flipBlack Earth Millet Porridge
Black Earth Millet Porridge
Why this dish? Millet is the grain-king of the fertile plains of Colchis, bathed by the Phasis. Before the showpiece meats, it is this thick porridge that nourishes day after day the household of Aeëtes, from the palace of Aia to the guardians of the sacred grove. It is the humble foundation on which all the king's abundance rests.
A thick millet porridge cooked in water, into which a fresh cheese is buried that melts into strings. Creamy, comforting, slightly salty and woody. It is the distant ancestor of Georgian *ghomi-elarji*, the daily dish of the Colchian black earth.
You think the son of the Sun eats only gilded poultry? Think again. Every day, my household is fed by the millet grain that my black earth gives, along the Phasis. We swell it in water until the spoon stands upright, then we drown a fresh cheese in it that stretches into threads under the hand. It is rough, it is honest, and it is what keeps standing the men who guard my Fleece.
- •Hulled millet — two handfuls per mouth (base)
- •Spring water — three times the volume of grain (cooking)
- •Fresh sheep or cow cheese — a good lump (melting binder)
- •Rock salt — a few grains (seasoning)
Black Earth Millet Porridge
A thick millet porridge cooked in water, into which a fresh cheese is buried that melts into strings. Creamy, comforting, slightly salty and woody. It is the distant ancestor of Georgian *ghomi-elarji*, the daily dish of the Colchian black earth.
Why this dish? Millet is the grain-king of the fertile plains of Colchis, bathed by the Phasis. Before the showpiece meats, it is this thick porridge that nourishes day after day the household of Aeëtes, from the palace of Aia to the guardians of the sacred grove. It is the humble foundation on which all the king's abundance rests.
You think the son of the Sun eats only gilded poultry? Think again. Every day, my household is fed by the millet grain that my black earth gives, along the Phasis. We swell it in water until the spoon stands upright, then we drown a fresh cheese in it that stretches into threads under the hand. It is rough, it is honest, and it is what keeps standing the men who guard my Fleece.
Ingredients (period version)
- Hulled millet — two handfuls per mouth (base)
- Spring water — three times the volume of grain (cooking)
- Fresh sheep or cow cheese — a good lump (melting binder)
- Rock salt — a few grains (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Millet (grains, type ghomi or golden millet) — 200 g (base)
- Water — 700 ml (cooking)
- Mozzarella or suluguni (stretchy cheese) — 150 g (melting binder)
- Fresh sheep cheese (type brousse) — 100 g (creaminess)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Rinse the millet, then pour it into cold salted water. Bring to a simmer.
- Cook over low heat for 25–30 minutes, stirring often, until a thick smooth porridge forms (add a little hot water if it dries out).
- Cut the stretchy cheese into cubes. Off the high heat, bury them in the hot porridge with the fresh cheese.
- Stir vigorously until the cheese melts and pulls into strands.
- Serve immediately, piping hot, in a deep bowl—the porridge should stay soft and stringy.
How it was made : Millet was the dominant grain of Colchis and the western Caucasus long before the arrival of maize (forbidden here: a New World plant). It was cooked into a thick water porridge to accompany meats and sauces. The marriage of millet and melted cheese, still alive in Georgia under the name *elarji*, has its roots in this ancient cuisine of the black earth.
The contemporary twist : Serve the porridge as a molded quenelle, topped with a shaving of aged cheese and a twist of crushed juniper berries to awaken the woody side of the forests of Ares.
Aeëtes · Charactorium
