Ingredient

Porridge

Porridge is oats and liquid, and the entire character of it — creamy, chewy, thick, sloppy — is decided by which oats you use before any technique is involved at all.

The oats

Rolled (porridge) oats

Steamed and flattened. Cook in five minutes to a soft, creamy porridge. The default.

Jumbo rolled oats

Thicker flakes. More texture, more chew, around ten minutes.

Steel-cut or pinhead

The whole groat chopped, not flattened. Twenty to thirty minutes, and gives a nutty, chewy, distinctly grainy porridge. The traditional Scottish one.

Instant oats

Milled very fine. Ready in a minute and correspondingly gluey.

Oatmeal

Ground oats, from coarse to fine. Fine oatmeal makes a smooth, almost pudding-like porridge.

Liquid, and why it matters

Roughly three parts liquid to one part rolled oats by volume gives a standard porridge; steel-cut oats need four. More liquid gives a looser result, and porridge thickens considerably as it stands, so make it looser than you want to eat it.

Water gives the cleanest oat flavour and is what a traditional Scottish porridge uses. Milk gives a richer, sweeter result but scorches far more easily and needs a lower heat and more attention. Half and half is a reasonable compromise and what most people prefer.

Salt is not optional. A good pinch does not make porridge salty; it makes it taste of oats. Unsalted porridge is the flattest thing in the kitchen, and people usually compensate with sugar when what it wanted was salt.

The method

1. Combine oats, liquid and a good pinch of salt in a pan. Starting them together in cold liquid gives a creamier result than adding oats to boiling.
2. Bring slowly to a simmer, stirring.
3. Cook on a low heat, stirring regularly and scraping the base and corners — this is where it catches.
4. For rolled oats, five to eight minutes. For steel-cut, twenty-five or more.
5. It is ready when the oats have swollen fully and the mixture has thickened but still moves. Undercooked porridge tastes raw and chalky.
6. Take it off and let it stand for a minute or two before serving; it thickens and settles.

What goes wrong, and what to add

• Catches and scorches — heat too high, or not stirred enough, especially with milk. A heavy-based pan helps enormously.
• Gluey — over-stirred, or instant oats, or too little liquid.
• Thin and watery — not cooked long enough for the starch to swell, or too much liquid.
• Tastes of nothing — no salt.
• Toppings that work: brown sugar or honey, cream or milk poured round the edge, stewed fruit, banana, toasted nuts and seeds, cinnamon, a spoonful of jam, or salt and butter alone.
• Overnight oats are a different dish — soaked rather than cooked, and never creamy in the same way.

Beyond oats and beyond breakfast

The technique — a starchy grain cooked slowly in liquid until it releases — is not specific to oats or to the morning.

• Overnight oats. Soaked rather than cooked, in milk or yoghurt. A different texture, and it wants more acid and more salt than people give it.
• Savoury porridge. Oats cooked in stock with a soft egg, spring onion and chilli oil. Common across East Asia in rice form and excellent with oats.
• Congee. Rice cooked in a large volume of stock for an hour. The same idea, and the best possible use of leftover rice and a chicken carcass.
• Polenta and grits. Maize, the same method, and the same rule about salt and stirring.
• Millet, buckwheat, spelt and barley all make porridge, each with a different texture. Buckwheat is the most distinctive.
• Semolina and ground rice puddings, which are the sweet dessert versions.
• Whatever the grain, the two rules hold: salt from the start, and stir enough to release the starch but not so much that it turns to glue.

Common questions