‘I don’t have rules’: cooks on making perfect porridge at home

Elizabeth Hewson’s custard porridge with stewed cherries, brown sugar and cream Photograph: Elizabeth Hewson

The cookbook author Elizabeth Hewson cherishes her winter breakfast routine. She creeps downstairs before sunrise, while her husband and children are still sleeping, to make herself a bubbling pot of porridge.

“It’s that small moment of peace before the day gets going,” she says. “The rhythm of standing at the stove stirring is one of those quiet rituals that I love.”