Old-fashioned Irish Plum Porridge

Ingredients

• y2 lb. of oatmeal
• 4 ozs. of well-washed currants
• a bit of butter the size of a walnut

Method

1. 1

   Soak oatmeal and currants overnight.

2. 2

   Grease a bag, mix currants with oatmeal and butter, place in the bag, and cook for 50 minutes in a moderately hot oven.

3. 3

   Serve with powdered sugar and cream.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Paper-bag cookery (1911) by Nicolas Soyer, page 33. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Old-fashioned Irish plum porridge. Soak y2 lb. of oatmeal overnight in cold water. At the same time soak 4 ozs. of well-washed cur- rants in another dish. Grease a bag well, drain the currants, add them to the oatmeal to- gether with a bit of butter the size of a walnut. Mix, place in the bag, close, and cook for 50 minutes in a moderately hot oven. Serve with powdered sugar, and, if possible, a little cream. SOYER’S PAPER-BAG COOKERY 105 Wednesday Let the dinner be roast and stuffed breast of mutton. Take a lean breast of mutton 4 lbs. weight, getting the butcher to bone it for you. Make a stuffing with 2 ozs. of stale breadcrumbs, a dust of salt and pepper, a finely chopped onion, and a heaped dessertspoonful of minced pars- ley, or, if pressed for time, a little finely pow- dered mixed sweet herbs. Add a good lump of dripping, or cut a little fat from the thick part of the breast, chop this finely, and use instead of dripping. Bind if possible with an egg, or, failing this, use a little cold milk. Lay this mixture on the inside of the meat. Roll as tightly as possible, tie into place with clean tape or string. Grease the bag well. Put in 1 lb. of peeled and halved potatoes, choosing these all as nearly of a size as possi- ble. Then put in the meat. Add the other and put in the rest of the potatoes. Put in bag in a very hot oven. Lower the gas half- way (or push in the dampers), and cook for an hour and a quarter or an hour and a half, according as the meat is liked well, over or io6 SOYER’S PAPER-BAG COOKERY underdone. Turn out, serve with a little red currant jam, if jelly is not possible. Baked bread pudding will be found very acceptable after this. To make it, soak half a pound or more of stale bread overnight in cold water. Then beat up with a fork till quite light. Now add to it an ounce of brown sugar, 2 ozs. of well- washed currants

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.