The Scottish Porridge Recipes below are quick and easy to make and taste delicious. Porridge is a hearty meal for breakfast that helps to keep you feeling full for a long time and is a great source of fibre. Porridge is enjoyed not just in Scotland but throughout the world. It is thought that porridge can help lower cholesterol if taken along with a general healthy diet and lifestyle.

In the book A Cook's Tour of Scotland by Sue Lawrence she describes how a nutty flavoured porridge was obtained by roasting the oatmeal. She learnt this porridge tip whilst judging at the 12th Annual World Porridge making Championships in Carrbridge in the Scottish Highlands.

In olden days there were many myths surrounding porridge such as having to stir porridge clockwise whilst cooking otherwise the Devil would get the cook. The spoon used to stir the porridge was called a spurtle which some people still call a theevil. It was also the custom in olden days to eat porridge standing up. Scottishrecipes are not sure why porridge was eaten standing up but some theories include standing being an aid to digestion or that farmers and crofters who ate porridge to fill them up for a busy and long working day were doing other things whilst eating their breakfast porridge. These same crofters and Highland farmers had a porridge drawer in their kitchen where the remains of any cooked porridge recipes would be emptied into. This was then allowed to cool down and would later be cut into slices so that they could take these porridge slices as a snack for later in the day.

The book Scots Cooking: The Best Traditional and Contemporary Scottish Recipes by Sue Lawrence describes how in the evening slices from this drawer in the kitchen dresser would be fried and served with eggs or fish. These porridge slices were called calders.

A thinner and more watery version of porridge is known as gruel. This is more likely to have been eaten by prisoners such as Ronnie Barker in the TV series Porridge about prison life!

The book A Cook's Tour of Scotland by Sue Lawrence has a delicious porridge recipe using medium, coarse or pinhead oatmeal, cold water and salt. Other porridge recipes from Sue include porridge scones with cream and brown sugar and warm raspberry porridge.

The topic of what to add to porridge rages on. Traditionalists advocate adding salt though nutritionalists and doctors now know that salt is bad for the heart and should be avoided. Many Scots liked to add a wee dram of whisky or rum to their porridge but this is not advisable if you are to drive during the day or go to work or have other responsibilities and is not the best start to the day (though some would say it is a great start to the day!).

Many like to add milk or cream to their cooked porridge, sugar, honey, cinnamon, golden syrup, jam, berries, prunes, dried fruit, nuts like walnuts and fresh fruit such as bananas. More healthier porridge recipes would include toppings of fresh fruit such as chopped apple, bananas or fresh berries so that the eater can receive extra fibre and some of their five daily portions of fruit.

The book Sue Lawrence's Scottish Kitchen: Over 100 Modern Recipes Using Traditional Ingredients has a porridge with stewed rhubarb recipe.

In her other book Scots Cooking: The Best Traditional and Contemporary Scottish Recipes Sue Lawrence describes her parents would eat their porridge in a traditional Scottish way by having a separate milk bowl. The porridge would be served in its own wooden bowl and eaten with a horn spoon and dipped into the milk bowl. That way the porridge kept hot whilst the milk kept cold.

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How To Make Porridge

How to make porridge the traditional Scottish way is to use the finest Scots porridge oats or a good quality oatmeal. Though the Scottishrecipes.co.uk team like to use the Tesco own label porridge much more than the more expensive porridge oats. It has a lighter and creamier texture and is easy and quick to make. Ideally soak the oats overnight in the quantity of water needed for each portion. This results in fluffier and tastier porridge recipes and is especially important for those using finer oatmeal. Traditionally you should stir clockwise but stirring this way and anticlockwise would help break up the oats and stop it sticking to the saucepan.

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Some like to cook porridge recipes with water, other milk and some use half quantities. The preference of www.scottishrecipes.co.uk is to use water for the cooking and once the portion of porridge is in the bowl we like to add cold milk or a chopped banana.

So getting back to how to make porridge. The easiest way to describe this is to use 50 grams of oats per portion to 300mls of water or milk. Mix this into a pan and heat on a medium setting on the stove or hob. Stir continuously and once thickened turn off the heat and serve. Those who prefer to use oatmeal, especially medium oatmeal or pinhead oatmeal will need to allow up to 30 minutes simmering time until their porridge recipe is thoroughly cooked. Those wanting a quick meal should stick to Scotch porridge oats. This has the added advantage of being able to be cooked in the microwave.

If using pinhead oatmeal, which gives a more delicious flavour, then ScottishRecipes takes the advice from the book Scots Cooking: The Best Traditional and Contemporary Scottish Recipes by Sue Lawrence which suggests one cup of medium or coarse pinhead oatmeal be mixed with three cups of cold water and a pinch of salt if needed and left to soak the night before. This is then slowly brought to the boil in the morning and cooked for about ten minutes whilst being stirred frequently. Pinhead oatmeal will need another five minutes cooking time for this porridge recipe.

Maw Broon's Porridge

The Book Maw Broon's Cookbook has another traditional Scottish porridge recipe much like the scottishrecipes.co.uk porridge recipe. The Maw Broon’s porridge recipe suggests using a mixture of coarse and medium oatmeal though with a cooking time of thirty minutes. Buy Maw Broon's Cookbook at a discounted price and with free delivery available.

Making Porridge In An Aga

Leading cook book author and food writer Claire Macdonald has an easy way to making porridge in an Aga. She suggests mixing pinhead oatmeal, soft brown sugar, milk, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg and leaving this to simmer on the Aga hotplate before leaving overnight in the simmering oven.

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