Oatmeal porridge: comfort food for cold mornings  

By Marisa Romano

Hello 2022! We all hope you are going to be better than 2021, but COVID is still raging, and this cold winter does not help to alleviate the languishing that has set in. This is the time for hearty comfort food: soups, stews and casseroles, and a soothing bowl of oatmeal porridge to start the day and ease the emotional long haul of the pandemic. Warm and sweet – or savoury – with a plethora of combinations to enrich the basic recipe, oatmeal is the ideal breakfast before venturing out into the cold.

All cultures around the world bring a type of nourishing cereal-based porridge or gruel to their breakfast, lunch or dinner table. But when talking about oatmeal porridge, Celtic Scotland is what comes to mind first.

The cold, damp and sun-deprived weather of northern Europe favours the growth of oats over other cereals like wheat and corn. But while oats have always been cultivated mainly for animal feed, they became a pantry staple in Scotland, a commodity so precious at one time that it was used as currency and a meal so essential that it compelled ancient Scottish universities to institute “meal Monday,” an annual holiday in February to allow students to go home to collect more oats for their meals at university.

Oatmeal is an essential ingredient in haggis, Scotland’s national dish, and in the traditional Scottish porridge, the other –unofficial – national dish. Porridge is so deep-rooted in Scottish culture that in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, porridge devotees compete every year for the title of World Porridge Making Champion. Winners take home the Golden Spurtle, a trophy shaped like the wooden rod essential to making the perfect lump-free bowl by stirring the porridge clockwise to fend off the devil. Its handle is shaped like the Scottish thistle.

The championship was launched in the fall of 1994 to bolster winter tourism in the quaint village of Carrbridge, located at the edge of Cairngorms National Park (the largest in the U.K.). Since 2009, the event has run alongside World Porridge Day on October 10, an international initiative launched from Scotland to raise awareness and collect funds to alleviate child hunger.

At Carrbridge’s World Championship, contestants compete in two categories: traditional and specialty.

Traditional Scottish porridge is made with oats (quick, rolled medium or steel-cut pinhead), water and salt. “It’s fascinating to taste the difference between 20 or more bowls of porridge made with just oatmeal, salt and water,” reported a judge. The addition of sweet or savoury pantry staples and spices allows for countless variations of “specialty porridge,” often inspired by world flavours. When I checked the winning recipes for both categories (goldenspurtle.com and various sites online), I did not identify a trick common to all. Almost every winner has used steel-cut oats and soaked them overnight. But not all! The 2011 trophy winner, for example, used medium oatmeal. It was finished with cream, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, sweetened with heather honey and topped with warm blueberry compote (a good recipe to keep).

Scottish competitors claimed the title of World Champion for the first years, then they met the challenge of “foreigner” oat enthusiasts, and the list of past winners now includes entries from all over the globe. The winning recipes in the specialty category include some amazing oat dishes: smooth or chunky porridges, pancakes and waffles, but also savoury risottos, fritters, dumplings and combinations with seafood. But they are usually sweet pairings of creamy porridge with fruit on top.

Inspired by so many surprising creations, I too have tried different combinations with yummy results. It is not tricky: oats can be cooked with fruit, dry or fresh; made creamier with cow or goat milk, light cream or butter, but also almond or oat milk; flavoured with spice combinations inspired by your baking, lemon or orange zest; sweetened with brown sugar, maple syrup or honey, but also caramel, toffee sauce or stevia; topped with compotes, stewed or poached fruits, but also fresh berries, bananas, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips or a dollop of peanut butter. Ham and cheese anyone?

These days, my favourite bowl is cooked with chopped ripe pears, flavoured with speculaas spices – a mix used to make the classic windmill-shaped cookies – and lemon zest. Topped with lightly toasted sliced almonds, it reproduces the aroma of almond-filled speculaas, the typical sweets of Dutch Christmas tables. Maple syrup finishes it off.

Marisa Romano is a foodie and scientist with a sense of adventure who appreciates interesting and nutritious foods that bring people together.

The humble oat can inspire surprising combinations and creations, always reminiscent of home and comfort.   Photo: Marisa Romano