Porridge and Cream

The long wooden porridge stick, known as the ‘spurtle’, is stirred through the heaving grey mass that fills a large black iron pot hanging over the fire in the farmhouse kitchen. Soon, it comes to a boil. Volcanic eruptions make the familiar noise. The ‘parritch’ is ready.

The pot is taken to the table, the stick is removed and the family gathers round, each holding their wooden bowl of freshly skimmed cream in one hand and in the other, a long-handled, carved horn spoon.

In communal eating like this you take your turn to delve into the pot for a steaming spoonful before dipping it into the cream. Hot porridge: cold cream. And once everyone has had their fill, the leftovers are poured into the ‘porridge drawer’ of the Scotch dresser. When cold and set like jelly, the ‘parritch’ is called ‘caulders’ and is cut up into slices – like Italians cut up leftover polenta – to fry up later, or take to the fields as a midday snack. From about the beginning of the eighteenth century, it’s a common ritual for most Scots, as oats begin to replace barley as the country’s staple grain.