The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: SallyintNorth on January 10, 2015, 10:58:14 am
-
A very nice Scottish spinner of my acquaintance (description fits fleecewife, but it wasn't fleecewife as it happens :D) gave me a spirtle recently. She'd previously told me you could use one as a nostepinne (for winding a ball of yarn.)
Now, I had recently treated myself to a pukka nostepinne (having made do with the inner of a loo roll for years) so didn't really need another. But it's a very nice spirtle, and I love using things that people have bought me, and thinking about them as I use them, so I've been using it as a nostepinne.
However, I also make porridge every morning. I cook it in a cast-iron saucepan, with the spoon I will use to eat it with resting in there for stirring purposes.
A relative with Scottish connections told me that she thinks porridge stirred with a spirtle is better than porridge stirred with a spoon.
Given that I eat the porridge with the spoon I use to stir it, using the spirtle would mean more washing up.
Discuss! (please :D)
-
I think you need to try porridge with the spirtle (I suggest taking the yarn off first!) and see if you feel the improvement in taste is worth the extra washing up!
-
Seeing as I don't know what a spirtle is and that I make my porridge in a microwave I am just going to sit back and watch the comments from others ;)
-
My spirtle got pinched by the OH for stirring his paint. Now I only use it for mixing the animal feeds.
-
Seeing as I don't know what a spirtle is and that I make my porridge in a microwave I am just going to sit back and watch the comments from others ;)
Ditto :spin:
-
I used to use a spirtle (it's just a stick :D) for porridge til someone nicked it. Now I use a wooden spatula so the porridge doesn't get stuck on the bottom of the pot. Trying to keep one spatula for porridge only is my problem, and if you use one which has stirred something strongly flavoured, no matter how you've scrubbed it, there will be a hint of taste in your breakfast. That's where a spirtle is supreme, because it's not much use for anything else so doesn't get used for curry and doesn't spoil your porridge.
I don't use a nostepinne so I've never tried a spirtle for that, even if I still had mine :spin: :knit:.
-
I don't use a spirtle, but I do use a wooden spoon to stir it with. Therefore I still have two implements to wash. I don't like porridge done in the microwave, on the hob it tastes much better. ;D So I think you should try a spirtle.
Beth
-
I cook on a camp fire atm and use an enamel sausepan , a metal spoon to stir and eat with . Even cooking on a camp fire it doesn't stick , so far ! Spoon or whatever , as long as it is cooked , i don't care really .
-
I totally agree that porridge is miles better cooked on the hob. I always used to do it in the microwave until the microwave broke 8 years ago. I've never replaced it and I wouldn't use if for porridge even if I got another.
I see the benefits of the 'porridge only' wooden stirrer... just wonder whether there is something about the consistency, perhaps, which is better if stirred by stick rather than spoon. (And/or wood rather than metal - although as FW says, it needs to be uncontaminated wood.)
I'm actually loathe to test it unless I have some confidence I'll like it better, because once it's been used for porridge I think I won't use it for winding wool any more. Now, it's not as good a nostepinne as the purpose-made one I bought, but as I said above, I do love using things that someone has given me, so I would hate to end up with this gift unused!
I suppose if I find I don't want to use it for porridge, I can always use it to stir the raddle! :D
-
As I don't have a spirtle I use a wooden spoon when making porridge .
-
I too use a wooden spoon to stir porridge, it seems more right somehow. Also, I cook my porridge oats in water adding a pinch of salt and nothing more.
Should I ever come across a spirtle I will certainly use it.
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle)
Funny - it was originally a spatula, which is what I use.
Easy enough to make your own.
-
Ahhh, it sort of looks like a dibber but a bit longer :)
-
I will make one! What type of wood does anyone recommend, ash or hazel? I don't have any beech.
-
Ash :tree:
-
We has an ash tree cut down last year and have tons of wood. How would you start to make one of these as I have never done any wood work before
-
We has an ash tree cut down last year and have tons of wood. How would you start to make one of these as I have never done any wood work before
Cut a branch to length, then quarter it. If you have a wood turning lathe the whole thing can be made on that very quickly, if not you have to whittle (?sp) it. You could make a simple pole lathe, but hardly worth it for one spirtle ;D
-
Heresy maybe, but I don't think the choice of stirring implement makes much difference.
However, mixing up the ingredients in the pan the night before, and leaving it in the fridge overnight definitely does :thumbsup: .
-
Just so I have this clear... we're talking about a stick; probably made and imported from china used to stir a mash of grass seed (that could have come from anywhere) and water by someone who doesn;t actually live in scotland??
I had fishcakes this morning and I didn't stir them at all...
-
Yer stirrin' noo though! :-J
Is it no a Spurtle anyhoo?
(http://www.lovescotlandgifts.com/photos/1.752087ks02-scottish-porridge-spurtle-zoom.jpg)
-
Ha ha, pgkevet.
My gifted spurtle (you can spell it either way, I think, but actually the label on mine does spell it with a 'u', you're right, Womble) is made in the EU, at least. And, similar to the one in Womble's pic, the handle end is shaped like an elongated Scotch thistle, which is a nice touch, I think. It's beechwood, btw.
I eat porridge - always from the UK, most often but maybe not always Scottish - pretty much every morning year round, and live within 20 miles of the Scottish border. :huff: ;) :-J
If stirring with a wooden stick gives a better result than stirring with a metal spoon, I can't see that location matters much! :D
Thinking about it some more (not because it matters in the grand scheme of things, but because why not?), I do make my porridge with half milk half water, and it is less inclined to be lumpy as a result of that, I think. So maybe a spirtle is more important for those who make their porridge with water only, especially perhaps if they use oatmeal rather than rolled oats. (I mostly use part oatmeal, mostly rolled oats.) I do find it more of a challenge to get it smooth if I make it from all oatmeal, especially if I use all water, no milk. :thinking:
-
And on the subject of ingredients for porridge... I recently ran out of my usual oats, and all I could find on that occasion was Scott's Porage Oats, so I bought them.
As a child, my mother used to try to get me to eat porage, and I mostly found it unpleasant. I quite liked the texture it made at the edges if you poured very hot milk over it, so I'd eat the edges if she did that, but always found the remainder rather unappealing.
Later in life, I started making porridge with milk as a way of using more of the delicious straight-from-the-Guernsey organic milk on the farm where I was WWOOFing, and have had it for breakfast most days since. (And it's always better if the milk is straight from the home cow, of course ;) )
I thought it was just one of those childhood faddy things that I'd not liked porage much when I was a wee'un.
Until I got those Scott's Porage Oats home... made my porage my usual way, something just not quite nice about it... something about the texture more than the taste...
I realised it was Scott's Porage Oats we'd had in the house when I was a child...
Does anyone else find a big difference between the Scott's brand oats and others?
-
I always use porridge oats.
1 of oats to 1 of milk & half water.
Stirred with a wooden spoon.
Once ready top with either sugar, jam or honey.
Never with salt.
Pot and spoon then filled with water to soak and make cleaning much easier.
-
I reckon using a spurtle matters.. if it didn't, someone wouldn't have invented it :D
-
Sally, there are two kinds of Scotts Porage oats - the mushy one and the Traditional, which has much more taste and texture. I'm too lazy to use actual oatmeal. I think it's that company (and their snooty spelling of porridge) which have promoted the idea of it being a particularly Scottish product, maybe to go with their name?
-
I reckon using a spurtle matters.. if it didn't, someone wouldn't have invented it :D
Perhaps they were just too lazy to carve a spoon? :)
-
Sally, there are two kinds of Scotts Porage oats - the mushy one and the Traditional, which has much more taste and texture. I'm too lazy to use actual oatmeal. I think it's that company (and their snooty spelling of porridge) which have promoted the idea of it being a particularly Scottish product, maybe to go with their name?
I'm even more confused now! ??? On their website, as well as the new-fangled 'So-Easy' water+go type, they talk about two varieties, 'Original' and 'Old-fashioned' but give no clues as to the difference between them. They both contain 100% Scottish Rolled Oats. ???
-
Sorry, I have got the names crossed over. One has bigger chunkier whole oat grains, squashed (old fashioned), the other (traditional) has small huskless oats (just checked the boxes). So in one type you get all of the grain, the other you get a version the equivalent of white bread. I've never tried the instant stuff, (nor ever ever reddy brek).
Better though are the jumbo oat flakes you can get from wholefood stores and some supermarkets.
Which kinds do you use Sally when you're not using proper oatmeal? I think the oats themselves might make far more difference than the spirtle v spoon question.
-
I, too use the wholegrain oats from the health food shop. Tastier and cheaper than boxes of quick cook oats from the supermarket. Soaked overnight they don't take long to cook and you can read a chapter of your book whilst stirring. As for reddy brek, the least said the better!!!!
Now, for my spirtle or spurtle , how thick a piece of ash branch should I cut, what length, should I carve it green or wait for it to season? I have a tiny very sharp blade on my multi purpose knife (won in a raffle!) and fancy whittling a goose for the top.
-
I would have thought that it would warp and split if carved green.
-
Right, then I shall do a test one in green wood and season some more.
-
I would have thought that it would warp and split if carved green.
greenwood turning/carving is an artful process... really depends on making some shaping cuts to thin the stock before partial seasoning and returning to the piece - often wrapping in newspape with the shavings so it doesn; dry too quick and split/deform. Its fine if you have a lot of staged items already in process to occupy you.
A seasoned stick shoved on a lathe and it's moments to do - perhaps worth a look in the woodpile for a nice dry log to split for stock?
-
Which oats do I usually use... well, most often I'll be using the ones from my most local mill, the Little Salkeld Watermill (http://organicmill.co.uk/). I also like the ones from Marriage's. One of my other favourites are Flahavan's, which are from Ireland; Waitrose sell them and they are very, very good.
(So apparently I lied upthread - none of my usuals are from Scotland! I'd thought Marriage's were Scottish, but I now realise they are in Essex! It is true to say that if I am choosing from a selection that doesn't include any of my favourites, I'll choose the Scottish ones.)
I've never tried any of the 'instant' type, although I did see an esteemed TASer having one of the microwave-in-a-pot ones at the first Scottish Smallholder Show, and she said it was an awful lot better than many of the alternative breakfasts-on-the-hoof ! :D
Sometimes I have plain oats, cooked in half-water half-milk, with a few sunflower seeds and sultanas in, and sometimes I mix other grains in - some oatmeal, I love to use some rye flakes if I have some, sometimes I add buckwheat, barley, or other grains I may have to hand.
BH likes it with pumpkin seeds as well as the sunflower seeds and sultanas; we both like to add fresh blueberries and/or raspberries if we have some. Sometimes I cook it with an apple or a pear cut up into it.
Now and again I add nothing at all. And very rarely I make it with water and add just a tiny bit of salt ;)
-
I wish Mr F liked all those additives, but he has to have his porridge totally plain, no salt, no sugar, no sultanas, pumpkin seeds, sunflowers etc, just a little milk. Still, I suppose one little flaw isn't too much to cope with - he's perfect in every other way :roflanim:
-
(http://cdn01.iceland.co.uk/medias/sys_master/h12/h3d/8830965055518.jpg)
:yum:
-
(http://cdn01.iceland.co.uk/medias/sys_master/h12/h3d/8830965055518.jpg)
:yum:
Mmm, me too Womble
-
(http://cdn01.iceland.co.uk/medias/sys_master/h12/h3d/8830965055518.jpg)
:yum:
Mmm, me too Womble
Or soft dark brown sugar! Yumm!
-
:idea: I thought a " spurtle " was the start of a big leak :roflanim:
Porridge & Ronnie Barker ... I wonder what he would make of a spurtle ?
Years ago I had some simple cattle feed rolled oats stolen out the farms hand mill in the farmers barn where dad worked . Stolen by my brother when he was paid to hand mill so many oats for the horses .
They secretly were steeped over night in boiled up rain water , sat on top of the oven of the old pre-Victiorian open fire cooking range .
Somewhere my brother had read that Scotsmen used such " porridge " oats and ate then whilst standing up having had them sprinkled with salt first .
So in the morning big bro ( just turned 12 ) strained the water off and boiled it up in clean water on the gas ring .
Being a bit of a bully he made me ( just turned six years old ) eat 1/4 of a bowl of it with salt sprinkled on it whilst stood at the old pine table .
Half an hour later , I hooped it up all over him as was sat in front of me on the school bus , I've never like porridge since then .