I had nearly omitted a Persian dish, of oatmeal and honey, which is a kind of porridge made by beating up a tablespoonful of oatmeal and the same quantity of honey with the yolk of an egg, and then pouring on it a pint of boiling water and boiling the mixture for a few minutes.
The following is an oatmeal pudding. Take of oatmeal one pint, of boiling milk two pints, of eggs two and of salt a little. Pour the boiling milk over the oatmeal and let it soak all night. Add the eggs, well beaten; butter a basin that will just hold it, cover it tightly with a floured cloth and boil it an hour and a half. Eat it with cold butter and salt. When cool it may be sliced and toasted and eaten as oat-cake buttered.
A porridge of rice and oatmeal was once very popular amongst vegetarians. It was made by boiling eight ounces of rice in a pint of water, and as the water was absorbed, gradually adding two quarts more, also add half a tablespoon of sugar and some salt, and lastly stir in eight ounces of oatmeal, and let the whole boil for twenty minutes. If it be liked sweet, add two ounces of sugar, but if savoury add pepper, salt and some onions boiled and chopped.
Our forefathers were very fond of oatmeal flummery, but it has quite gone out of fashion, though an excellent dish. Put a pound and a half of fine white oatmeal to steep for a day and a night in cold water, and pour it off clear, adding as much more water, and let it stand for the same time; then strain it through a fine hair sieve, and boil it till as thick as hasty pudding, stirring it slowly all the time, and being most careful to prevent its burning. When you first strain the water off, put to it one large tablespoonful of white sugar and two tablespoonfuls of orange-flower water; then pour it into a bowl and serve. It is eaten cold, and with new milk, or cream, and sugar. I am sure my readers will have heard very often of “flummery,” and perhaps may like to try it for themselves.
An oatmeal hasty pudding also comes from Yorkshire. Beat the yolks of two eggs with half a pint of new milk, cold, and a little salt. Thicken this with fine oatmeal, and beat to a very smooth batter. Set a pint and a half of new milk on the fire, and when it is scalding hot pour in the batter, stirring it well that it may be smooth and not burn. Let it be over the fire till it thickens, but do not permit it to boil, and the moment you take it from the fire pour it into a dish. It is eaten with cold butter and sugar, and either a little lemon juice or vinegar.
In that delightful book, The Chemistry of Cookery, by Mr. W. Mathieu Williams, the well-known scientist and lecturer, a book that ought to be studied by every housekeeper, I find that he advocates the idea of porridge being made for some days before it is required, then stored in a closed jar, and brought out and warmed for use. The change effected in it is just that which may theoretically be expected, i.e., a softening of the fibrous material, and a sweetening, due to the formation of sugar. This may be called an application of the principle of ensilage to human food; for ensilage is a process of slow vegetable cookery, a digesting or maceration of fibrous vegetables in their own juices, which loosens the fibre, renders it softer and more digestible; and not only does this, but, to some extent, converts it into dextrine and sugar.
“Although in many respects,” says a recent writer, “oatmeal and flour are very similar, the effect produced by them upon the system is very different. Oatmeal is richer in oily, fatty matter than any other cultivated grain, and its proportion of proteine compounds exceeds that of the finest wheaten flour. Although so nutritious, it cannot be used as a substitute for flour; the peculiar character of its gluten preventing the meal being made into fermented bread. But in other forms it may be made into very pleasant food, such as biscuits, gruel, oatcake and porridge. Oats are a natural grain in England, and are cultivated at less expense than wheat. This last is better adapted for making good fermented bread, and so is more in request. But perhaps the time may come when we shall return to the use of unfermented bread, and shall think that bread made from other grains, and unfermented, is quite as good, or even better, than the fermented bread of flour. At the present time, however, wheat is more consumed than any other grain,” and with this long quotation I will conclude.
STUDY AND STUDIO.
H. M. I.—1. Your hymn tune shows the need of instruction in harmony. There are several consecutive fifths in it, and other faults which study would enable you to avoid. We should advise you to take lessons.—2. Dr. Lemmi’s Italian Grammar is published at 5s. by Messrs. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, and by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London.