Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the oatmeal with ½ cup of cold water.
Add a pinch of salt.
Let it stand by the side of the fire until all the water is absorbed.
Cook
Add 1 pint of boiling water.
Stir over the fire until it boils.
Move it to the side of the fire.
Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for several hours.
Overnight and serve
Make it in the evening and allow it to cook overnight.
Boil it again before serving.
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
- Its starch swells in the water and thickens the liquid into a porridge as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally. Oat starch keeps swelling and thickening as the porridge cooks, and it can stick and scorch on the base of the pan if left unstirred. Occasional stirring keeps the texture even.
“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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