Lisa Williams talks about porridge with a passion which explains why she’s a world champion at creating this much-loved Scottish dish.
In fact, this woman is so adept at devising new recipes and knowing her oats that you could describe her as a cereal killer in the kitchen – and she will be in her element today when she defends her title at the World Porridge Making Championships in Carrbridge.
This competition started out as a quirky bit of fun in 2009, but now attracts participants from as far afield as Australia and Europe – and the quest to win the Golden Spurtle award is fiercely contested between those who travel to the Highlands.
Lisa, who runs a community cafe in Suffolk for people with learning difficulties, has been inspired by her many trips to the north of Scotland and talks about porridge with the same enthusiasm as Rick Stein does fish or Gino D’Acampo pasta.
Her parents travelled to Dulnain Bridge for their honeymoon in 1970 and the family has been returning to the same cottage ever since.
In the early days, there was no electricity, but it’s now all mod cons with fabulous views across the Cairngorms.
Lisa, who regards it as her “happy place”, and her husband, were on holiday in 2015 at the cottage when they discovered the World Porridge Making Championships were being staged in Carrbridge and she immediately thought it sounded interesting.
Big thrills in a little village
And she was thrilled by the porridge parade, the pipers, the village hall decorated in flags from all nations, the tartan and heather, and the incredibly friendly atmosphere, even as the participants dreamt up all manner of diverse dishes.
While watching the heats, she decided she wanted to get involved, so applied for the 2016 competition and has been in the thick of the action ever since.
An inveterate enthusiast, Lisa has never been afraid to shake things up and isn’t restricted to cooking porridge on its own. Instead, she has developed her own exotic twists, even if some of her recipes may induce the vapours in traditionalists.
At Christmas for a treat, she likes to eat it with brown sugar and double cream, and her grandchildren love it with a couple of squares of chocolate to stir in and melt.
Even the porridge she eats most days of the week could be seen as a bit controversial – “I like primula cheese and chives with ham and cottage cheese. It is slimming, it is world friendly and what I am basing my speciality recipe on this year.”
The event not only raises Carrbridge’s profile, but helps the charity Mary’s Meals, and offers people such as Lisa the chance to spurt towards another spurtle.
Samuel Johnson may once have described oats as “a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people”.
But nowadays, porridge is a delicacy full of infinite possibilities.
Further details are available at www.goldenspurtle.com/competition-rules