Bland and formless, as devoid of life as a crumpled sock, porridge had nothing to take its name from except the pot in which it was made. The original name of the substance was therefore pottage, first recorded in English in the early thirteenth century; by the early sixteenth century, the pronunciation, and therefore the spelling as well, had shifted to what it currently is, no doubt because people who were frequently forced to eat porridge were too disheartened and malnourished to articulate all the consonants in the name. The original word, pottage, did not vanish, however; having lost its negative association with gruel, it was readopted from French in the mid sixteenth century as the name of a soup, especially a soup made in a French style. Porringer, the name of a bowl from which foods such as soup and porridge are eaten, developed in a manner similar to porridge: in the mid fifteenth century, the word was adopted from French as pottinger, but by the early sixteenth century its pronunciation had shifted to porringer.
Oatmeal, a popular dish in the morning, is typically composed of rolled or roughly ground oats that are cooked together with water and salt. The resulting mixture is commonly served with a touch of milk and a sprinkle of salt or sugar to enhance its flavor.
Hailing from the picturesque land of Scotland, there exists a comforting and nourishing morning meal called “porridge.” This beloved dish, typically crafted from oatmeal, undergoes a transformative process as it is diligently simmered in a seasoned concoction of salted water. Interestingly, the term “porridge” is also occasionally used to describe a hearty, viscous soup prepared from ingredients such as corn, buckwheat, and other grains.