Click here for the story of how the Lord’s throdkin came to be created.
Ingredients
- 12 oz Iberico streaky bacon, thick cut, from Lidgates (other varieties of thick cut bacon would do, I suppose)
- A dash of virgin olive oil (other oil would do, I suppose)
- A little fresh thyme (optional, but highly advisable)
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup brown or Demerara sugar
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ cups rolled oats
Method
Sauté bacon with a dash of virgin olive oil and a little fresh thyme until the bacon is well-browned but not frazzled. Add ¼ cup of the resulting bacon fat to the butter. Cut bacon into large-sultana-sized pieces and reserve.
Beat the butter/bacon fat, sugar and maple syrup in a mixing bowl until fluffy, ideally using a food mixer. Then gently mix in the egg.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Stir the flour mixture in with the butter mixture. Then gradually stir in the oats and bacon, roughly 1/3rd of a cup at a time. Then cover the dough and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 190 centigrade (375 Fahrenheit) and thoroughly grease some baking sheets.
Scoop about 1/3rd cup of dough per cookie, roll into balls and place the balls at least 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly, e.g. with a dampened fork.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then finish cooling on racks.
Sounds resistible
Or birthday treat for you?
This recipe is much appreciated ‘tho I would like to discover an absolutely authentic one ,possibly rescued from a Fylde Gt.Gt Grandma’s recipe ‘boook !’
Being a Fylde born ,bred and fed lass and also a ‘Baby Boomer ‘ I have searched for years to make the ‘Throdkin ‘ so frequently mentioned by my Dad .
Well done King Cricket for your attempt ,I’ll give it a ‘go ‘ but surely ‘maple syrup ‘ is a bit posh for Fylde Farmers’wives ?
Well this is Lord’s throdkin. Very much an ‘inspired by’ thing rather than an attempt at authenticity.
Wonderful question from Jennifer. I don’t suppose Fylde great-great-grandmothers sourced iberico bacon from Lidgates of Holland Park either.
I’ll try to help with your search for authenticity. My initial research, back in 2014, found only the most basic recipes for throdkin, as described in a rather useful, but more recent than 2014, Lancastrian history piece, as follows:
“…one old Lancashire Cookbook…simply lists the ingredients as 1lb course oatmeal, 6ozs lard and a pinch of salt. Serving suggestions are to eat hot or spread with golden syrup and eaten cold.”
Here is a link to that 2018 Blackpool Gazette piece.
https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/simple-dish-which-kept-the-folk-of-lancashire-on-the-go-181889
I do hope this helps and that you, Jennifer, find the authentic throdkin that you crave. Personally I feel obliged, at the moment, for health reasons, to abstain from all forms of throdkin. That, despite the fact that this question has made my mouth water and my soul ache for some of my Lord’s throdkin.