Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 17/00) - Secret recipes may vary -- ice water, oil temperature, kneading techniques -- but all will yield similar results.

Bannock -- nothing more than flour and lard kneaded together with bare fingers, add water to moisten and even a little baking powder, if so desired.

The end result is a traditional bread that is either baked or fried, served warm or cold, in a house or on the land and often with tea.

And when four competitors got together outside of Nakasuk school last week as part of the Toonik Tyme Bannock Bake-off, the heat was on to see who could produce the best of the bread.

It didn't take long to figure out that Simon Nattaq was a seasoned bannock maker.

Pulling up on his snowmobile, qamutik in tow, Nattaq was prepared to take on the competition.

Flipping the qamutik on its side and sheltering his Coleman stove inside it, Nattaq set-up his makeshift kitchen.

"It only takes five minutes for everything, even tea," said Nattaq, as he served his wares to a crowd of fur-framed faces that later awarded him a second-place finish.

"I've been making it forever, my secret is to use ice water -- I always make bannock when I'm hunting."

Enough said.

Similarly, Joanna Aula, who has been making bannock for "at least 40 years," says when her kids are hungry she'll often make a batch of bannock as fast as she can.

"My secret is in the oil itself," she said, although she wouldn't reveal exactly what it was about the oil.

"Bannock is also good for campers."

Oddly enough, Aula, who finished in first place, says she doesn't really like to eat bannock, she just loves to make it.

And finishing in third with her near-perfect loaf of baked bannock was Rosie Ellsworth.

"Baking bannock isn't really faster, but you don't have to be tending to it all of the time like when you are frying," she said.

"It takes between 10 and 15 minutes on each side of the loaf."

Honourary mention was given to the fourth competitor, Oolootie Cormier, by the on-lookers who were then given the difficult, yet delectable, task of taste-testing each baker's bannock -- washing it down with a cup of hot tea in the cold afternoon wind.