Photo: Sven Seljom. Screenshot taken from Hamlyns of Scotland YouTube.
In early October, Sven Seljom was crowned the World Champion of Porridge Making in Scotland. The 57-year-old tech consultant from Mandal was the first Norwegian to bring home the gold.
In the thirty-second edition of the championship, thirty competitors hailed from fourteen countries including the US, Canada, India, Scotland, Pakistan, Finland, and the Philippines. People watched via livestream and hundreds attended the event in person.
The championship consists of two categories: traditional and open. In the traditional porridge category, competitors are only allowed to use three ingredients: oats, water and salt. The open class, on the converse, is an anything-goes affair. Regardless of which category you compete in, or in Seljom’s case—both categories—recipes need to be completed within 30 minutes, not including soaking time. Entries are then rated by a panel of judges based on taste, texture and color.
For his first entry into the annual competition, Seljom packed a suitcase with Norwegian oats, Mandal water and Norwegian salt. He said he’d always wanted to enter the competition after hearing the event mentioned on the radio. Seljom’s open class recipe was a crème brûlée-inspired porridge with cloudberry purée folded in, and a caramelized lid. He’d also experimented with using tørrfisk, brunost and fenalår (dried cod, brown cheese and leg of lamb) as open-class additives.
The champion says he loves hearty oats and used a variety that not many people know: steel cut black oats. Black oats are an ancient grain that was once prevalent in Europe but have fallen out of common use in the last two hundred years. Seljom even wore an apron from the organic oat farmers, Den Svarte Havre.
To practice, Seljom started experimenting with different types of steel cut oats because he loved the texture. He wound up soaking them for 24 hours before the competition.
The winners in each category are awarded a trophy of the coveted Golden Spurtle. A spurtle is a typical Scottish wooden stirring utensil dating from the 15th century. It is designed to keep porridge from clumping. This fall, a documentary film, “The Golden Spurtle” has been released about the competition.
Seljom told NRK that he will savor the win for a long time. “It’s just crazy, it actually worked! I was more moved than I would have thought.” He referred to his win as “a great honor.”
Sources:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/world-porridge-making-champion-norwegian-5346366
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8exnje11g1o
https://www.nrk.no/sorlandet/sven-seljom-elsker-havregrot-sa-mye-at-han-drar-til-skottland-for-a-delta-i-vm-1.17568035
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spurtle