Porridge
Porridge
Introduction
Porridge
& Oatmeal Thesaurus
Recipes
Porridge
Recipes
Traditional Oatmeal Recipes
Modern Oatmeal Recipes
Reader Submitted Oatmeal Recipes
Porridge … "Chief of Scotia's Food' as Rabbie Burns described it - accompanied by a bowl of creamy milk has sustained generations of hardy Scots at home and abroad.
Traditions and myth surround the making of porridge, some say the oatmeal was to be added in batches, some say at the beginning and some say it ought to be added half way through the cooking to produce a nuttier flavour and interesting texture.
Some say porridge should only be stirred in a clock wise direction using the right hand so you don't evoke the 'Devil'. The stirring is done with a straight wooden spoon /stick without a moulded or flat end and known is Scotland as a 'Spurtle' or 'Theevil'. Porridge should always be spoken of as 'they' and old custom states that it should be eaten standing up. A bone spoon should always be used for eating porridge.
Porridge has various names in the different parts of Scotland:
Some say that porridge should be allowed to stand and than be re-heated, others say that it should be made the day before it is to be eaten.
In older times a 'porridge drawer' in crofters kitchens dressers was filled with fresh cooked porridge and when cold was cut into squares for the crofter to take onto the hills for sustenance. [Maybe the origin of the snack lies here and 'snacking was a Scottish invention as well].
There is a misapprehension that porridge made from meal takes a long time to cook, but be assured it takes only as long as it takes to set the breakfast table.
There is nothing easier and healthier than a bowl of porridge a day - especially in these days of cholesterol reduced diets of modern life and well, Porridge is a great provider of fibre as well.
Scottish National Dictionary Association (SNDA) have kindly allowed us to use extracts from 'The Scots Thesaurus'. ISBN 1-902930-03-7. Follow the above link and select 'Introducing Scots' for a brief history of the Scots language. The following all relate to oatmeal and porridge making:
| ait, oat: ~s oats. aiten oaten. |
| Athole brose honey or meal mixed with whisky chiefly Highland. |
| † blanter food made from oats, eg bread, porridge. |
| blenshaw a drink made of oatmeal, sugar, milk, water and nutmeg. |
| brat the thick(er) surface on a liquid etc, eg curdled cream on milk, skin on porridge. |
| brochan thick or thin gruel (with butter, honey etc); sometimes (especially Arygll, Ulster) porridge. |
| brose a dish of oat- or pease-meal mixed with boiling water or milk, with salt and butter etc added. |
| cauld steer(ie) oatmeal stirred in cold water (or sour milk), cold brose now North-Perth. |
| crackins a dish of fried oatmeal now North-East. |
| crannachan, cream crowdie a desert of soft fruit, whipped cream, toasted oatmeal etc. |
| creeshie mealie oatmeal fried in fat West Angus. |
| crowdie, † ~-mowdie oatmeal and water mixed and eaten raw. |
| deochray a kind of sowans chiefly Caithness. |
| drammlicks the small pieces of oatmeal dough which stick to the basin when making oatcakes now Aberdeen. |
| drammock a mixture of raw oatmeal and cold water local Aberdeen-Kirkcudbright. |
| foorach buttermilk, whipped cream or whey with oatmeal stirred in Banff, Aberdeen. |
| froh milk a mixture of cream and whey beaten up and sprinkled with oatmeal North-East, Angus. |
| girsle a fragment of crisp or caked porridge etc. |
| girnel, garnel, † girner a storage chest for meal etc. |
| † graddan a coarse oatmeal made from parched grain ground by hand. |
| grits oat kernels, grain. |
| gruel 1 gruel; porridge. 2 food made of oatmeal; food in general, now Shetland, Orkney. |
| grunds, grounds a kind of sowans. |
| hasty brose a kind of quickly-made brose North-East. |
| kail brose: brose made with the liquid from boiled kail now North Perth, Ayr. |
| kill, kiln: jocular ~ cast the quantity of oats taken to the mill at one time to be ground into meal, for household use, usually enough to produce four bolls now Wigtown. |
| lithocks a kind of gruel made from fine oatmeal and frequently buttermilk now Stirling, West Lothian, West Central. |
| luggie a small wooden bowl etc with one or two handles formed from projecting staves, frequently used for serving milk with porridge now local North-Roxburgh. |
| meal, male oatmeal as distinct from other kinds, which have defining terms. |
| meal an ale the traditional dish (also containing whisky) at harvest-home celebrations; also the celebration itself North-East-Perth. |
| † meal an thrammel meal stirred up with water or ale, taken as a snack North-East. |
| neep brose: brose made with the liquid in which turnips have been boiled chiefly North-East, Ulster. |
| nettle brose: brose made with the juice of boiled young nettle-tops North-East. |
| † pap-in a drink made of light ale and oatmeal with a small quantity of whisky or brandy. |
| pease, pizz pease. peasie made of or like ~-meal. ~-brose, ~ pistils a dish made of ~-meal and boiling water stirred to a paste. † ~-kill a quantity of peas roasted as in (originally in) a kiln. ~-meal a flour made of ground pease. |
| parritch, porridge, poshie child's word noun, formerly frequently treated as a plural porridge, the dish of oatmeal (or rolled oats) boiled in salted water. |
| pot stick a stick for stirring porridge etc in cooking, a spurtle now South-West, Ulster. |
| pottage formerly frequently treated as a plural oatmeal porridge now North-East. milk ~ porridge made with milk instead of water now North-East. |
| † purry a savoury dish consisting of oatmeal brose with chopped kail stirred into it. |
| skink a kind of thin, oatmeal-and-water gruel. |
| skirlie, skirl-in-the-pan now Caithness, West Angus, Perth a dish of oatmeal and onions fried in a pan. |
| snap & rattle toasted oatcakes crumbled in milk North-East. |
| sowans a dish made from oat husks and fine meal steeped in water for about a week; after straining, the liquor was again left to ferment and separate, the solid matter at the bottom being the sowans, the liquor swats, usually eaten like porridge, boiled with water and salt. sowan seeds the rough husks of oats used in making sowans now Caithness, North-East. sowan-swats the liquid poured off sowans now Shetland, Orkney, Caithness drinking ~ now North-East, knotting ~ North-East the liquor left after straining sowans but before fermenting, usually thickened a little by heating. |
| sowce a (messy) mixture of food, specifically some oatmeal dish such as porridge now Caithness. |
| spurtle, spurkle Northern, Central 1 a long-handled, flat-bladed implement for turning oatcakes, scones etc now West Angus, Perth. 2 a short tapering stick for stirring porridge, soup etc General but rare in Angus. |
| stourie now Orkney, stoorack Northern, stoorin North-East, West Angus, ~ ie drink now West Angus, Perth a kind of liquid fine-oatmeal gruel. |
| tartan purry a dish of boiled oatmeal mixed with chopped red cabbage or boiled with cabbage water. |
| theevil now local North-Dumfries, theedle now local Caithness-Fife a short tapering stick used to stir food as it cooks, a spurtle. |
| turning tree a wooden stick for stirring now Shetland. |
| wangrace a kind of thin gruel sweetened with fresh butter and honey etc, and given to invalids. |
| water broo now Fife, Lothian, water brose now Northern oatmeal mixed with boiling water. |
| † Obsolete words. If you come across any words or meanings marked obsolete which you know to be still used in some part of the country, please let the Scottish National Dictionary Association know. |
| The above
definitions are © 2001, Scottish National Dictionary Association Limited. Reproduced by kind permission. |
The following recipes are divided into 'Porridge Recipes', 'Traditional Oatmeal Recipes' and 'Modern Oatmeal Recipes'. If you wish to submit a recipe or comment on any below, please email Roy Brown. Enjoy!
Key: M contains meat; V vegetarian, Vn vegan.
Porridge - V
Recipe: Duncan Hilditch, Chef/Proprietor of the Ecclefechan Bistro, Carrbridge. Current World Porridge Making Champion.
Take one cup of oatmeal and put into a saucepan with four cups of cold water. Stir gently over a medium heat until it reaches simmering point, lower the heat and continue to stir - to avoid any lumps - for five minutes. Add half a teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of sugar, and half a cup of buttermilk or cream. Give a final good stir and serve in a warm bowl.
Duncan's ideal way to enjoy porridge... Wait for a grey, cold day in winter. Sit down with your porridge, sprinkle with some soft brown sugar, drizzle some double cream round it, put on a Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain tape and eat your porridge. For a short time at least you'll think that you're in heaven!
Porridge - V
Recipe: Scott Chance, Chef/Proprietor
of the Harbour Inn, Bowmore, Islay
World Porridge Making Champion 1998/1999.
4oz Oatmeal
5 fl oz milk
1 pint boiling water
1 level teaspoon of salt
Mix oatmeal and milk together to form a paste, then add the boiling water. Heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in salt and serve.
Porridge in microwave - V
Recipe: Douglas Cassidy
- email contribution.
As a Scotsman this is probably sacrileges but here is what I do of a morning
. .
Half cup of oats. . . cup of water . . dod of SALT . .into a Pyrex bowl. . into
the MICROWAVE . . set for three minutes . .go to the lavvy . . wash 'n' brush
up . . . stir porridge . . pour into bowl. . . add milk . . put on table . .
turn on news programme . . eat!
2004 Winning Speciality Porridge Recipe:
'Porridge Supreme' by Lynn Benge
Ingredients: 1 eating apple sliced and diced. Microwave with few drops of lemon juice & 1 tablespoon vanilla vodka for 1.45 mins; ½ lb of Raspberries with 3 tablespoons sweetener (mix together, stand until required); ½ cup of oatmeal; 3 equal cups of water; 1 equal cup of milk; 1 knob of butter; 1 sachet sugar; ¼ pint cream mixed with 1 tablespoon icing sugar, mixed until thick To decorate: 1 tablespoon brown sugar and aerosol cream.
Method: Add oatmeal to pan, mix in water, stirring all the time, bring to boil, add butter stirring all the time. Mix in sachet of sugar, stand to cool. When cool add cream, mix well, leave to stand. Add fruit mixture, mix well. Serve into small dishes, decorate with brown sugar at edges. Add aerosol cream in centre, top with brown sugar. And enjoy…
Cranachan - V
100g (4oz) Scottish Oatmeal
500ml (1 pint) Whipping Cream
250g (8oz) Raspberries
Caster Sugar to taste
1 tblsp Whisky (optional)
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas 4)
Toast oatmeal in oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Whip cream and sugar until stiff (add whisky if using). Place in layers in individual glasses, starting with the fruit and finishing with cream. Decorate with fruit. Chill and serve.
Recipe: Hamlyns of Scotland
Steamed Skirlie (Oatmeal Stuffing)
- M, V
200g (8oz) Scottish Oatmeal
125g (4oz) Suet (or Veg Suet or oil)
1 Large Onion, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp Milk
Salt and Pepper
Mix oatmeal and suet and season. Combine with chopped onion and milk. Place in a 1 pint pudding basin, cover and steam for 1 hour.
Savoury Cheese Scones - V
100g (4 oz) Scottish Oatmeal
100g (4 oz) Plain Flour
50g (2 oz) Mature Cheese, grated
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
Pinch of Salt and Paprika
40g (1 ½ oz) Butter or Margarine
1 Egg beaten
Approx 150ml (1/4 pint) milk
Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F, Gas 8)
Mix dry ingredients, rub in butter of margarine, then mix in grated cheese. Add milk and egg to make a softish dough. Knead lightly, divide dough into two rounds and mark in quarters. Bake for approximately 12 minutes. Serve warm.
Recipe: Hamlyns of Scotland
Cream of Onion Soup - M,
V, Vn
1 large Onion, chopped
1 tblsp Butter or oil
2 tblsp Scottish Oatmeal
500ml (1 pint) Chicken or Vegetable Stock
250ml (1/2 pint) Milk
Salt and Pepper
Melt butter in saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft, not brown. Add oatmeal and seasoning and cook for a few minutes. Add stock slowly, stirring all the time. Bring to the boil, cover then simmer for 30 minutes. Liquidise until smooth. Add milk and heat through. Serve garnished with cream and parsley.
Recipe: Hamlyns of Scotland
Oatmeal Potato Rissoles - V
500g (1lb) Potatoes, peeled
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 Egg, beaten
75g (3oz) Mature Cheddar, grated
100g (4oz) Scottish Oatmeal
Beaten Egg to coat
Salt and Pepper
Vegetable Oil for Cooking
Boil then mash potatoes and mix with the finely chopped onion, cheese and beaten egg. Leave to cool in the fridge. When cool, shape into patties, dip in the beaten egg, then in oatmeal to coat. Cook the patties in a little oil for 2-3 minutes on each side until brown.
Recipe: Hamlyns of Scotland
Reader Submitted Oatmeal Recipes
Vancouver Speciality - V
2 parts oats, 1 part each rye oats and barley oats, 1 part walnut bits and raisins, simmer with water, add soy milk to cool. No salt. Submitted by Keith Wallace, Vancouver, Canada.
© 2006
- Carrbridge Community Council