Brenntar

The flour is roasted before it is cooked, and the names record what happens if you roast it too far.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (milk), honey.

Ingredients

• 200 g wholemeal spelt flour, or oat flour
• 500 ml water
• 250 ml milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons honey, or stewed fruit, to serve

Method

1. THE FLOUR IS ROASTED BEFORE IT IS COOKED, AND THE NAMES RECORD WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ROAST IT TOO FAR. The article gives all three names and translates them: BRENNTAR MEANS BURNED PORRIDGE, HABERMUS MEANS OAT PORRIDGE, AND SCHWARZER BREI MEANS BLACK PORRIDGE.
2. AND THEN IT SETS THE TEST: IF ROASTED CORRECTLY, HOWEVER, BRENNTAR IS BROWN, BUT IF ROASTED FOR TOO LONG IN THE DRYING KILN IT CAN TURN BLACK. So the dish is named twice over for its own failure, and the thing you are watching for is a colour.
3. THE ROASTED FLOUR HAS ITS OWN NAME, which is how you know it is the point: THIS KILN-DRIED FLOUR IS CALLED MUSMEHL. Buy it ready-made or roast it yourself; the dish begins before the pan does.
4. ROAST IT DRY IN A HEAVY PAN, STIRRING WITHOUT STOPPING. Ten to fifteen minutes over a medium heat until it smells of toast and has gone the colour of weak tea. It catches in seconds once it starts, and the black version is the one with a name.
5. THEN TIP IT OUT OF THE PAN AT ONCE. Left in, the residual heat takes it past brown while you are not looking.
6. COOK IT LIKE A PORRIDGE WITH WATER AND MILK, which is the article's own instruction -- IT IS USUALLY COOKED LIKE A PORRIDGE WITH WATER AND MILK.
7. THE LIQUID GOES IN COLD AND ALL AT ONCE. Roasted flour has lost most of its thickening power and will not go lumpy the way raw flour does, so there is no need to add it by degrees.
8. FIFTEEN MINUTES AT A BARE SIMMER, STIRRED OFTEN. It thickens late and suddenly.
9. THE OLDEST VERSION IS WATER AND SALT ONLY, which the article records -- ORIGINALLY THE MUSMEHL WAS COOKED IN WATER ONLY, SPICED WITH SALT -- and it names vegetables or fruit as what people do now.
10. BUTTER ON TOP AND HONEY OR STEWED FRUIT BESIDE IT. The article's history is worth knowing while you eat it: in 1540 the population on the Swabian Jura WAS SAVED FROM STARVATION BY BRENNTAR.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes