Mealy pudding, Scottish food

[micheil]

Quote from Carolayn, posted on Nov. 19 2001,12:41Quote:

Hi,
I'm looking for a recipe for white mealy pudding.  I have searched high and low and can't find one anywhere.  Sure hope that I have some luck here.
I live in California and am married to a poor, deprived American whose never tasted a real mealy pudding.
Thanks for any help!
Carolayn

WHITE MEALY PUDDING.

2 cups medium oatmeal
2 cups medium onions, finely chopped
salt
4 oz. grated suet or
4 tablespoons. good dripping
freshly ground pepper

Melt suet or dripping in a very hot pan.
Add onions, brown lightly.
Stir in oatmeal to make a fairly thick mixture.
Keep stirring 5 - 7 minutes on gentle heat until totally cooked.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Marag gheal - feuch i - tha i glè mhath gu dearbh! (White (mealy) pudding - try it - It's very good indeed!)

Mìcheal.

[scottish2]

Thanks in Advance for forwarding their reply so that others can try this great sounding recipe out.  

[kylassie]

When in doubt look it up! Here is an encyclopedia article that I found on the Internet concerning the entire "oats" issue!

Definition: According to a definition in Samuel Johnson's 1755 Dictionary of the English Language, oats were "a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but which in Scotland supports the people." Since oats are by far the most nutritious of the cereal grasses, it would appear that the Scots were ahead of the rest of us. Today, whole oats are still used as animal fodder. Humans don't usually consume them until after the oats have been cleaned, toasted, hulled and cleaned again, after which time they become oat groats (which still contain most of the original nutrients). Oat groats can be cooked and served as cereal, or prepared in the same manner as rice and used as a side dish or in a dish such as a salad or stuffing. When steamed and flattened with huge rollers, oat groats become regular rolled oats (also called old-fashioned oats). They take about 15 minutes to cook. Quick-cooking rolled oats are groats that have been cut into several pieces before being steamed and rolled into thinner flakes. Though they cook in about 5 minutes, many think the flavor and texture are never quite as satisfying as with regular rolled oats. Old-fashioned oats and quick-cooking oats can usually be interchanged in recipes. Instant oats, however, are not interchangeable because they're made with cut groats that have been precooked and dried before being rolled. This precooking process so softens the oat pieces that, after being combined with a liquid, the mixture can turn baked goods such as muffins or cookies into gooey lumps. Most instant oatmeal is packaged with salt, sugar and other flavorings. Scotch oats or steel-cut oats or Irish oatmeal are all names for groats that have been cut into 2 to 3 pieces and not rolled. They take considerably longer to cook than rolled oats and have a decidedly chewy texture. Oat flour is made from groats that have been ground into powder. It contains no gluten, however, so--for baked goods that need to rise, like yeast breads--must be combined with a flour that does. Oat bran is the outer casing of the oat and is particularly high in soluble fiber, thought to be a leading contender in the fight against high cholesterol. Oat bran, groats, flour and Scotch oats are more likely to be found in health-food stores than supermarkets. Oats are high in vitamin B-1 and contain a good amount of vitamins B-2 and E.


--Copyright © 1995 by Barron's Educational Series, from The New Food Lover's Companion, Second Edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst

[Carolayn]

Hi,
I'm looking for a recipe for white mealy pudding.  I have searched high and low and can't find one anywhere.  Sure hope that I have some luck here.
I live in California and am married to a poor, deprived American whose never tasted a real mealy pudding.
Thanks for any help!
Carolayn

[scottish2]

Hi Carolayn

You might want to try this page of my site. It's on food and recipes. One of the sites might have the recipe you want. If not you might find one you'll like just as much.  

http://www.scottishradio.net/scottish/Food.htm

[kylassie]

Micheal, in the United States we have Rolled Oats and Instant Oatmeal - what is "medium oats?"  I would like to try this recipe out, it sounds interesting!

Slainte,

Janet

[kylassie]

Thank you Scottish2!  I went to the Quaker Oatmeal site and posted a question to them . I decided that if anyone would know what "medium oatmeal" is they would know! They might even be able to offer some tips about how I can make it out of regular oatmeal.  Their website is http://www.quakeroatmeal.com and as soon as I hear from them I will post any new information here.

Slainte,

Janet

[kylassie]

Here is the reply I just recieved from the Quaker Oats Company:

Hello Janet:

Thanks for your OatMail

Although we have no information on "medium oatmeal,"  there are steel cut oats which are also known as Scotch Oats or Pinhead Oats.  These oats are cut but not rolled.  They cook in 20 to 30 minutes.  They are not the same as Old Fashioned or Quick One Minute Quaker Oats.  Unfortunately, we don't
make steel cut oats but perhaps you might find them at a health food store.

We hope this information is helpful.

Pat
=============================================
I am attempting to try out recipes from Scotland. Many of the recipes that I
have call for something known as "medium oatmeal" and I have no idea what
that is! Perhaps you can help me to determine what that product may be and
how I can aquire it to use in these recipes. I have not been able to find
any here locally who has any knowledge of this "medium oatmeal" product -
they are like me, all we know is "quick or old-fashioned"!

[scottish2]

Have dropped a close Scottish friend of mine a mail on this maybe she might be able to shed some light on this Medium Oat mystery.  

[scottish2]

Here's what mu Scottish friend wrote back. She didn't really know what to suggest either for alternatives here in the states.

Quote:

we have whole rolled oats,
medium oats   and
Milled Oats (oatmeal)
Dont know if you have equivalent but the microwave Quaker oats is a good place to start.
Scottish oats are slightly more calorific than others.

[kylassie]

We do not have Health Food Stores locally (plenty of Unhealthy Food Stores, LOL! ), so I went online again and I found a Healthfood Store called Cathy's Country Store in Wisconsin that carries "steel-cut oats" and it is relatively inexpensive - 4 lbs. for only $3.00, and she will ship anywhere within the USA!

http://www.cathysbulkfoods.com/BuyitFo....erer=no

I plan to order soon, so I can try out all of these interesting Scottish recipes that I keep reading about!

Slainte,

Janet

[CelticRadio]

Hi Carolayn,

First I want to welcome you to the Highlander Radio forum. We appreciate your support of the broadcast and look forward to providing you the best Celtic music has to offer in our broadcast.

I will ask around about that receipe and see if anyone knows. One of our moderators, scottish2, is very good at tracking things down like this and I am sure he will pop in to say a few words and maybe even have the answer for you!

Again, thanks for joining the forum!

[scottish2]

Hi Janet

While I can't answer your question I did do a quick search for "Medium Oats" and came up with the following link at Google. Most are recipes which have these oats but the first one in the list is a message board discussing recipes for oatmeal pancakes and someone asked about medium oats in there and the reply was more or less about getting them and the person thought the asker might be able to get them in a health food shop as that might very well be your next question. Just maybe but if you want anyways here is the link there is only 8 links showing out of the 10 found 2 are duplicates so...

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22medium+oats%22

[Carolayn]

Thanks to everyone for your warm replies!
Michael, I tried your mealy pudding recipe and it was excellent- just like I remembered.  My deprived American doesn't quite understand what all the fuss was about, but he definitely seemed to enjoy his pudding!
Thanks to all of you,
Carol