Folklore: Porridge

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: Rowan
Date: 22 May 08 - 06:19 PM

Smarties (in Oz) are sold in bags rather than tubes, Sedayne.

Rivalries over "authentic" recipes for ANZAC biscuits seemed (to me) to be played out between 'wannabe' traditional cooks and predate the internet; I can't tell you where they occur now. Your link gives what seems to be the current truth about their history and development.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: Fidjit
Date: 23 May 08 - 05:20 AM

"Wormwood Scrubs" for me

Chas

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: GUEST,Edthefolkie
Date: 23 May 08 - 05:58 AM

You can tell I'm Notts working class; when I was little I used to be served Scotts Porage Oats with Lyle's Golden Syrup by me mum.

Multi media experience - picture of large muscular northern type of person in a vest and kilt putting the shot on Porage Oats packet, also dead lion with bees on Lyle's tin, with "Out of the strong came forth sweetness" motto.

Part of the fun is to get the tin open without being covered in sticky gunge, then get the dollop of syrup smack in the middle of the porridge while leaving none on the spoon.

Talking of porridge, I'll naff orf now.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 23 May 08 - 07:28 PM

Okay - major breakthrough tonight in my microwave porridge recipe; adding chopped apples to the mix (see first post) and cooking in the microwave for exactly... 4 minutes 33 seconds!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: Muttley
Date: 24 May 08 - 02:55 AM

I must admit to being somewhat of an 'iconoclast' when it comes to porridge.

I prefer the "Quick Oats" - probably because I have to make them between dropping off the 'hugs and kisses' at the railway station then coming back to my porridge and then wallop that down before dropping our autistic son at high school (MUST be at the correct time or everyone cops hell for the rest of the day).

So my preferred method is to get the proportons correct, boil it uyp until it's JUST right and then drop in two or three dessert spoons of "Ironbark Honey" - this is honey derived from bees that collect primarily from Ironbark Trees (Eucalyptus sideroxylon).

My dad grew up on a steady (and monotonously regular (like EVERY day) diet of porridge served by his VERY dour mother in Bonnyrigg / Lasswade - just south of Edinburgh - and it was made with salt. To this day if you want to see an arthritic 83-year-old run a quarter mile faster than Jesse Owens (or Asafa Powell) just offer him a bowl of porridge - - - DETESTS the stuff.

Gotta respond to John Giok:

His recipe was thus -
1½ ozs, Oatmeal of Afford, 6½ ozs [by weight] of mixed milk and water, 1 generous pinch of salt.
Bring to the boil stirring constantly, allow to simmer slowly for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pour out into a bowl, and add fresh cold real milk {not milk which has been buggered about with, and had all the goodness taken out in the process]
ENJOY.

Hate to say this John, but that was dad's mum's recipe too - it was also the recipe stipulated by the new cookhouse warder at Fremantle Gaol about 70-80 years ago or so. Instead of the Golden Syrup poured in as they were used to, the new guy STIPULATED that porridge "HAD tae be made wi' lashin's ae salt - or it jist wasnae PORRIDGE!!!"

Unfortunately, the prisoners despised it as much as my dad evidently does and there was a riot. As a result, the cookhouse head warders first day on the job was also his last!

Muttley

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 06:05 AM

Well, here we are on the blustery last day of September facing an uncertain economic and meteorological future; the glorious Indian Summer days of the weekend are but a distant memory, and autumn it seems, is very much upon us. Time when a young man's heart (I am, after all, only 47, which is still young in the folk scene; at least it is in the old-school singarounds anyway, which is another issue...) turns to porridge. Now there's an image - one of a young man's heart turning to porridge; I dare say there's a song, or a story, in there somewhere!

Okay, to this end I present the perfected Porridge Turnover, for an image of which (and other autumnal essentials) see Here.

You will need:

Jumbo Oats
Sultanas
Grape Juice
Mixed Spice
Tap Water
(no milk, no salt, no sugar!)

The method is simplicity itself, but be sure to do this before going to bed.

One decent sized microwave-friendly cereal bowl, 1/3 fill with Jumbo Oats, to which add half that amount of Sultanas. Add a pinch of Mixed Spice, and stir in Grape Juice until thoroughly soaked. Top up with Tap Water, and mix until a liquid consistency is uniform. Place bowl into microwave and blast on full power for 4 minutes. Remove bowl from appliance and cover with plate. Stand aside until morning.

When morning comes, invert bowl onto plate and allow gravity to liberate the resulting porridge cake from the bowl. This might take some persuasion, but please take care so as not to disrupt the integrity of the bowl-moulded dome, for much of the appeal of this dish lies in the aesthetic gratification one receives simply in gazing upon this culinary wonder.

Before eating, you might like to select some suitably seasonal music. As you can see in my picture I have made three suggestions - 1) Voice of the People Volume 7 - First I'm Going to Sing You a Ditty - Rural Fun and Frolics, 2) Florilège de la Vielle à Roue by Rene Zosso & Anne Osnowycz, and, of course, 3) Hexenduction Hour by The Fall - but each to their own in this respect.

How one eats the Porridge Turnover is also a matter of personal taste. They, like me, might want to launch into it cold; others might wish to return it to the microwave for a thorough warming. The truly adventurous might wish to slice it, and fry it in a hot pan with butter. Whatever way you go, satisfaction will be guaranteed.

Sedayne of the Insane Beard,
The Last Day of September 2008.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 06:16 AM

Jumbo oats??

What do elephants have to do with cereals?

JM

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 01 Oct 08 - 07:00 PM

Can I suggest barberries? For that sweet 'n' sour vibe?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Porridge
From: pavane
Date: 02 Oct 08 - 10:37 AM

Jumbo was just the name of one very large elephant in London zoo, 1800's. Only got taken over to represent the species later.