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Scottish Recipe and Meal Ideas
Scotland Food and Drink Ideas
Porridge Recipe

There is a lot of mystique (and nonsense spoken) about making porridge and lots of traditions associated with cooking and eating it. The most important thing, though is in the ingredients and the making. You must obtain good quality medium-ground oats (rather than rolled oats) and to keep stirring it to avoid solid lumps.

Ingredients (sufficient for two people):
One pint (half litre) water; some people use half water and half milk
2.5 ounces (2.5 rounded tablespoons) medium-ground oats
Pinch of salt

Method:
Bring the water (or water and milk) to a good boil, preferably in a non-stick pan. Slowly pour the oatmeal into the boiling liquid, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon ALL the time. Keep stirring until it has returned to the boil again, reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer very gently for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the salt at this point and simmer and stir for a further 5/10 minutes (time depends on the quality of the oats). It should be a thick but pourable consistency. Serve hot in wooden bowls if you have them.

This is traditionally a breakfast dish which will certainly set you up for the day with something warm inside you. There is no reason however that you can't eat it at other times.

Traditions:
Porridge used to be served with separate bowls of double cream. A spoonful of porridge (in a horn spoon) was dipped into a communal bowl of cream before eating.
Porridge is eaten standing up. While some people have suggested that this is out of respect for the noble dish, it probably arose from busy farmers doing other things while eating their morning porridge - or as an aid to digestion.
While some people frown at the idea of sugar on porridge others not only approve but suggest a tot of whisky. Each to their own!
Porridge used to be poured into a "porridge drawer" and once it had cooled, it could be cut up into slices. These were easier to carry than brittle oatcakes.

As with all recipes which involve cooking and baking a sensible approach must be taken especially when dealing with warm or hot (temperature) ingredients. If you are unable to take due care, please do not attempt to make any of these recipes. All recipes are tried at your own risk.

For US to UK equivalents for food weights and measurements see this rough guide

Whilst these recipes may be freely used they may NOT be reproduced in any format (for example -electronic or paper based) without the website owners PRIOR agreement.