Norwegian barley porridge with butter and cinnamon

Put the dry pearl barley in a bowl and pour over all the weighed 500 g cold water. Stir, cover and refrigerate for about 8 hours. Keep all the soaking water for cooking; do not drain the barley.

Transfer the barley and all its soaking water to a heavy-bottomed pot with a capacity of about 3 liters. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Most of the free water should be absorbed by the grains. Do not pour off any liquid, and do not wait until the bottom of the pot is completely dry.

Pour about half the weighed milk into the barley and add all the salt. Heat gently, stirring across the bottom, until the milk starts to simmer. Reserve the remaining milk to add during the rest of the cooking. Keep an eye on the pot, as milk easily rises up.

Cook over very low heat for about 45–60 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon and scraping the barley from the bottom. During the first part of this time, add the remaining milk in batches, using all the weighed 1 kg. The barley should be soft, with the creamy milk mixture flowing slowly from the spoon. Keep the grains visible; there is no need to blend the porridge. Stir more often towards the end so that it does not stick.

Take the pot off the heat, cover and leave for about 10 minutes. The porridge will thicken a little more during this time. Mix all the 30 g sugar with 2 g cinnamon, and divide the butter into four similar pieces, about 5 g each. Stir the porridge gently before serving.

Divide all the hot porridge among four bowls. Put one piece of butter on each and divide all the prepared cinnamon topping among the portions. Serve warm. Transfer leftover porridge to a container, cool promptly and keep covered in the fridge; use it the next day, reheating thoroughly.