Buttermilk Porridge

1 liter buttermilk
60 grams flour
molasses or ‘stroop’
salt

Put the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt. Pour in half of the buttermilk and mix into a smooth paste. Boil the remaining 500 ml buttermilk and add the flour paste gradually, stirring constantly. Keep on stirring for 4 minutes till the porridge is cooked. Serve with stroop (syrup) or molasses.

For centuries (‘sweet’) milk was a luxury item and buttermilk the drink of the day, cold and warm. Milk or buttermilk often was the base of some kind of porridge (‘pap’ in Dutch) of which there are a myriad of recipes, as a breakfast, meal or dessert item. Dessert in Dutch has the untranslatable name ‘toetje’, literally meaning ‘something after’.