Cool Things to Do with Bannock

I was doing some research for an article on bannock when I came upon a comment that rubbed me the wrong way. There is always one obligatory bannock recipe in every Canadian cookbook, the author wrote, and they went on to insinuate the inclusion of bannock in the books was a sign that all Canadians had somehow appropriated Scottish heritage - most of us not legitimately.

Of the peoples who came to settle New World, many were Scottish. Canada is a country forged by the work of French, English, Scottish and Irish immigrants and by the First Nations who were here before the Europeans arrived. According to 2001 census data there are almost 4 million Canadians who identify as being of Scottish decent, and Scots represent the third largest ethnic group in our country.

That being the case, and because I have the great fortune to have children who are involved with the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada Cadet Corps, I'm going to ask my readers to indulge me if I deal a little bit with Scottish cuisine in this blog about Canadian cooking. Actually I think there are enough people with genuine Scottish heritage here, that it would be wrong to leave it out!

So I'm going to start with bannock, because that's where I was when I realized I needed to write about Scottish foods here too. A quick post this time, but I have written out a recipe and history of bannock, for those interested in more depth.

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Cool Things to Do with Bannock

1. Make Dumplings - Divide the dough into lots of small pieces, and roll into balls. Place carefully into a simmering pot of stew or thick soup. They cook mostly by steaming, so cover the pot! We did this with cock-a-leekie soup a few nights ago, and the dumplings were fabulous! It works just as well in a pot of chili (though there's nothing authentically Scottish or Canadian about that combination!)
2. Serve Like a Beaver Tail - Now this is a treat that definitely has a Canadian heritage! Bannock isn't made with yeast, but if you serve it with butter and a little cinnamon sugar you won't care about that. Yum!
3. Make Pizza - Again, not so traditional. But when I mentioned this possibility the other night, even the grownups cheered. Spoon a bit of pizza sauce onto a cooked bannock, and pile on the toppings and cheese. Place on a cookie sheet and bake a few minutes in a hot oven.
4. Teach a Math Lesson - There's a lot of great math involved in most kinds of cooking, but dividing a batch of bannock into even pieces is a great opportunity to teach your kids about fractions. Have them teach the lesson back to you when it's time to score the bannock before it's cooked!
5. Go Camping - Bannock is ideal for camping and survival situations. Cook it up on a flat rock next to the fire, wrap it in foil and bury it in the coals of your camp fire, or wrap it around a green stick and roast it over an open flame. If you're stuck inside during an emergency and have no electricity for cooking, bannock can be cooked up on a skillet over a fondu burner or out back on your BBQ or camp stove. It's nice to have a little comfort food when you're living in difficult conditions. Having supplies on hand to make bannock might just mean the difference between having bread and having none at all, if you are hit with a natural disaster that closes stores or makes the roads too dangerous to drive.
6. Give Bannock as a Gift - Make up a batch of complete bannock mix, put it in a jar, and pretty it up with a tartan ribbon. If you want to give a bigger gift, fill a basket with things from the Old Country. Scotch whiskey, haggis, tablet and shortbread com to mind, just for starters. Maybe you'd like to add a CD of bagpipe music - or something by Dougie MacLean perhaps - or tickets to the next Highland Games. you just can't go wrong!

My daughter leaves her hand print in ready to cook bannock

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