SCOTS’ NATIONAL DISH

Evening Star, Issue 22687, 29 June 1937, Page 10

SCOTS’ NATIONAL DISH

FOOD VALUE IN PORRIDGE THE CORRECT RECIPE Porridge and marmalade are the two great breakfast dishes Scotland has given to the world. F. Marian M‘Neill, in the course of a sturdy defence of porridge in the ‘ Scotsman,’ says: “ An eminent Scottish dietitian has come forward to champion the cause of the dish on which countless generations of Scotsmen have been reared, and .has declared at a gathering of women in Stirling that oatmeal porridge and milk constitute ‘ an almost perfect foodstuff ’ 1 So it’s up with out porridge sticks, if ever we were misguided enough to down them! “ Dietetics is a young science, if, indeed, it is strictly a science at all, and dietitians do not seem to be more immune from fads and fancies than other members of the community; but good sense as well -as patriotism is all in favour of porridge. In Hislop’s ‘ Book of Scottish Anecdote'* there is a story which I quote from memory of an eminent Glasgow professor who encountered on a country road a small boy, whose face was glowing with health and happiness.' “ ‘ "Well, my lad,’ said the professor, who evidently had a premature interest in what we now call dietitians, ‘what is it, I wonder, that gives you those rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes? What do you take for breakfast?’ “.‘ Just porridge, sir,’ replied the boy with a bright smile. “ ‘ And what for dinner?’ asked the professor. “ ‘Just porridge, sir.’ “ ‘ Porridge"again? Really! What, then, do you take for supper?’ “ ‘ Just porridge, sir.’ “ * Dear me. You don’t mean to tell me you eat nothing but porridge?’ “The small boy burst out laughing, and called out to another small boy who hove in sight: ‘Hi, Jamie, here’s a gentleman that thinks every day’s New Year’s Day!’ “ Lest this story should sound ‘ tall,’ I will add _ that I personally _ knew a family consisting of a young widow and six small children who were reared very nearly exclusively on a diet of porridge and milk, and they were as healthy and happy a crowd as one could > wish to see! “ Unluckily porridge is in danger of being ousted from the breakfast table by those numerous proprietary _ breakfast cereals of transatlantic origin, and whether it is a coincidence or not there has been' a corresponding decrease in the perfervidness of the Scottish mentality. There’s a lot of wisdom in Bril-lat-Savarin’s famous axiom that the fate of nations depends upon how they are fed; let our. Scottish housewives keep that in mind! And this as well: the hand that stirs the porridge rules the world!

“ Heaven knows how the sticky mess is prepared, that the average London boarding house keeper serves up! Below you will find the one and only way to make porridge. “ It is advisable to keep a pan. exclusively 'for porridge; also to use fresh spring water and home-milled meal. “ Allow for each person a breakfastcupful of water, a handful of oatmeal (about an ounce and a-quarter), and a small saltspoonful of salt. Bring the water to the boil, and as soon as it reaches boiling point add the oatmeal, letting it fall in a steady _ rain from the left hand while you stir with the "right, using preferably a spurtle or porridge stick. When the porridge is boiling steadily draw it to the side, and when it has cooked for 10 miuntes or so add the salt. Stir occasionally ,to prevent singeing. It should boil from 20 to 30 minutes in all, according to the quality of the grain. Ladle into cold porringers or soup plates and serve with small individual bowls of cream or rich milk. Each spoonful of hot is cooled for a second in the cold milk before it is conveyed to the mouth.”-