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Do
you make these mistakes when cooking porridge?
-
Adding the salt too early
- this hardens the grain, preventing it from
swelling, and results in a less creamy bowl
of porridge.
-
Stirring widdershins
- this is said to invoke the devil or bring
bad luck. Always stir deiseal (sunwise /
clockwise) with your right hand.
-
Stirring with a spoon
- 'they' (the traditional Scottish way to
refer to porridge) should be stirred with a spurtle.
-
Eat it at the table -
'they' should be eaten standing up. This I
think originates from when oats were eaten
as brose,
which must have weighed heavy on the
stomach.
Scottish
origins
The spurtle, or porridge stick,
was used before the advent of rolled oats. The
oatmeal had to soften and become edible, so it
had to be cooked for a long time. The spurtle
was used to stir it frequently to prevent the
formation of large lumps.
In Shetland, porridge is called
milgruel, and is sometimes made with bere-meal
which is a kind of barley. The Gaelic name is
brochan.
But now the supper crowns
their simple board,
The halesome parritch, chief of Scotia's food;
The Cotter's Saturday Night, Robert Burns
Spurtle
or Spatula?
In his book 'Treen and other
Wooden Bygones', Edward Pinto tells us that
"both spatulas and spurtles have their
origins in Scotland. There is some confusion in
terminology, but generally the drum-stick-like
porridge stirrer is called a spurtle and a flat
sided stirrer is a spatula. Both types of
implement have a long history."
The Oxford English Dictionary records both uses
of the word, dating back to 1572. The flat ones
were used for turning oatcakes.
More recently two other factors have added to
the confusion. First is the use by brewers of a
long handled paddle which they call a Brewers
Spurtle. Second is the popularization of a flat
stirrer by Graham Kerr which he called a
spurtle.
And if
'Spurtle' isn't a strange enough name...
......in some areas it is
spirtle or spurkle.
And an alternative name is
theevil, though there are even more alternative
spellings for this word: thivel, thible,
thyvelle, thyvil, thyvel, thieval, thibel,
thibble, thybel, thavel, thaivel, thabble and
theedle.
The origins of the word are obscure, but those
spelled with v are probably oldest and was used
in Scotland and Northern England. Those spelled
with b are used only in Northern England and
appeared two centuries later.
A few quotes:
Alexander Ross, Helenore, 1768, "The thivel
on the pottage pan, Shall strick my hour to
rise."
Elizabeth Moxon, English Housewifry, c1750's,
"With a paste-pin or thible stir in your
flour to the butter".
Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, 1847, "The
quicker the thible ran round..the faster the
handfuls of meal fell into the water."
Reference:
Oxford English Dictionary.
I
bequeath my Porridge Pot
While searching the internet for
information about porridge, the most bizarre
thing I found was the Last Will and Testament of
Edward Major of Stowe Parva in England. When he
died in 1694, he left no less than three
porridge pots to his nearest and dearest.
His 'best brass porridge pot' went to his
granddaughter Ellen Major, and the 'last brass
porridge pot' to his grandson Edward Major. I
believe that the 'middle most brass porridge
pot' was left to a Mary Spatcher, though I find
the preamble a little confusing.
To learn what happened to his sheep and other
worldly possessions, you can read the whole will.
More resources:
Oatmeal
& Porridge
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