by Tim Billbrough
Inspiration
I am not much of an artist, poet or writer, but I do love to cook and to express my creativity through food. So I found, when my thoughts turned to the upcoming festival of Imbolc, that Awen hit me and asked what I would make for a special foodstuff to celebrate Imbolc with this year, I had to answer the call.
While, like much of the OBOD teachings, I am more a Revivalist than a Reconstructionist, I do believe that looking at our ancient ancestors and seeing what they would have done, and then reinterpreting it for our modern world is generally the way to go about my business and this is no different.
My starting point was to look back at the history of Imbolc and what it means, but also what our ancestors would have had available to them to celebrate with so deep into winter. Once I did so, the answer became obvious to me: Bannock.
What is Bannock?
This might seem like a silly thing to ask, but depending on where you are in the world, this answer varies wildly.
Originally, Bannock is a small oat cake native to ancient Scotland, but popular throughout the Celtic lands. Small and unleavened, they were cooked next to the fire on flat ‘Bannock stones’. It is thought that the cakes that King Alfred famously let burn were a type of Bannock.
However, Scottish fur traders in the new world, particularly in the country that would become Canada, mixed with the natives in the area and the outcome, through several generations, is a type of wheat dough, shallow fried in a pan, that is still called Bannock today and is strongly associated with the native nations of Canada.
What to make?
Being an American of almost straight Celtic descent in the New England region, I decided that the Bannock I would make would be a take on the original Scottish version from across the Atlantic rather than the fried version associated with the native nations in Canada. However, I didn’t want to just make Bannock and be done with it. I am making Bannock for a festival and felt that it had to be special and made with thought and care.
Because of this, I decided to break Bannock down into its essence and rebuild it for my own practice, that sort of revivalism based on reconstructionism I mentioned. I wanted to, as best I could, use only ingredients native to my homeland in New England or ingredients that I raised or grew myself and, when possible, both.
So what is the ‘essence of Bannock’? Well, it is a small cake made from easily stored grains, sometimes with dried fruit, items that would be stored back and readily available in winter, and cooked simply. I could work with that.
My Imbolc Bannock
Right off the bat, I knew that I wouldn’t use oats as the basis of my Bannock, despite that being traditional. Oats aren’t native to my area and I haven’t grown any. I do, however, have access to a local mill that mills types of heritage maize, or corn, which most certainly is. I selected a bright yellow and not too fine ground variety called Northstine Dent. I decided I also wanted to add some fruit to my Bannock just to give it something special and chose dried cranberries. These are both native to my area but also I grow them myself. The bushes grow wide and low and I place them between my 30” tall garden beds for weed control and harvest and dry the berries in autumn. I reconstituted them in some maple-flavored whiskey from a local distillery.
As a sweetener, I continued the maple theme and used maple syrup from my father’s farm not too far away that I and my brothers still help him collect and make every year. This is special not because it is another homemade and native ingredient, but also because Imbolc comes not too far before the Sugaring Season, when maple syrup is made in mid to late February.
For a wet ingredient I used buttermilk that I got from a local farm stand. It’s not a native ingredient nor did I raise it myself, so this is where I broke my rules, but at least it was local, and I wanted something richer than just water to add to my Bannock.
Finally, other than a bit of salt, which can be found everywhere, the final ingredient was a single chicken egg. Also not native to the area, but we do raise our own chickens, so this one fit my rules. I added the yolk to the rest of the ingredients but then whipped the egg white to stiff peaks. I sifted my dry ingredients and mixed my wets, except my egg whites, and then added the two together. Since there is no gluten in any of these ingredients I mixed quite thoroughly and then added the cranberries. Finally, I gently folded in the whipped egg white. Bannock is traditionally unleavened, but I was hoping that by borrowing this method from Angel Food cake, the egg white would still help my Bannock be fluffy and light.
I placed them into a cast iron mini cake pan I have and baked them in a hot oven for half an hour, eager to see what they would come out looking like.
The Finished Bannock
Once out of the oven and given time to cool, I was able to get them out of the pan, thanks to generous abouts of oil I used before putting the batter in, and let them cool.
They came out perfectly. Individually, they were a bright yellow little cake with occasional spots of red from the cranberries, looking like little suns or spots of firelight, perfect the Imbolc and the Return of the Light. Opening them up, they were still quite heavy, but the egg white did a fabulous job and they were not stodgy or dense. Warmed up with some butter they were quite delicious, a gritty, lightly sweet and maplely cornbread with pops of tart cranberry flavor. And best of all, it was the perfect marriage of a traditional Celtic food with local and/or home grown spirit and magic.
Conclusion
My interpretation of a food that would symbolize Imbolc for the festival was a corn and cranberry Bannock, using native or homegrown ingredients when I could. What would yours be?