Porridge
Porridge is a dish made by boiling processed grain or legumes in water or milk. It is usually served as a breakfast food, as a first food for babies or a soft food for the sick.
The most popular grains used for porridge are oats, maize and semolina, and in some countries, the word porridge has become synonymous with a mixture made from one particular grain, usually because of availability and tradition. For example, porridge is almost exclusively made from oatmeal in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and maizemeal in East Africa. Speakers of American English understand the word porridge but generally do not employ it, referring to "hot cereal" when speaking generally, or using the name of the grain oatmeal, farina (semolina, popularised by Farina®, a brand), etc.
In Scotland, porridge made of boiled oatmeal, boiled slowly and stirred continuously with a spirtle [1] and seasoned with salt is a traditional breakfast[2]. [3]
The first recorded occurrence of the word porridge dates from about 1760, in a children's rhyme: Pease Porridge hot/Pease Porridge cold/Pease Porridge in the Pot/Nine Days old. [4]
References
- ↑ Word of the week: spirtle The Times December 3 2006
- ↑ Scotland Food and Drink
- ↑ Porridge-maker title returns to Scotland Guardian 10 October 2010
- ↑ Pease porridge From The Original Mother Goose's Melody: As First Issued by John Newbery, of London, about A.D., 1760 (1889)