Baking

When I heard from my friend Maggie about her mother-in-law’s memories of time spent with family on Great Bernera, an island off the west coast of Lewis, linked to the mainland by a bridge constructed in 1953, I was intrigued. Not so much by the simple foods they cooked - broth, home-made jams, fish such as mackerel or ling and homemade crowdie cheese - but it was the baking that fascinated me. Maggie’s husband’s granny and aunties used only their hands to bake. Whether it was cakes or scones, no wooden spoon would be used; only their hands. Alistair’s Auntie Nessie’s Lancashire Nuts (similar to custard creams) and Auntie Morag’s cakes were legendary - and all prepared only by hand.