It was no small surprise to find how much art there is in doing it.
At first I thought I could teach the men a lot of things about
cooking bannocks, but it was not long before I began to suspect
that I had something to learn. They were made simply with the
flour, salt, baking-powder and water, but without any shortening.
This made them tough, but they carried better so. As George said:
"You can throw them round, or sit on them, or jump on them, and
they are just as good after you have done it as before."
In cooking them a piece of the dough is taken and worked into a
round lump, which is pressed flat into a frying-pan. It is then
placed before the fire till the upper side of the bannock is
slightly browned, when it is turned and replaced till the other
side is browned. As soon as the bannock is stiff enough to stand
on its edge it is taken out of the pan to make room for more, and
placed before a rock near the fire, or on a pair of forked sticks
until it has had time, as nearly as can be calculated, to cook
halfway through. Then it is turned again and allowed to cook from
the other side. In this process the possibilities in the way of
burning hands and face, and of dropping the bannocks into the fire
and ashes are great.
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