Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
Make the porridge
Mix the oatmeal with cold water until uniform.
Pour in boiling water and boil while stirring for 40 minutes.
Keep simmering until ready to serve, adding more water if needed.
Serve
Serve hot in a soup plate.
Add cold milk to cool it down.
Add salt or treacle if desired.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Coarsely ground oatmeal
- Forms the thick body of the porridge as its starch swells and gelatinises in the water.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the oats and cooks them into a soft, spoonable porridge during the long simmer.
- Cold milk
- Adds creaminess and moisture while cooling the hot porridge to a comfortable eating temperature.
The step that matters
Keep the porridge simmering while stirring. Oats need sustained gentle heat and stirring to swell fully and thicken evenly. Letting it stop simmering can leave the texture lumpy or stiff, and it may scorch on the base of the pan.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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