Gina Saarberg, a 28-year-old from the Netherlands, has been crowned World Porridge Making Champion after winning the Golden Spurtle in the Highland village of Carrbridge on Saturday. Her winning bowl used organic pinhead oats from the Dutch company De Halm, salt, and water she had brought with her from home.
Saarberg cooked the same recipe that earned her the Netherlands title in July. She said porridge is not widely eaten in her home country and that she first came to it as a student, using rolled oats. Moving to oatmeal gave her a creamier result that she compared to rice pudding, and she only started adding salt once she began competing. The salt, she said, “really brings out the nuances and different aromas”.
Thirty competitors from 14 countries entered this year. They came from as far as Australia, South Africa and the US, alongside cooks from the Czech Republic, Norway, France, Switzerland, Ireland and the UK. As well as the main contest, the championship runs a speciality category in which entrants can pair oatmeal with any ingredients they choose.
The speciality title went to Rob Reid, 36, from Sydney, who became Australia’s porridge champion in August. He made a porridge cannoli that draws on his Scottish father and Sicilian mother. The shells were made in the style of a brandy snap using Marsala, a Sicilian wine, and the filling combined ricotta, mascarpone, icing sugar and sieved porridge, thickened with oats he toasted and ground by hand. Reid said the challenge was fitting it all into 30 minutes. The judges were Neil Mugg, a former Gleneagles chef who now teaches hospitality at UHI Perth, KJ Gilmour, the New Zealand chef who owns KJ’s Bothy Bakery in Grantown-on-Spey, and Clare Coghill, owner of Cafe Cuil on the Isle of Skye.
The event is organised by volunteers from Carrbridge and sponsored by Hamlyns of Scotland. Porridge chieftain Alan Rankin called Saarberg a worthy champion and described the contest as “a wonderfully quirky tradition” built on good humour. Alan Meikle, managing director of Hamlyns, congratulated both winners and said the company was proud to back an event that brings porridge lovers together from around the world. Rankin added that the village community opens its doors to visitors every year, and said he hoped everyone who took part would leave Carrbridge with fond memories.
