stuffed' without it!

Rob.
 
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