Milk Porridges with Grains

About the dish

On page 68 Henriette Schønberg Erken gives a collected account of milk porridges with grains: first nine basic rules for cooking milk dishes, then a table of ratios between milk and grain plus cooking times for the most common gruels. Milk gruel was everyday food in Norwegian homes, and the cleanliness with the milk is emphasized because milk dishes easily scorch or sour.

How to make it

1. 1

   Rinse the pot

   Use a heavy-bottomed pot (Erken prescribes an iron pot) and rinse it with cold water before use. This keeps the milk from scorching so easily.

2. 2

   Boil the milk

   Pour the milk into the pot and bring it quickly to a boil. Do not salt the milk now.

3. 3

   Add the grains

   When the milk boils, sprinkle in the grains while stirring, and keep stirring until the milk comes to a boil again.

4. 4

   Simmer under a lid

   Set the pot over low heat and let the gruel cook evenly under a lid. Stir now and then. Barley needs about 1 1/2 hours.

5. 5

   Thin if necessary

   If the gruel gets too thick, thin only with boiling milk – never with cold. Preferably avoid thinning.

6. 6

   Variations

   Pearl barley gruel: 3–4 l milk, 100 g soaked pearl barley, 2 1/2 hours. Oat gruel: 3 l milk, 120 g rolled oats, 45 minutes – or 100 g soaked whole oat groats, 2 hours. Rice gruel: 2 l milk, 100 g rice grains, 1 1/2 hours. Sago gruel: 2–3 l milk, 100 g sago, 1 hour. Semolina gruel: 3 l milk, 100 g semolina, 15 minutes. Buttermilk gruel: 3 l boiling buttermilk, 100 g split barley grains, 1 1/2 hours.

7. 7

   Serving

   Salt the gruel only when it is done cooking, and add sugar to taste. Serve at once.

8. 8

   If the milk scorches

   Lift the pot off the heat at once and pour the milk over into another pot. Bring to a boil again; if the scorched taste still lingers, 1 tablespoon of spirits per 2 l milk can help.