Weekend Oats in Edinburgh – Savouring Porridge, Scotland’s National Dish

There’s no dish that reminds me more of my childhood than porridge. This humble and often much-maligned breakfast of oats, soaked and cooked in milk or water, was a winter favourite for my family when I was growing up in Australia. Turns out that oatmeal porridge in Edinburgh is quite a thing, so much so that porridge is considered the national dish of Scotland by nearly every Scot we’ve met.

While my family in Australia had no ties to Scotland, where oatmeal porridge appears to be Scotland’s most quintessential dish alongside haggis, when the summer passed and cooler weather prevailed in Brisbane, the smell of oats simmering on the stove in the morning filled our house with comforting aromas, and filled our stomachs with warming bowls of goodness.

When Lara and I arrived in Edinburgh and started to ask the locals what I should cook for my Weekend Eggs recipe series, we always got two suggestions. The first was the dish everyone said was a traditional Scottish breakfast, which is basically a ‘full English breakfast’ of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, baked beans, and perhaps hash browns, enjoyed with endless pieces of buttered toasted, and washed down with lashings of tea.

The Scottish version is distinguished by the addition of haggis and perhaps oat cakes. Yes, oat cakes, which brings me to the second suggestion. The real Scottish breakfast according to many locals we met, including Donald Reid, the eating and drinking editor of The List magazine – who we interviewed for our guide to eating and drinking in Edinburgh – is not an eggs-based dish at all, but an oats-based porridge.

Weekend Oats in Edinburgh – Savouring Porridge, Scotland’s National Dish

That an oat porridge had been recommended as Scotland’s quintessential breakfast got me thinking that perhaps my recipe series on ‘Weekend Eggs’ should have been named ‘Weekend Breakfast’ or ‘Weekend Brunch’, but it was a bit late now that we were at the end of our yearlong global grand tour devoted to slow, local and experiential travel.

Plus I had wanted to keep a narrow focus and emphasise how the humble egg can serve as a blank canvas upon which local ingredients such as chorizo in Spain and Mexico can be added. However, given that this was my last ‘Weekend Eggs’, our Edinburgh kitchen was compact, and Lara and I were absolutely exhausted*, I thought what the heck. (*Update: see our grand tour by numbers to appreciate why we were so wrecked).

While porridge has historically had a bad reputation as hospital food or prison food and has often been seen as an example of the lack of sophistication of Scottish cuisine, it appears that oat porridge is making a comeback in Scotland – and for a few very good reasons.

Firstly, porridge is wonderfully warming and filling on a cold morning when you wake up with an empty stomach. Secondly, oats are wholegrain and are far more nutritious than processed cereals. Thirdly, oats are also a fantastic source of complex carbohydrates, keeping you adequately fuelled for a busy day. For travellers, porridge is ideal if you’re sightseeing, hiking or walking around Edinburgh. Or anywhere, for that matter.

You would think that something as humble as cooking oats would be free from debate, but some Scots argue that it’s not a ‘proper’ porridge unless you’re using pinhead oatmeal, where the oats are cut in small pieces rather than rolled. This type of oats needs to be soaked overnight and has a nuttier flavour than rolled oats, which don’t require soaking and can be cooked in 5-10 minutes.

The cooking of the porridge itself is rather simple – with some caveats. The standard rule is one cup of oatmeal to three cups of cold water and a pinch of salt, and stir over medium heat until thick. Some add a cup of milk with the water or a dash of butter – particularly good on a cold morning.

After serving the porridge I have always added a good sprinkle of brown sugar and a ‘moat’ of milk around the outside, to be drawn in a little with each mouthful. Lara tells me that both her Australian nanna and her Russian-Ukrainian grandmother made her porridge exactly the same way when she was a child growing up in Sydney.

When we visited the Edinburgh’s Farmer’s Market, the Stoats van was selling porridge with various toppings and was doing a roaring trade, with long queues of locals lined up waiting for their hot breakfasts. The humble oat porridge had well and truly made a comeback in Edinburgh.

While my favourite version of porridge was on the menu, albeit with the milk replaced by a thickened cream, I noticed a saucy little version of oat porridge with whisky and honey. Now that wasn’t something I remember my mother offering us when I was a child…

Update: while we will eventually get around to adding a Scottish oat porridge recipe, Lara has since added a recipe for a Scottish sweets dish called cranachan with berries, cream, whisky, honey and oats.