PalenQ

Dennys is more like Whimpys to me

Now that the OP has gone home let me ask another pourridge question

peas pudding = porridge

what is porridge itself

like in the Pink Floyd song that has a father threatening his little boy - Pinkie i guess during the war - 'you better eat your pourridge'

makes it sound like even during war kids were aloof to eat porridge

we have this idea that most English eat porridge - but my impression is that is passe?

my dictionary says porridge is oatmeal boiled in water or milk - doesn't sound so kid unfriendly to me - given it's served with dollops of sugar

and today would be a health food

do kids still hear 'you better eat your porridge'?

thanks as ever

avalon

Porridge is hot cooked cerals, usually oatmeal.

SandyBrit

PalenQ -

Porridge - made from steel-cut oats or rolled oats and called oatmeal in the USA.

Pease porridge - split pea soup

I grew up in the U.K. and we did indeed eat porridge for breakfast (still do today) and a lot of weetabix.

Sandy

xyz123

But Sandy..

I bet you never ate grits for breakfast....

PalenQ

Come to think of it we as kids in the 50s did not cotton to cooked cereals either

though i luv em now - with lots of brown sugar

thursdaysd

No, pease pudding (which I occasionally make from my mother's recipe, yum) is NOT porridge, any more than it's the same thing as mushy peas (ugh). Porridge is a Scottish breakfast dish which I refuse to touch. I believe your dictionary is correct, although I've heard that some people eat it with salt, and some with cream.

Lawchick

I eat porridge every morning - now that I've given up the pie and a pint and a fag.

I have it with yoghurt and grated apple (and linseeds to keep me regular - TMI)...yummy.

Lawchick

I have to admit - the pie and the pint would have actually been healthy for me in the past.

My breakfast of kings for years was a fag, a can of diet coke and the Irish Times.

I was a good deal thinner then but I had the lungs of a coalminer. I'm all healthy now, with shiny pink lungs and a shiny pink spare tyre.

Suki

You sound lovely, lawchick; all shiny pink like that.

Is it unanimous then that pease porridge's US equivalent is split pea soup?

PalenQ

Suzy - the definitive answers:

Pease Porridge Hot - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"Pease Porridge Hot" or "Pease Pudding Hot" (also known as "Peas Porridge Hot" due to spelling corrections) is a children's nursery rhyme. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pease_Porridge_Hot

[PDF] Peas Porridge hot, Peas Porridge cold, Peas Porridge in the pot ...File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Remember the old nursery rhyme about peas porridge? What exactly. is peas porridge? In the days of pioneers when fireplaces were used for more than ...
www.mchd.com/pdf/soup.pdf

thursdaysd

"pease porridge's US equivalent is split pea soup" - absolutely not. At least when I make it it's pretty solid. As said above, think polenta. I haven't made it in a while, but it's basically mashed cooked split peas mixed with butter or margarine and salt and pepper. Consider it a veggie, not a soup.

PalenQ

susy - sorry jumped to conclusions - i still am not sure of what peas porridge is as neither source actually defined

even with the English folks explanations i'mconfused (not unusual) as they give conflicting info

peas porridge - how is it made and is it the same as peas pud?

thursdaysd

My mother's Pease Pudding recipe:

8 oz dried split peas
1 oz butter or marg
salt and pepper to taste

Soak split peas overnight, bring to a boil in lightly salted water, skim off froth and simmer until soft. Drain and mash the peas as you beat in butter or marg and pepper. If too dry, add some of the cooking water. Spoon into a buttered dish and heat through in the oven. My mother served it with ham.

MissPrism

Right From the Great British Cookbook http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/cookbook.htm

Pease pudding is an old favourite of the north-east of England. Left-over pease pudding can be fried or eaten cold, as in the children's rhyme:

Pease pudding hot!
Pease pudding cold!
Pease pudding in the pot
Nine days old.
Ingredients
Serves: 4

225 Gram Dried split peas, soaked (8 oz)
1 Small Onion, peeled and halved
1 Bunch Fresh herbs, tied together
300 ml Water ( 1/2 pint)
1 Egg
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Drain the peas and put them in a pan with the onion, herbs and water. Bring to the boil, cover the pan and simmer until the peas are tender - about an hour. Check during the cooking, stir occasionally, and add a little more boiling water if the peas are drying out before they are cooked. Beat the peas well to make a smooth purée - or liquidise them - and beat in the egg and seasoning. The purée should resemble a thick paste.

Either turn the purée into a greased and floured pudding cloth, tie it securely and boil it (preferably in meat stock) for 1 hour or turn it into a shallow, greased ovenproof dish, level the surface and bake in the oven preheated to 180 ° C / 350 ° F / Gas 4 for 30 minutes.

cd

Well, I'm sure learning a lot! RE..."beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs (I prefer mine scrambled), sausage (which I always pass on), bacon (never burnt to a crisp), toast smothered with butter, with a glass of orange juice" What kind of beans would it be? And is the sausage the small black sausage that is made with blood in it? Like what we had in Ireland?

thursdaysd

I suspect the porridge/pudding wording may just be a linguistic shift. My venerable (1967) Good Housekeeping (UK equivalent of Joy of Cooking) has a recipe for pease pudding in the veg section, but porridge is in the breakfast section and is made from oatmeal.

carolinetaylor

What kind of beans would it be? And is the sausage the small black sausage that is made with blood in it? Like what we had in Ireland?

These are baked beans in tomato sauce (heinz are the best,) I think the sausage with blood in it that you are referring to is black pudding and is made with pigs blood i believe (although i could be wrong) There is also white pudding which is similar.

The best black pudding is found in the north west and is an acquired taste.

My perfect English breakfast would be

Bacon, Sausage, Fried eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms, hash browns, fried bread, a small piece of black pudding and loads of toast.

Porridge is a great breakfast in the winter as it warms you up and keeps you full until lunch. I love it with milk and a touch of brown sugar

PatrickLondon

You can make porridge with coarse oatmeal, or indeed oat bran, but it isn't very nice. Rolled oats, for preference.

There is a lot of advice these days that things made with oats are good for you, in helping to lower cholesterol or eliminate sugars from the system, or simply releasing energy slowly rather than with a sugar rush (so much for those of us who like porridge with a bit of dried fruit and honey - on a Sunday, no time to cook breakfasts in the week). So everything oat-y is coming back into fashion.

What you can do with oatmeal is make Staffordshire oatcakes with a filling to taste for a light meal: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A426016

or cranachan for a more indulgent dessert:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...an_66101.shtml

And sausages for breakfast could be any sort of sausage, usually pork "bangers". I've never had black or white pudding.

cd

Yes, Caroline, that's it! It was called black pudding, I had forgotten. I liked the white pudding but not the black, I guess it is an acquired taste. Even though it is called pudding, it is sausage, right?

avalon

I wish I had never read this thread because an old nursery rhyme has been running thru my mind ever since!

Pease porridge hot,
Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot,
Nine days old;
Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot,
Nine days old.