The porridge thread, in all its varietal glory

	Quote:	Trikk
	I miss the choice of porridges that are fast and healthy (even tho I'm not from UK or USA). I just think there isn't anything better than a warm porridge for breakfast...

	Quote:	Peg A
	Oooh! Another thing for my list to bring home from the US in November, thanks for the reminder! ♥

	Quote:	Angela-74
	You guys have me wondering what porridge is, I first read of it while reading Harry Potter Time to give it a search.

	Quote:	Angela-74
	LOL I had it for the first time while staying here in April for a short visit haha the stuff is great!!!

	Quote:	Peg A
	I want to say it sort-of depends upon where you are from. "Porridge" for me is a bit of an older term but generally refers to hot cereal such as oatmeal or cream-of-wheat. I really love the Maple Brown Sugar flavor from Quaker, available in "instant" (add hot water and it's ready in about 5min). The new version is "Simple Harvest" in the same flavor but with pecans as well to which I usually add in a handful of dried fruit to make it extra tasty and a tad healthier. I think "Cream of Wheat" is similar to Polenta but is wheat meal rather than corn meal. Grits also are similar (but from white corn I believe?) and the seasonings used depend upon where you're from. Up in the northern states (I've heard) they eat it like cereal with sugar, butter and milk while the southern states eat it with salt and pepper (and cheese, as well as bacon or sausage crumbles... ).

	Quote:	Angela-74
	But porridge is sweetish I believe? I tried it with grapes and nuts, great stuff really. Polenta, that <i have tried many times, including tonight. it was really nice

	Quote:	Peg A
	Yep, porridge usually brings to my mind thoughts of hot cereal (sugar, milk, maybe butter, maple syrup, some fruit, cinnamon and / or nutmeg, etc) on cold days... perfect for the weather we've been having lately. There is a buffet type restaurant chain in the US that had a "porridge bar" type thing, similar to a salad bar or ice cream bar where you have choice of basic hot cereal (oatmeal, cream of wheat, malt-o-meal) and selection of additions. Of course, in addition to the healthier additions possible they had fruit compote (hooray for more sugar!), chocolate chips and stuff like that.

	Quote:	marmoset
	"Cream of Wheat" is Griesbrei around here. Dr Oetker has instant, sweetish. Or try Milupa baby fodder :P Porridge à la Quaker Oats, nuhuh, can't be had. Generally the rolled oats (Haferflocken) round here are coarser, but you can cook it up with milk, sugar, cinnamon and dried apple bits in about 5 minutes, turns nice and smooth. Maybe Carrefour over in Saint Louis has it. Worth a try.

	Quote:	argus
	To me, porridge is Teochew porridge and chicken/pork or fish porridge - very different from the British stuff. Try this simple minced meat porridge for a cold day: 1 cup rice (jasmine) 3 cups water 200g minced meat (beef or pork or mixed) 1 carrot, chopped 1 celery stem, chopped (or other preferred veggie) 1 tbs chives or spring onions, chopped salt n pepper Gently boil the rice, water and carrot for 8 minutes semi-covered. Add meat, continue boiling on medium heat semi-covered for 5 minutes. Add celery, continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add salt n pepper to taste. Taste to make sure rice grains are cooked through. Add a bit more water if you prefer your porridge more liquid. Put in chives or spring onions and you're done. Serves 2. (Sprinkle some fried shallots on the porridge when it's served if you have them on hand.)

Wot a surreal thread-within-a-thread - I must get my spurtle ready for the winter..


Re the OP, I too look forward to Lidl and Aldi overrunning Switzerland,
forcing low prices and higher quality on us all; maybe Poundstretchers
will also come to save us from ourselves

[ullainga]

	Quote:	Angela-74
	But porridge is sweetish I believe?

To add to thread in thread, not necessarily, for me it's salty and eaten with melted butter. Some people use the same base to make sweet porridge as well, can add cinnamon, berries, honey..whatever you like really. And yes, it's one of the things I was missing and had to order from the old country, a 4 grain mix. Thanks to friends and family I have now enough to last me for a year or so

[Gastro Gnome]

	Quote:	ullainga
	To add to thread in thread, not necessarily, for me it's salty and eaten with melted butter. Some people use the same base to make sweet porridge as well, can add cinnamon, berries, honey..whatever you like really. And yes, it's one of the things I was missing and had to order from the old country, a 4 grain mix. Thanks to friends and family I have now enough to last me for a year or so

A drizzle of honey and a few grains of Sel de Guerande for me. No need to make porridge with milk . . . if you make it correctly with water it creates its own creaminess.

Teochew porridge is a completely plain bowl of rice porridge, semi-watery, served with at least 6 accompaniments - steamed salted duck's egg, sweet/salty pickled leek, pickled veggies, stewed soft groundnuts, stewed pork belly cubes, fried fish, salted fish.

Yum, yum! The next time I go to Malaysia or Singapore, I'll be sure to eat this.

[Gastro Gnome]

	Quote:	argus
	Teochew porridge is a completely plain bowl of rice porridge, semi-watery, served with at least 6 accompaniments - steamed salted duck's egg, sweet/salty pickled leek, pickled veggies, stewed soft groundnuts, stewed pork belly cubes, fried fish, salted fish. Yum, yum! The next time I go to Malaysia or Singapore, I'll be sure to eat this.

I'd love to try it and it does sound nice, but this 'porridge' bears no relation at all to 'porridge' in Scotland. Surely the only thing they share is the name?

[swissotter]

	Quote:	Gastro Gnome
	I'd love to try it and it does sound nice, but this 'porridge' bears no relation at all to 'porridge' in Scotland. Surely the only thing they share is the name?

i like to say Congee as porridge confuses people who eat both, or you could say chinese porridge too

[summerrain]

	Quote:	argus
	Teochew porridge is a completely plain bowl of rice porridge, semi-watery, served with at least 6 accompaniments - steamed salted duck's egg, sweet/salty pickled leek, pickled veggies, stewed soft groundnuts, stewed pork belly cubes, fried fish, salted fish. Yum, yum! The next time I go to Malaysia or Singapore, I'll be sure to eat this.

	Quote:	swissotter
	i like to say Congee as porridge confuses people who eat both, or you could say chinese porridge too

oh stop it you two! I can murder a large bowl of century egg porridge right now!

[swissotter]

	Quote:	summerrain
	oh stop it you two! I can murder a large bowl of century egg porridge right now!

i know - this is perfect weather for any porridge/congee/sweet/salty but needs some Youtiao (wonder if youtiao goes with english porridge too? )

[Gastro Gnome]

Ah . . . the link is the break down of the grains (oats in one case, rice in the other) and the viscosity of the resulting mix.

But can you win a Golden Spurtle with congee?

	Quote:	Gastro Gnome
	But can you win a Golden Spurtle with congee?

No.



.

[Peg A]

Now that I'm "awake" again I looked up what a Spurtle is and checked out the other links... that Congee looks pretty good but to me, if it is salty and isn't eggs and bacon type stuff, it's generally not for breakfast.

I don't know if I could wrap my tummy around the idea of fish and such at breakfast time BUT I could easily imagine eating it for lunch. Or... for "breakfast" at 3am or so when coming home from a night on the town.


The basic description of congee reminds me of "milk rice" or "rice pudding" except that it is salty rather than sweet and that whole comparison reminds me of how Grits are in the US - Northerners tend to add sugar, milk and other "sweet" or sweet enhancing flavors while Southerns tend to add butter, cheese, bacon or sausage and other salty or salt enhancing flavors.

[nickatbasel]

	Quote:	Peg A
	I don't know if I could wrap my tummy around the idea of fish and such at breakfast time

I often enjoy a bit of kipper first thing in the morning - followed by hot buttered crumpets. Bliss.

Cheers,
Nick

Wow porridge thread, amazing

I have discovered that in 2006 when I've got interested by British stuff (thanks Doctor Who...).

A Londoner friend gave me her *favourite recipe*

boil milk and water with sugar and cinnamon, add the stuff and wait the next day to eat.....

So I did.

And I just loved it.....

Could be interesting to have your own recipe ?

[Gastro Gnome]

	Quote:	Peg A
	if it is salty and isn't eggs and bacon type stuff, it's generally not for breakfast.

You mean like Scottish porridge?

	Quote:	Peg A
	Now that I'm "awake" again I looked up what a Spurtle is and checked out the other links... that Congee looks pretty good but to me, if it is salty and isn't eggs and bacon type stuff, it's generally not for breakfast. I don't know if I could wrap my tummy around the idea of fish and such at breakfast time BUT I could easily imagine eating it for lunch. Or... for "breakfast" at 3am or so when coming home from a night on the town. The basic description of congee reminds me of "milk rice" or "rice pudding" except that it is salty rather than sweet and that whole comparison reminds me of how Grits are in the US - Northerners tend to add sugar, milk and other "sweet" or sweet enhancing flavors while Southerns tend to add butter, cheese, bacon or sausage and other salty or salt enhancing flavors.

What's wrong with the northerners?

Congee is great eaten at 10pm when you go out with a group of friends and they get hungry after a too-early dinner. And, yes, after hitting the discos, slurping down congee at 5am is wonderful. That was in the '90s... or was it the '80s?

[nickatbasel]

So what is the preference among people? Personally I like the fine oats you get in Migros. Conversley, I believe many like to sow a few wild oats in the morning.

Cheers,
Nick

[Peg A]

	Quote:	nickatbasel
	So what is the preference among people? Personally I like the fine oats you get in Migros. Conversley, I believe many like to sow a few wild oats in the morning. Cheers, Nick

I haven't gotten into making oatmeal here so much, I HAVE used the regular cut oats from Coop to make oatmeal cookies though (with pecans and cranberries, yum!) AND hubby's mom taught me to make a soup with oatmeal as the starch used instead of rice or pasta, also quite yummy.

	Quote:	nickatbasel
	So what is the preference among people? Personally I like the fine oats you get in Migros. Conversley, I believe many like to sow a few wild oats in the morning.

Perhaps early in the morning, but later in the morning one needs one's crumpet.
.

[Lisamacl]

Can anyone please let me know where I can buy 'Quaker- Oat So Simple' porridge in Basel or a similar product?

I've had a scout about the supermarkets and I can't seem to spot them or anything similar!

Thanks

Lisa x

[Crumbs]

Oats = Haferflocken, e.g. from Knorr, available in supermarkets



Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but it makes good porridge.

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