# Does anyone still eat porridge?



## Snip 13 (Jul 22, 2011)

Looks like in mad rush that is modern time we have stopped appreciating the humble bowl of nourishing goodness. So many junk foods and sugared cereals out there that no one seems to bother cooking porridges anymore and why is that? It's tasty, good for you and far from boring! 
Cooled cooked oats with layers of tangy yogurt and berry swirls topped with crunchy nuts and seeds make a gorgeous pudding as well as breakfast.
Or a nice bowl of slow cooked maize or maltabella (malted sorghum) with a touch of butter, and a drizzle of maple syrup is equally delicious.
We think of our kids health and try and feed them what is best but neglect our own bodies.
There are so many wonderful grains like quinoa, oatbran, barley, maize, sorghum, millet to name a few and so many ways to serve them.
Does anyone still eat porridge and if you do please share how you make your bowl into something special


----------



## Andy M. (Jul 22, 2011)

In the cold weather months I often eat a bowl of hot oatmeal falvored with a number of different things:  Blueberries, maple syrup, bananas, apples, fruit preserves, etc.


----------



## Snip 13 (Jul 22, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> In the cold weather months I often eat a bowl of hot oatmeal falvored with a number of different things:  Blueberries, maple syrup, bananas, apples, fruit preserves, etc.



Yum, we call it Jungle oats in SA. What types of porridge do you get there?


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jul 22, 2011)

I eat many versions of cooked grains, from steel cooked oats mixed with savory onions, and meat to rolled barley mixed with turkey meat and broth.  Of course I love a good bowl of cooked rolled oats, sweetened with maple syrup, or with strawberries and cream as well.

Steel cut oats are healthier and just as versatile and tasty as rice, and can be used as a great side dish.

There is a cereal sold in Ontario, and In the Northern U.S. that has a number of whole grains in it.  I can't remember the name off the top of my head.  Sprout or PAG may remember it.  We were introduced to it by a family that lived in Hayden Lake, Ontario.  It was Red River or something like that, and made a hearty cooked breakfast.  I am also a fan of Farina (Cream of Wheat), but can't stomach grits or corn meal mush.

Hot cereals were definitely a part of our family meal plans.

Porridge was often kept over the fire for days at a time, with new ingredients, such as foul, or wild game added with more grain, and veggies as it was obtained, back when everyone cooked over a hearth.

I really don't care for the pre-packaged, flavored packets of modern oat products.  I prefer the texture and nutritional value of slow-cooked grains such as groats, rolled oats, steel cut oats, pearl, or rolled barley, wheat berries, etc.  So much has been lost to our societies due to our ridiculously fast paced lives, and the need for both parents to work outside of the home, just to make ends meet.  Plus, wholesome foods cost a premium price, while quick, and nutritionally inferior foods are what most people can afford.

I'm not convinced that progress, is really progress.  Sometimes I think progress means - more money for the elite, and forced lifestyles on the majority.

Wait, I'm not going to get cynical here.  We can still make good, even great food with a little planning and self education about foods, and the techniques required to prepare them properly.  No more sour grapes.  Onward, I say.  Be bold.  make a pot of porridge tonight; and put pepperoni in it!

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


----------



## Snip 13 (Jul 22, 2011)

Goodweed of the North said:


> I eat many versions of cooked grains, from steel cooked oats mixed with savory onions, and meat to rolled barley mixed with turkey meat and broth.  Of course I love a good bowl of cooked rolled oats, sweetened with maple syrup, or with strawberries and cream as well.
> 
> Steel cut oats are healthier and just as versatile and tasty as rice, and can be used as a great side dish.
> 
> ...



Thanks, good lesson tonight teach  Not boring at all, I love porridge!
I eat quinoa, barley, sorghum and millet porridge both savoury and sweet. 
I prefer making porridge in the morning to fatty fry ups and it keeps the cholesterol down lol! 
Sometimes I make it for supper risotto style or baked with layers of veg etc and topped with cheese lasagna style and we always enjoy a bowl of creamy maltabella if we want dessert and we have nothing else. Just had some with the kids now! 
Maltabella is my favourite, taste a bit like Horlicks 
In summer I make oats (in SA it is cut like steel cut oats, not fine like by you)
let it cool and make breakfast parfaits in pretty glasses and leave it in the fridge overnight. My kids like them more than Ice cream sundaes lol 
I think when it comes to porridge I could bore you :P


----------



## Selkie (Jul 22, 2011)

I like a bowl of oatmeal (porridge) with fruit or a light sprinkling of stevia. I also eat grits, malt-o-meal and Post Grape Nuts (whole wheat grain and barley.) as well as most unsweetened flake-type cereal.


----------



## purple.alien.giraffe (Jul 22, 2011)

Snip 13 said:


> Thanks, good lesson tonight teach  Not boring at all, I love porridge!
> I eat quinoa, barley, sorghum and millet porridge both savoury and sweet.
> I prefer making porridge in the morning to fatty fry ups and it keeps the cholesterol down lol!
> Sometimes I make it for supper risotto style or baked with layers of veg etc and topped with cheese lasagna style and we always enjoy a bowl of creamy maltabella if we want dessert and we have nothing else. Just had some with the kids now!
> ...



I grew up with those long winded, er, I mean, _enlightening_ lessons.  I love steal cut oats made sweet or savory. They are excellent cooked with mushrooms, onions and herbs, with a little fruit, or drizzled with a little maple or honey.

I like grits either plain or with a little brown sugar. I like cream of wheat the same way. I also like malt-o-meal. As my dad mentioned, there is a multigrain hot cereal called Red River cereal that we can sometimes find around here and it's really good with berries, brown sugar, or just a little butter. When I was younger we called it bird seed cereal.

I can't stand rolled oats made into porridge. Blech.  The texture just completely doesn't work for me. Slimy mush. I could eat it if I was starving but I'd literally have to choke it down and fight not gagging. I do like rolled oats dry, coated with honey to keep them from getting soggy and with a little milk and maybe some toasted almonds thrown in. Has to be just a tiny bit of milk though. I like them made into home made granola too. I also like them dry and stirred into peanut butter.


----------



## spork (Jul 22, 2011)

I have an unopened container of fine wheat cereal labeled "Bear Mush."  I've also heard of farina cooked with a sweet tart fruit juice, and then whipped to a mousse texture for, I think, a Scandinavian dessert.  Been meaning to try...

Overcooked porridge of rice is a common breakfast in China and a prescription for the common cold in Japan.  Either way, porridge is good comfort foot.


----------



## Robo410 (Jul 22, 2011)

all the time in winter


----------



## joesfolk (Jul 22, 2011)

A big bowl of oatmeal is my very favorite breakfast, especially if it is swimming in milk and heavily laden with brown sugar. All I need to go with it is toast with real butter for dunking. Following as a close second would be cream of wheat (farina). My mother frequently served us these two foods when I was young. But these days I think a lot of moms just find it easier in the morning to serve a box of preprepared cereal. Frankly I am sure that a cooked cereal is much cheaper and really only takes a few minutes to prepare, no trouble at all.
My brother used to have some Hispanic friends who would share their breakfast with him. They liked to have a bowl of rice served with milk and sugar. Not exactly a lot of nutrition but it was certainly filling and cheap especially for a large family of limited means. Don't worry, porridge is never going to go away.
Oh, and I almost forgot, Alton Brown says that popcorn served with milk and sugar makes a great breakfast...sort of a predates corn flakes.


----------



## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 22, 2011)

I love oatmeal, cooked just until it no longer foams, it is nice and chewy then.  I get an 8-Grain cereal that is just roasted and rolled grains, again cooked till chewy...over cooked and I don't want it.  Salted and brown sugar.  That's all I want.  I love all hot cereals.  We eat them a lot for dinner.


----------



## TATTRAT (Jul 23, 2011)

Too damned hot for it right now, but certainly in colder times.

Steel cut oats, a pat of butter, a little milk and some granola for crunch and I am a happy man. . .and ready for a nap.


----------



## babetoo (Jul 23, 2011)

took dinner to my granddaughter's house tonight for her birthday. they have a fifteen year old girl from china, as an exchange student. we were talking about food, her english is limited. we asked what they ate for breakfast and she said porridge. made from rice, i checked on line when i got home. it is rice porridge with dried fruit and nuts. how interesting that we were talking about it here. by the way she really like the cake and ice cream. g.d. is taking her for the first run of donuts at a local shop, at about midnight. she went to disneyland yesterday. when asked how she liked it she said "that it made her tired. cute as a button and they are enjoying having her there.


----------



## TATTRAT (Jul 23, 2011)

babetoo said:


> took dinner to my granddaughter's house tonight for her birthday. they have a fifteen year old girl from china, as an exchange student. we were talking about food, her english is limited. we asked what they ate for breakfast and she said porridge. made from rice, i checked on line when i got home. it is rice porridge with dried fruit and nuts. how interesting that we were talking about it here. by the way she really like the cake and ice cream. g.d. is taking her for the first run of donuts at a local shop, at about midnight. she went to disneyland yesterday. when asked how she liked it she said "that it made her tired. cute as a button and they are enjoying having her there.




When I was in Japan, one of my favorite breakfasts was a hot rice bowl, cracked raw egg in the middle, and you drizzed a little hot stock over it and stirred it to incorporate everything/cook the egg, and add little green onion and salt. Not conventional, but, I LOVE rice for breakfast!


----------



## Somebunny (Jul 23, 2011)

Yes Goodweed,  the cereal you were thinking of is Red River Cereal,  I didn't know that it was available in the states at all.  I buy it in Canada, I was introduced to it by my Canadian DH.  I love it with brown sugar and evaporated milk.  Same goes for oats (I prefer steel cut) and cream of wheat or rice.  My family never used the word porridge, (just hot cereal) but DH 's family are/were porridge people.  What ever you call it, it's a hearty, healthy and yummy meal!


----------



## buckytom (Jul 23, 2011)

dw eats a bowl if plain (what else?) oatmeal every single day without fail. she swears it keeps her cholesterol down.

i've tried to like it, but i often feel an urge to fix small holes in plaster walls or wood trim rather than eat it. it just seems more appropriate.


----------



## Snip 13 (Jul 23, 2011)

Nice ideas guys  Also glad to see there are still people who enjoy porridge! It's cheap, healthy and delicious so why so many people don't make it baffles me. It doesn't even take that long.  We also make a dish here called Melkkos, bits of dough dropped into warm milk and stirred over a medium heat till it's all cooked and thickened. Served with cinnamon sugar for a winters main meal or dessert  If we're too lazy to make the fresh dough we just use pasta like elbow macaroni or mini shells and use that.
Our wheat porridge is called tasty wheat.


----------



## Timothy (Jul 23, 2011)

Snip 13 said:


> In summer I make oats (in SA it is cut like steel cut oats, not fine like by you) let it cool and make breakfast parfaits in pretty glasses and leave it in the fridge overnight. My kids like them more than Ice cream sundaes lol


 
Can you post the exact way you make this? Thanks! I'd love to try it.


----------



## Snip 13 (Jul 23, 2011)

Timothy said:


> Can you post the exact way you make this? Thanks! I'd love to try it.



I cook the oats with a pinch of salt for about 30mins on a low heat. The porridge should be a soft pouring consistency but not runny.

In a separate pan add one punnet of berries (any kind you like), juice of one lemon and a good squeeze of honey. Cook till berries just start to soften.
In a pretty bowl or glass layer cooked oats, then berries and then double thick greek yoghurt until you've used up all the ingredients ending with a layer of yogurt. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate till cold and set. Sprinkle with a mix of pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds or decorate with some more fresh berries and enjoy!
You can use a sweetener like stevia to sweeten the berries as well


----------



## Timothy (Jul 23, 2011)

Snip 13 said:


> I cook the oats with a pinch of salt for about 30mins on a low heat. The porridge should be a soft pouring consistency but not runny.
> 
> In a separate pan add...


 
Thank you so much! Serious num num num num!


----------



## Snip 13 (Jul 23, 2011)

Timothy said:


> Thank you so much! Serious num num num num!



My pleasure  You can also use granola for crunch if you don't like seeds or use any soft fruits instead of berries. Peaches and apricot work well or cinnamon apples.


----------



## niquejim (Jul 23, 2011)

We almost never have cold weather where I live and I get up at 3:45AM for work. I will not get up any earlier to have *any* breakfast that I need to cook


----------



## Fabiabi (Jul 24, 2011)

I do love a bowl of porridge. I try to keep it healthy by adding fruit and nuts but sometimes I can't help but add a spoonful of nutella.


----------



## Snip 13 (Jul 24, 2011)

niquejim said:


> We almost never have cold weather where I live and I get up at 3:45AM for work. I will not get up any earlier to have *any* breakfast that I need to cook



You should try the breakfast parfait I mentioned, you keep it in the fridge overnight and it's served cold so when you wake up breakfast is ready and waiting!


----------

