Ingredients
- 10 oz (280g) plain flour
- 4oz (113g) suet
- 5oz (140g) lard
- Half (0.5) oz (10g) dried yeast (or fresh)
- Half (0.5) oz (10g) teaspoon salt
- Milk to mix
High on the Haworth to Colne road, on the borders of West Yorkshire with Lancashire, stood an old inn: ‘The Herders Inn’. Like many pubs in Britain now, this one closed a few years ago and became increasingly derelict.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the inn was a half-way stopping off point for the cattle and sheep drovers who drove their livestock to market along this road. The drovers would start early in the morning and would stop for breakfast at the inn. A favourite with the drovers was the Herders’ Fattie Cakes, and the recipe was a closely guarded secret by the landlord for many years.
It is a delicious and substantial bread-scone, but made with ingredients that will make vegetarians shudder.
But the aroma of these straight from the oven …
Method
- Mix together the flour and salt, then rub in the lard. Stir in the suet.
- Put the yeast in a bowl with five tablespoons of warm milk and a little sugar (around half a teaspoon). Leave it in a warm place until it bubbles and froths.
- Pour yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well; add a little more milk to make a pliable dough.
- Put the dough onto a buttered dish, cover with a cloth and put in a warm place for 30 minutes to prove (rise a little).
- Divide the dough into five or six pieces, shape into rounds, place on a warm, greased tin. Cover and leave to prove again for 30 minutes.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes in a hot oven until golden in colour.
- Best served warm – delicious!
Source: Joan Poulson. Old Northern Recipes. (1975). Hendon Publishing Co. ISBN 0902907751
