Porridge

[amateur51]

I like porridge because it is warming, sustaining, it has a low glycaemic index (and is thus good for us diabetics) and it's cheap

I make it in the microwave with semi-skimmed milk but what to use as a sweetener? I've discovered through trial & error that you can chop up a banana or grate a dessert apple into the mix and they cook nicely to create a very different dish. You can even grate lemon rind into it for a greater variety

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I like porridge because it is warming, sustaining, it has a low glycaemic index (and is thus good for us diabetics) and it's cheap

Good for fibre and low in fat, too (unless you make it with full fat milk, or add cream).

Sweetener? When I want a change from the lovely taste of oats, (Jumbo Oats are essential for flavour and texture, I find) a handful of sultanas is perfect!

[amateur51]

Good for fibre and low in fat, too (unless you make it with full fat milk, or add cream).

Sweetener? When I want a change from the lovely taste of oats, (Jumbo Oats are essential for flavour and texture, I find) a handful of sultanas is perfect!

Dried fruit is good (prunes, apricots, dates), even better if you stew them & then put them in the fridge til needed.

[Sir Velo]

Samuel Johnson's biographer, Boswell, relates how the great man reacted on being presented with a bowl of porridge on his tour of the islands: "Does one eat it, or has it already been eaten?"

The secret to the very best porridge is to soak it in milk (skimmed is fine) the night before, cook it for 10 mins on a moderate heat the next morning (adding a little water or milk to aid the process), with a sprinkling of salt. Like carnaroli rice, this method ensures that the oats release their own creaminess. No need for added cream, or syrup, this is a low fat, high energy food with bags of flavour, if cooked the right way.

[Mary Chambers]

The secret to the very best porridge is to soak it in milk (skimmed is fine) the night before, cook it for 10 mins on a moderate heat the next morning (adding a little water or milk to aid the process), with a sprinkling of salt.

Soak what? Rolled oats, jumbo oats, oatmeal? (I must look into jumbo oats.)

[Sir Velo]

I use rolled oats. Jumbo oats are thicker, and chewier. Some may prefer the texture. Don't get anything which is too over processed. Basically, try different types until you find the one you prefer, but whichever you choose they benefit from being pre-soaked in milk, preferably overnight.

[pastoralguy]

Slightly off-topic, but I believe I read that in the Highlands in days when crofting was a way of life for many, porridge would be cooked in bulk, tipped into the drawer of a kitchen cabinet and allowed to solidify. Children were sent to school with a slice of porridge.

I don't believe I've invented this but wonder if anyone can confirm this historical anecdote.

It's recalled by a the children's writer Lavinia Derwent in her autobiography 'A Border Bairn'. A lovely book of a much simpler life.

[Mary Chambers]

I use rolled oats. Jumbo oats are thicker, and chewier. Some may prefer the texture. Don't get anything which is too over processed. Basically, try different types until you find the one you prefer, but whichever you choose they benefit from being pre-soaked in milk, preferably overnight.

I'll try that. The Quaker Oats box informs me that they are 100% wholegrain, so perhaps the only difference between them and jumbo oats is texture.

I found this old article from the Guardian -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/nov/10/how-to-cook-perfect-porridge

[scottycelt]

Slightly off-topic, but I believe I read that in the Highlands in days when crofting was a way of life for many, porridge would be cooked in bulk, tipped into the drawer of a kitchen cabinet and allowed to solidify. Children were sent to school with a slice of porridge.

I don't believe I've invented this but wonder if anyone can confirm this historical anecdote.

Perfectly true and not just in the Highlands.

When I was wee boy in Glasgow my granny always kept a drawerful of porridge in her bedroom and I used to sneak in when she was asleep and stuff myself rotten.

[Ferretfancy]

Dried fruit is good (prunes, apricots, dates), even better if you stew them & then put them in the fridge til needed.

Prunes soaked overnight simmered in apple juice are delicious, especially the Californian variety. The French prunes have a more caramel taste, intense but with a dark liquor. Prunes should always be cooked with the stones in, pitting them weakens their flavour.

[Pabmusic]

Some delicious ideas here.

But I want to digress a little with a rather tortuous justification concerning the colloquial 'porridge' and healthy food. It was in the 1980s (about 1987 or 1988 I think) that the Prison Service commissioned a report from Surrey University about the prison diet. Yes, there was porridge most days. Anyway, as a result the ration scales were revised (and porridge all but disappeared). One of the changes was to replace half the flour ration with wholemeal flour (most prisons baked their own bread, you see).

Now this caused headaches for the caterers. Should they bake one batch of white and one of wholemeal, and put both out at the hotplates? Should they mix it all together and make whit(ish) bread? Or what other solution?

Pab was Deputy Governor of a small prison not far from London at the time and we decided to bake two batches - white and wholemeal. Trouble was, no-one wanted the wholemeal (and I really do mean no-one). I stood by the hotplate that first meal-time and remember a burly armed robber waving a piece of wholemeal bead at me and saying (a quote indelibly etched into my memory) "You really expect me to eat this wog food!".

We soon went over to mixing the two flours and producing off-white bread.

[french frank]

Prunes soaked overnight simmered in apple juice are delicious, especially the Californian variety. The French prunes have a more caramel taste, intense but with a dark liquor. Prunes should always be cooked with the stones in, pitting them weakens their flavour.

I used quite often to make the Middle Eastern dish khoshaf (a variety of different dried fruits esp. prunes, apricots and sultanas, plus skinned almonds). I didn't cook any of them - just put them in a bowl with water and rosewater, into the fridge with it all and leave for a day or two. Or longer. Needs no sugar either. Make plenty so that it lasts several days and it gets better and better as the water becomes more and more syrupy.

The almonds need hot water if you have to blanch them to peel, but that was the only heat I used.

Add: Not for armed robbers ...

[Pabmusic]

...Add: Not for armed robbers ...

Certainly not.

[amateur51]

I used quite often to make the Middle Eastern dish khoshaf (a variety of different dried fruits esp. prunes, apricots and sultanas, plus skinned almonds). I didn't cook any of them - just put them in a bowl with water and rosewater, into the fridge with it all and leave for a day or two. Or longer. Needs no sugar either. Make plenty so that it lasts several days and it gets better and better as the water becomes more and more syrupy.

The almonds need hot water if you have to blanch them to peel, but that was the only heat I used.

Add: Not for armed robbers ...

Sounds deelish, french frank and no chance of it all being scoffed by the wholemeal refusniks, as you say

[kernelbogey]

...Pab was Deputy Governor of a small prison not far from London at the time and we decided to bake two batches - white and wholemeal. Trouble was, no-one wanted the wholemeal (and I really do mean no-one). I stood by the hotplate that first meal-time and remember a burly armed robber waving a piece of wholemeal bead at me and saying (a quote indelibly etched into my memory) "You really expect me to eat this wog food!"...

Thanks Pabs for this wonderful anecdote which truly made me laugh out loud.

kb