Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the porridge
Boil ½ cup of water in a saucepan with a sprinkle of coarse sea salt.
Gradually sprinkle in ½ cup of coarse oatmeal while stirring briskly to avoid lumps.
Once thickened to your preference, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for up to 2 hours.
Stir occasionally to prevent sticking, replacing the lid each time.
Serve
Serve hot in a bowl or on a plate with sugar or treacle.
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
- Coarse oatmeal
- Forms the thick body of the porridge as its starch swells and gelatinises in hot water.
- Water
- Hydrates the oats so they soften and thicken into a porridge.
The step that matters
Stirring while adding the oatmeal. Dropping oats into water all at once clumps them, since the outer starch gels quickly and traps dry centres. Sprinkling gradually while stirring briskly keeps the grains separated and the texture smooth.
“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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