btw - porridge for me has to have been cooked slowly for ages - overnight on an Aga preferably :)

I used to cook on a Rayburn (smokeless), when I had such a thing; living the nomadic existence it's hardly the sort of thing one can carry along with you! Before that it was a lovely smelly old coal burning Esse Century. But did you ever hear tell of a Hay Box? My Northumbrian grandmother used this method for porridge, pouring on boiling water and insulating the pan with hay so basically it cooks itself overnight!