While cleaning up after dinner a few years ago, my 4-year-old daughter, Josie, kissed me goodnight and ran upstairs so her dad could put her to bed. “Oh, and mom? Can we have that beautiful porridge again tomorrow?” And she left.

You may be saying to yourself, “Beautiful? Blech!” I’ll bet the porridge of your youth was a sticky mess that stuck to your spoon as well as your ribs. It does not have to be this way. Her family may love a good stir fry as much as mine, though I can’t say her kids will eat three bowls at once like Josie does when she’s in the middle of a growth spurt.

The secret: fresh grain, properly prepared

But first, some basic terminology. What do we mean by porridge? Porridge, also known by the names stir-fry, porridge, and very unappetizing porridge, is any of a number of grains that have been cracked or rolled (steamed and flattened) and then cooked in water or milk until tender. quite soft. The classic, of course, is oatmeal, which we will talk about later.

The best cereals for porridge

* Cracked wheat

* Steel cut oats

* Coarse ground corn (polenta or grits)

* Brown or broken brown rice

* Spell out

*Kamut

* Darling

*Barley

* amaranth

* Quinoa

*…or really any grain you like!

Almost any grain makes a good porridge. The key is to cook them longer than they would serve if you were serving the same grain for dinner, and in more water. What makes the porridge my family eats taste better than the ones you probably remember from childhood is that we don’t buy it in boxes and keep it on the shelf for years. We buy fresh grains, usually from bulk bins or big bags straight from the mill, and stay away from rolled cereals, like what you probably think of as oatmeal.

And the oatmeal?

Rolled oats are great for cookies and granola, but when it comes to proper porridge, steel cut oats are what you want. These are also called pinhead, Scottish, Irish, coarse-cut oats, or oatmeal. Unlike rolled oats, which are steamed and then flattened into flakes, steel-cut oats are the raw grain (a grain when talking about oats), ground very coarsely, chopped, or cracked, actually. This makes for a much chewier, firmer textured porridge with a nutty, full-bodied flavor. One bowl of steel cut oatmeal porridge and you’ll be a believer.

In the US, probably the most famous brand of steel-cut oatmeal is McCann’s Irish Oatmeal, which makes an extremely tasty porridge; it’s also wildly expensive for what it is (over $6 for 28 ounces at Trader Joe’s the last time I bought it). Bob’s Red Mill is a good version, although I find it too thin for my taste. Bob’s version cooks much faster than McCann’s, which takes a full half hour.

grinding your grain yourself

The best by far, and often the cheapest in the long run considering waste and nutrition, since whole grain lasts much longer than ground grain, is to buy whole grains and grind them yourself. I have a small hand grinder. It was cheap, less than $50. You can get accessories for your mixer or invest in a fancy electric grinder, but I find there is something satisfying about using a manual grinder. Lehmans.com has a wide variety of them in many price ranges.

About once a week I roast some beans in a dry pan on the stove until they start to give off a nutty smell. Then once they cool down I grind them on the coarsest setting on my grain mill. Kids like to help with this sometimes, especially if you have a manual grinder. What you are looking for is barely ground, cracked, really; If you end up with flour, it is too fine. (Make some bread). I then store the ground grain in an airtight can (a McCann can) until I need it. I try not to grind more than I can use in a week.

Having said all this, I must emphasize that you do NOT have to go to all that trouble to make a good porridge. Simply buy small batches of cracked beans from a reputable source; make sure they haven’t been on a shelf since the Truman administration, or even the Clinton administration.

cooking it

It varies, but a safe rule of thumb for porridge is one part grain to four parts water. You want it moister than you would the same grain for dinner.

My favorite way to prepare it used to be in a very small slow cooker that I’ve had since I left home, a small one-person pot that makes exactly enough porridge for the family’s breakfast, as long as we’re not all incredibly hungry. I put the grain and water in the pot the night before, put the lid on, plugged it in, and forgot. Another method: try a wide-mouth thermos: put the grain and water in the thermos, cover it with a tea towel or thick tea towel, and you’ll have well-cooked porridge in the morning.

However, since discovering Nourishing Traditions, the way I cook my porridge has changed. It has also made it faster. The night before, I put my cracked grain in my rice cooker (without a rice cooker, you could just use a plain pot) with water to cover and a pinch of salt. In the morning, I add more water, turn on my rice cooker (or use the stovetop method below), and in about 10-15 minutes I have rich, creamy porridge. Soaking the grain makes the nutrients it contains more bioavailable, as well as speeding up cooking times. The rice cooker makes it almost as easy as toast.

If any of these fail, you can use the good old stovetop method. Put your water and a pinch of salt on the stove to boil in a pot with a lid. When you have a good boil, pour your grain into the water in a thin stream, stirring as you go. This will prevent lumps. Lower the water to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. If you have a flame tamer or heat diffuser to put under the pot, all the better; It will prevent the porridge from burning. Lift the lid, take it off the heat and let it sit for another 5-10 minutes.

serve it forward

Serve your porridge with, choose one, maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, molasses, jam, raisins, chopped dried fruit, sliced ​​fresh fruit, and milk, rice milk, cream, or even buttermilk like they do in Scotland. (not as strange as it sounds with oatmeal, although not my favorite). Add a little butter, or not. Add a pinch of cinnamon, or not.

My favorite ingredients depend on what is in the porridge. If it’s all or mostly corn, I put molasses or honey, butter, and enough milk to thin it out. If it’s brown rice (delicious for breakfast!) all I put on it is raisins and cinnamon. With oatmeal, it’s milk, brown sugar or real maple syrup, cinnamon, and a little butter.

You’ll find that a porridge breakfast will fuel you for the day like no other. We eat it all year round; it’s cheap, it’s incredibly nutritious, and wonderfully delicious.