Putting the MEAL back into Oatmeal

When I see some coworkers preparing their breakfast in the office by adding hot (tepid) water to a package of instant oats, my heart grows heavy. Sure, I smell the oatmeal with its dehydrated apples and stale cinnamon that Mom served us kids, and it brings back fond memories of easier mornings and good times.

But remember how much sugar and butter you had to put on to keep the oatmeal from being just a tasteless bowl of pasty matter? Or how the paste would gellify into a glob that would fall out of your bowl intact?

Well, I was turned on to steel cut oats (aka pinhead oats, Irish oats, Scotch oats) in '92. The directions on the over-priced can were involved, but the cereal was better in taste and texture. Still it wasn't enough to justify the labor. Then I stumbled upon toasting the grains first, and my oatmeal world was never the same.

Toasting, as you would imagine, makes everything taste better. With freshly-toasted oatmeal, flavors of nuts, butterscotch, and, well, the world's best toast all come to the forefront. Toasting also results in the Maillard Reaction, which by bringing out the sweetness of the grain, you don't need to add as much sugar at serving.

According to Cooks Illustrated, the "Scottish dunk each spoonful into a separate bowl of milk or cream." By accident I poured too much milk into my bowl, and I ended up with a milky oatmeal soup, and this, along with a pour of maple syrup or a bit of dark brown sugar and a dash or vanilla, has become my favorite breakfast meal. Clumps of hot nutty oatmeal in a cold milky soup has become a favorite midnight snack, too. In fact, it is so good that on my business trips, I prepare plastic tubs to take along to eat for breakfast. Once you have had these oats, it is impossible to eat the travesty served in most hotels.

Steel-cut oats come in a nifty-looking tin from Ireland, but save your money and head to the bulk section of your grocery or natural food store. In Seattle, which is overpriced for food, they typically run $.55/# and $.99/# (organic). Traditionally a wooden dowel is used to stir the oatmeal. This keeps it from getting too mushy. The back of a spoon works well, if you don't feel like another trip to Home Depot.

Adding the salt in the last ten minutes will make the cereal creamy. Adding it any sooner will make it unpleasantly crunchy (the same is true with rice, which oat groats resemble). Alton Brown cleverly depicted this with Barbie dolls. I'll use celebrities: gums within oatmeal called pentosans (Jennifer Aniston), want to bond with the water (Brad Pitt). But when salt (Angelina Jolie) comes along, the water bonds with the more appealing salt, leaving behind the pentosans in the grain (Hollywood Hills mansion) thus keeping the grain hard and the cereal not as creamy. Molecular gastronomy can be so fun when its brought to the level of People Magazine.


Steel Cut Oatmeal
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt


In a large stainless skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, and just as it foams, add the oats. Stir for 2 minutes to toast. They should be golden and fragrant, filling your kitchen with a wonderful rich scents--you won't get this from a package. Add 3 cups of water and reduce heat to a simmer. Keep at a low simmer for 2o minutes, without stirring. Add salt and stir with a wood dowel or the top of a wooden spoon (I confess, I use a wooden spatula). Add the remaining water and cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cereal should be somewhat runny when removed from the heat. Let the cooked oatmeal rest a few minutes for the grains to pull together, then serve with your favorite topping.