Curiously enough, this oat-soup, the grain being lubricated by thickened milk, is still a favourite dish in Normandy and LoAver Brittany. The Greeks had several kinds of porridge, including a barley gruel called alphiton ; to the barley Avas added linseed meal, Avith coriander seeds, salt, and the requisite quantity of Avater. As to the famous black broth of the Spartans, my oAvn opinion is that it Avas a porridge made either of dark-coloured * See j>. 31. E 2 52 TEE THOROUGH GOOD COOK. lentils, or of those black beans which are known in ]\Iexico as frigoles. The frumenta, or gruels, of the ancient Romans distinctly survive in the " polenta," or porridge made from red and yellow maize flour, which is greedily consumed throughout the Italian peninsula, but especially in Piedmont and Tuscany. The American nuish, for Avhich you will find a ^recipe,* is nothing but a very simple preparation of polenta, or maize flour ; but you may make it a great deal more appetis- ing if you dress it with butter, or Avith grated cheese. The Neapolitans mix their polenta to the consistence of a stiff pudding, and dress it with cheese, butter, and gravy ; while at Nice it is often allowed to o-et cold, being afterwards cut into slices, garnished with cheese or scraped ham, or sausage meat with a little garlic, and then placed in the oven to be baked for about twelve minutes. The Americans have at least twenty different kinds of porridge, to which they are inordinately addicted as breakfast dishes. Mush, hominy, burgoo, crushed wheat, crushed millet, lentils, and beans are among the pottages which they consume. The Germans occasional!}' eat potato porridge ; and it is almost superfluous to say that the Scotch are tremendous porridge or " parritch " eaters. The best Avay of making real Scotch porridge does not very much differ from the American mode of preparing mush. The water must be boiling ; you must let the oatmeal trickle slowl}' and steadily through your fingers into the Avater, stirring all the time with a " spirtle " or porridge-stick till the entire preparation becomes a homogeneous, bubbling mass. Season 3'our Scotch porridge with salt✪ Scotch Porridge only. There is a good deal of porridge eaten in the North of England ; and even in London and other large towns, frugal parents often bring up their children on what they term " the porridge system." The oatmeal is nourishing enough, no doubt ; but, taken regularly in con- siderable quantities by very 3'oung peoj)le, is apt to overheat * Sec p. 4(;2. CHATS ABOUT COOKERY. 53 the blood. I think that barley or millet porridge for children would be better than coutinnal oatmeal. For the rest, so far as my experience goes, I believe that the majority of London Avorking people heartily detest all kinds of porridge. They associate it -with "skilly," and they hate it because to their minds it represents the diet of the workhouse iind the gaol. Chops.

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Curiously enough, this oat-soup, the grain being lubricated by thickened milk, is still a favourite dish in Normandy and LoAver Brittany. The Greeks had several kinds of porridge, including a barley gruel called alphiton ; to the barley Avas added linseed meal, Avith coriander seeds, salt, and the requisite quantity of Avater. As to the famous black broth of the Spartans, my oAvn opinion is that it Avas a porridge made either of dark-coloured * See j>. 31. E 2 52 TEE THOROUGH GOOD COOK. lentils, or of those black beans which are known in ]\Iexico as frigoles. The frumenta, or gruels, of the ancient Romans distinctly survive in the " polenta," or porridge made from red and yellow maize flour, which is greedily consumed throughout the Italian peninsula, but especially in Piedmont and Tuscany. The American nuish, for Avhich you will find a ^recipe,* is nothing but a very simple preparation of polenta, or maize flour ; but you may make it a great deal more appetis- ing if you dress it with butter, or Avith grated cheese. The Neapolitans mix their polenta to the consistence of a stiff pudding, and dress it with cheese, butter, and gravy ; while at Nice it is often allowed to o-et cold, being afterwards cut into slices, garnished with cheese or scraped ham, or sausage meat with a little garlic, and then placed in the oven to be baked for about twelve minutes. The Americans have at least twenty different kinds of porridge, to which they are inordinately addicted as breakfast dishes. Mush, hominy, burgoo, crushed wheat, crushed millet, lentils, and beans are among the pottages which they consume. The Germans occasional!}' eat potato porridge ; and it is almost superfluous to say that the Scotch are tremendous porridge or " parritch " eaters. The best Avay of making real Scotch porridge does not very much differ from the American mode of preparing mush. The water must be boiling ; you must let the oatmeal trickle slowl}' and steadily through your fingers into the Avater, stirring all the time with a " spirtle " or porridge-stick till the entire preparation becomes a homogeneous, bubbling mass. Season 3'our Scotch porridge with salt only. There is a good deal of porridge eaten in the North of England ; and even in London and other large towns, frugal parents often bring up their children on what they term " the porridge system." The oatmeal is nourishing enough, no doubt ; but, taken regularly in con- siderable quantities by very 3'oung peoj)le, is apt to overheat * Sec p. 4(;2. CHATS ABOUT COOKERY. 53 the blood. I think that barley or millet porridge for children would be better than coutinnal oatmeal. For the rest, so far as my experience goes, I believe that the majority of London Avorking people heartily detest all kinds of porridge. They associate it -with "skilly," and they hate it because to their minds it represents the diet of the workhouse iind the gaol. Chops.

The thorough good cook