Doing porridge
April 23rd 2007 21:42
Doing Porridge:
More one pot cooking skills! I don’t profess to be an expert on porridge but I do cook it a lot and I do like to eat it. Ever since I can remember it has featured as a breakfast cereal in our house and on occasion as a sweet after dinner. Two types of porridge my mum cooks and I just can’t copy her. Firstly the supermarkets don’t seem to stock her types and secondly I have no idea what they are called. I do however get comfortable with the good old Quakers Oats through to the Black and Gold cheap brand. I cook it quickly if it is the one minute brand or slowly and lovingly if it is the other.
These days there are pre sweetened, pre fruited with dry fruits and sugars. Just add milk and water and cook. I like my morning porridge with milk, honey and chopped banana and as an extra treat with a good knob of butter. I have stirred in jams, brown sugar, maple syrup, white sugar and butter milk as well as cream when I am feeling really decadent.
Doing porridge was a term for doing a jail term as porridge was the staple meal in prisons. Easy to cook and serve, high in energy and cheap! Did you know that porridge was a staple on early expeditionary boats. The Vikings were known to keep a pot on their on board stove. It was the staple meal with not much more than salt and water added. It stuck to the guts and gave a man energy to pull an oar or swing a sword.
On board I have tried to do porridge as a main meal with a modicum of success. I can see how it is easily prepared in advance and can be served at sea either hot or cold and for me anyhow easy to keep down. I have chopped in bacon and onion to flavour it. Remember that porridge is first cooked with a good taste of salt and only then sweetened for breakfast so why not just continue with the savoury things. I am sure it could take salt herring and chicken pieces. I have used canned corn, canned peas and spam. It is a very good solid meal that sticks to your belly and doesn’t leave you hungry within a few hours. It doesn’t sound like a gourmet meal but it can be satisfying and even delicious. Light to carry, easy to prepare in one pot with the least amount of skill needed.
In Estonia in the old days, women who had just given birth were presented with a picnic basket, covered in a tea towel and in a bowl wrapped by the towel was a large serve of porridge with a cup of thick cream poured over it and a small hollow dug in the middle. This was filled with hot pork fat or dripping! Wow, imagine presenting this to your wife after all her hard work giving birth to your children?
Maybe you have some unusual porridg
e recipes or stories you would like to share.
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