What’s up with porridge for dinner?

White Oak Kitchen and Cocktails, 270 Peachtree St. N.W., Atlanta. 404-524-7200, http://whiteoakkitchen.com.

The word “porridge” brings to my mind a picture of an 18th century European peasant eating gruel out of some rustic wooden bowl. I envision a dish akin to oatmeal, but cooked down to mush.

Maybe this perception is due to my addiction to “Outlander,” the series of novels (turned into a Starz network TV sensation) by Diana Gabaldon. “Outlander” follows the adventures of Claire, a 20th century British combat nurse who suddenly has been transported through time to 1740s Scotland, and the dashing, Herculean Scottish warrior, Jamie Fraser, that she begins a new life with. Like any good Scotsman, Jamie eats his parritch every day.

Parritch, porridge, porage, porrige. Whatever you call it, the dish is traditionally made by boiling a ground starch — usually a grain — in water or milk. It is usually served hot and can be sweetened with the likes of sugar or honey or made savory by doctoring it up with spices, vegetables and such.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned in this column that savory porridge was trending here in town. Some people get annoyed when we food aficionados talk trends. I find them interesting, because they offer a glimpse of what's on the minds of modern culinarians. But, rather than just spot a trend like a bowl of cooked grains for dinner, let's dive a bit deeper and ask why so many Atlanta chefs are serving porridge at upscale restaurants?

“It’s one of those good-feeling kind of dishes. It takes a lot of people back to their childhood. It’s that comfort thing,” said One Eared Stag’s Robert Phalen, who featured a porridge made from a blend of Carolina Gold rice, farro and buckwheat as the bed for a pork chop in December.

The notion of porridge as a comfort food likewise resonated with David Bies of Ticonderoga Club at Krog Street Market. Bies' version is a super smooth masa porridge made from Anson Mills corn flour, cooked similarly to grits or polenta, then finished with heavy cream, honey and salt. Bies, whose wife is Honduran, takes his inspiration from pap, a Honduran porridge made with cornmeal. At Ticonderoga Club, the porridge is topped with pork confit, along with a coriander relish.

“It’s a great counterpart to crispy pork confit,” Bies said of the porridge. “It’s a nice textural contrast.”

Research “pap,” though, and it’ll take you from Honduras across the ocean all the way to South Africa, and a similar porridge made from ground maize. Variations of this staple dish exist throughout Africa.

Chef Todd Richards gives a nod to porridge’s West African ties in the version he makes at White Oak Kitchen and Cocktails in Midtown. “They do a lot of fermented items with (porridge),” Richards said. He pickles broccoli stems and folds that into porridge made from Carolina rice poached in milk, then tops the creamy porridge with crunchy dehydrated cheddar cheese and smoked peanuts, serving it as a side to fried chicken.

Porridge also is getting paired with creatures of the sea. As part of a weeklong lobster menu promotion that runs through Jan. 30 at Lure, the restaurant’s exec chef, Brent Banda, is featuring a lobster rice porridge.

For this dish, Banda was inspired by a Chinese style of congee, or rice porridge. He noted that, although congee is more staple food than sumptuous fare among the Chinese, “when you see it in restaurants, you sometimes see it with squid or braised beef.”

Banda wanted to elevate his porridge — and not just with rich lobster, but also braised pork belly and crisped leeks.

Porridge certainly gets beefed up when it meets lobster, pork or fried chicken. Can it be elevated without such protein? That's a question that Ryan Smith of Staplehouse explored in December, when he attempted to cook up a vegetarian dish for the chef's tasting menu.

Smith’s original idea was to make a sunflower risotto, but, he noted, he doesn’t use Arborio rice at the restaurant. “That opened up regional grains, mainly from Anson Mills,” he said. Inspired by a risotto at BoccaLupo made with farro verde, Smith blended that grain with Charleston gold rice.

“I love the idea of mix and matching grains. You get different textures, aromas. Charleston gold rice is based off Carolina Gold rice and jasmine rice. It’s aromatic — aged three years in a barrel with wild laurel.”

In the end, Smith cooked the rice and farro separately. However, for both he used water seasoned with kombu (seaweed), which kept things vegetarian but offered umami. He tossed the grains together, folded in apples compressed with olive oil and lemon (another iteration saw the addition of charred rutabaga), then topped the dish with sprouted, quick-fried sunflower seeds and called it “sunflower porridge.”

“The word ‘porridge’ sparks interest because it’s a familiar word for people,” Smith said. “That word is usually associated with oats. This dish doesn’t have oats. It’s kind of like a risotto. It’s the idea of what a porridge could be.”

How far can we push the boundaries of porridge? Perhaps that’s the fun of making hot cereal for dinner. There are a lot of grains to choose from, liquids to cook them in, spices to season with and toppings to fold in or garnish with. Add to that a dish that’s hearty and filling and perfect on a chilly night. …

It’s time to eat your parritch for dinner, Atlanta.