Porridge

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Porridge, or porage, is a simple dish made by boiling oats (normally crushed oats, occasionally oatmeal) or another cereal in water, milk, or both. Dishes made from cornmeal to which boiling water is added may also be described as "porridge," though these are more often described by regional/national variant names, such as polenta and grits, these are prepared and served according to special regional traditions. Oat and semolina porridge are the most popular varieties in many countries, other cereals used for porridge include rice, wheat, barley, and cornmeal. Legumes such as peasemeal can also be used to make porridge. Gruel is similar to porridge but is much more like a drink; it has a very thin consistency and is made with water.

In many cultures, porridge is eaten as a breakfast dish, often with the addition of salt, sugar, milk or cream. As the traditional breakfast of Scotland (where it is also spelled porage) it is made with salt. Some manufacturers of breakfast cereal sell "ready-made" versions; aficionados question whether these can truly be called porridge. In parts of Asia, porridge is made for horses and donkeys. Porridge is one of the easiest ways to digest grains or legumes, and is used traditionally in many cultures as a food to nurse the sick back to health.

In Scotland, the art of porridge-making is competitive, with the World Porridge Making Championships held annually in Carrbridge, Inverness-shire. The event is also known as the Golden Spurtle due to the winner receiving a gold-coloured trophy of a spurtle, which is a utensil used for stirring porridge. The contest is held in October each year^[1].

[edit] Varieties

• oat porridge - can be made with steel-cut oats (traditional in Ireland and Scotland) or with rolled oats (traditional in England and the United States); known simply as porridge in the British Islands, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and as oatmeal or oatmeal mush in the United States; also a traditional Scandinavian and Icelandic breakfast, where it is known as havregrød in Denmark, havregrynsgröt in Sweden, Havregrøt in Norway and Puuro in Finland. In Scotland Porridge Oats is traditionally prepared using a spurtle. Oat porridge has been found in the stomachs of 5,000 year old Neolithic bog bodies in central Europe and Scandinavia.^[2]
  • groats - a porridge made from unprocessed oats.
  • zacierka - Polish traditional breakfast made with hot milk, sometimes with sugar and butter.
  • in Brazil, mingau de aveia (oatmeal boiled in milk) is a breakfast or side dish.
• maize porridge
  • grits, ground hominy grits or ground posole - traditional in the southern United States
  • atole - Mexico—water, milk
  • gofio canary island toasted rough grain flour sometimes made into porridge
  • frumenty boiled wheat porridge eaten in Roman times sometimes with fruit or meat added
  • polenta - Italy
  • mămăligă - Romania
  • atole de chocolate or champurrado - Mexico—sugar, milk, chocolate. In the Philippines, it is usually rice with sugar, milk, and chocolate and spelled as "champorado."
  • cornmeal mush - traditional dish in southern and mid-Atlantic US states
  • Uji - East Africa-Kenya, swift thick porridge made most commonly from maize flour mixed with sorghum and many other different grinded grains flour, with milk/butter and sugar/(salt). Ugali, a much solid meal, made from maize flour although some mix with other grain flour, are staple foods over a wide part of the African continent, e.g. pap (South Africa), sadza (Zimbabwe), nshima (Zambia), tuwo or ogi (Nigeria) — may also be made from sorghum
• pease porridge (also peasemeal porridge) - made from dried peas, traditionally English and Scottish
• rubaboo - made from dried maize and peas with animal fat, and a staple food of the voyageurs
• barley porridge. Tsampa is a toasted grain flour,usually barley eaten in Tibet, often mixed with tea and butter.
• wheat porridge
  • cream of wheat or farina
  • semolina
  • polenta (could also be made from corn) - Italy—raisins, milk, sugar
  • Wheatena - a brand name for a whole-wheat porridge
  • uppama or uppma - a fried semolina (suzi or shuji) porridge traditional in southern India; flavored with clarified butter (ghee), fried onions, toasted mustard seeds, curry leaves; often mixed with vegetables and other foods, such as potatoes, fried dried red chilis, fried cauliflower, and toasted peanuts or cashew nuts.
• rice porridge
  • Cream of Rice American warm cereal boiled in milk or water with sugar or salt.
  • congee (also jook (Cantonese) or xī fàn (Mandarin)) - with chicken or duck's eggs and pork, coriander leaf, fried wonton noodles, with fried dough (yao ja gwai (Cant.) or yóu tiáo (Mand.))
  • bubur - Indonesia and Malay - there are many types of rice porridge in Indonesia, for example, bubur sumsum, made from rice flour boiled with coconut milk then served with palm sugar sauce and bubur Menado, a rice porridge mixed with various vegetables and eaten with fried salted fish and chili sauce (sambal).
  • Kayu - Japan—salt and green onions
  • juk (죽) - Korea—with seafood, pine nuts, mushrooms, etc.
  • kao dom - Thailand—cilantro, preserved duck eggs, fish sauce, sliced chili peppers, pickled mustard greens or salt cabbage preserves, red pepper flakes
  • cháo – Vietnam – rice, water, beef stock (cháo bò) or chicken stock (cháo gà), ginger; contains fish sauce; often served with scallions, cabbage slaw, and fried sticks of bread
  • arroz caldo or lugaw - Philippines—rice, water, saffron, ginger, meat optional
  • risgrøt - Norway —made with rice with added vanilla, cooked with milk and served with cinnamon, sugar and butter.
  • riisipuuro, risgrynsgröt, risengrød, risengrynsgrøt- Finland/Sweden/Denmark/Norway —a daily staple porridge becoming a Christmas food, when eaten with cinnamon and sugar
  • various other rice puddings, sweet rice porridges usually made with milk

• buckwheat porridge
  • ground buckwheat grouts and butter in Russian ethnic areas and in the Caucasus region mixed with yoghurt
• quinoa porridge
  • ground quinoa flakes mixed with cocoa or cinnamon. Quinoa has been classified a "supergrain" by the UN due to its high protein content.
• millet porridge
  • oshifima or otjifima, a stiff pearl millet porridge is the staple food of northern Namibia.
  • often seasoned with cumin and honey in the Middle East
  • munchiro sayo is a part of Ainu cuisine (a native people of northern Japan)
• sorghum porridge
  • Tolegi is a sorghum porridge eaten as a midday meal during the summer in New Guinea
  • tuwo or ogi (Nigeria) — may also be made from maize
• rye porridge
  • ruispuuro - Finland - traditional Finnish breakfast of rye grains.
• manna porridge

[edit] See also

• kasha (Russian word for porridge; an important part of Russian cuisine)
• krentjebrij - a traditional Dutch porridge-like dessert
• Dalia, North Indian Breakfast item, primarily made of crushed (dulit) wheat grain boiled with water and preferably milk, considered easily digestible, nursing.^{[citation needed]}
• Gofio made from roasted sweetcorn and other grains (e.g wheat, barley or oat). Gofio is still an important ingredient in Canary Islander cooking, and Canary Islander emigrants have spread its use to the Caribbean and all of Latin America. Gofio can be added to soups, stews, desserts, ice cream, sauces, and more.
• mush
• "Pease Porridge Hot," a children's nursery rhyme
• The Three Bears, a children's story featuring porridge (also Goldilocks and the Three Bears)
• Ready Brek - a popular British brand of instant shredded oat cereal
• Instant Quaker Oatmeal

[edit] References

1. ^ Coverage of 2007's Golden Spurtle contest in Carrbridge
2. ^ Lloyd, J & Mitchinson, J: "The Book of General Ignorance". Faber & Faber, 2006.

• Morning comfort - From Irish oatmeal to Chinese congee to Mexican champurrado, every cuisine offers steaming bowls of cereal to stave off winter's chill