Bannock

Bannock is a staple of Inuit cooking (now there's an oxymoron!). Borrowed from Scots fur traders, it is an essential complement to tea and is ideal for a high-energy nibble. It tastes a bit like a scone, but with a heavy smack of lardy goodness.

It is also one of the simplest of recipes, consisting of flour, baking powder, lard, water and salt.

The trick is in the cooking. In northern Quebec, most bannock is heated in a frying pan on top the stove or baked in a frying pan in the oven. A "cake" is made about an inch thick and the diameter of the pan. The heat has to be just right or else you'll burn the exterior and have an uncooked centre.

Its popularity isn't just due to its simplicity and taste: it is just as easy to make in camp or outdoors on a Coleman stove (naptha, not the newfangled propane abominations) as at home. Moreover, it is high in carbohydrates, something you'll much appreciate when outside at -30º C. Speaking of which, being dryish it doesn't freeze solid, so it's easy to bite off a mouthful without fear of cracking a tooth even when it has been packed on a sled for a couple of days.

The ultimate high-carb bannock is inuluyaak* made primarily in the Hudson Bay communities of Puvirnituq and Inukjuak. Same ingredients but deep fried in melted lard. Definitely not for those of us watching our waistlines, but incredibly tasty and filling.

When I first moved north, I asked a woman for a recipe to make bannock. She laughed and said she'd show me, since it's one of those foods whose ingredients are eyeballed rather than measured. Just don't forget the salt.