Do you soak your oatmeal?

[Innocent Bystander]

Em's reaction surprises me. In my experience pinhead oatmeal has a coarser texture than rolled oats (the usual kind).

Henderson's Salad Table used to serve (maybe they still do) a fine version of Bircher Muesli. This isn't the nasty, gritty stuff which pretends to be a breakfast cereal, but a sort of delightful sweet mush of stuff, primarily oats. They (the Salad Table) soak theirs overnight. I've never tasted another like it. Yum!

But here's a recipe, of sorts. http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/171 ... uesli.html

[JayDoc]

I like McCann's steel cut (though not sure I have many steel cut alternatives out here in the L.A. oatmeal sticks). I've got to explore some better ones in the UK next summer--any particular brands to look for? Meanwhile, I did try the McCann's "quick cooking" steel cut, and they weren't bad, at least relative to the regular steel-cut oatmeal. Almost identical actually, much to my surprise. And they cook alot faster. Not that a half hour is too long to wait for a good cup of porridge! Because I often have little time in the morning (gotta pay for those whistles somehow), I soak some muesli overnight (previously in milk, but lately in almond milk--doctor's orders and actually quite tasty). When you don't cook the grains, such as the muesli, it's far better soaked than not. Even soaking for a half-hour while showering if I forget to do it the night before is better than unsoaked, imho. When I have time, I add some of the muesli to the oatmeal and cook the whole thing, which can also be pretty tasty.
Best,
Jaydoc

[Lambchop]

They have them at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, but it's not standard-issue cereal aisle fare.

By cracky, it is at Publix Markets! Several kinds, too.

I'm afraid to think what would happen should I ever move out of their range.

And, no, I'd never soak before cooking! Gack! It nastifies them, if you ask me. Unnatural!

[Roderick [Rod] Sprague IV]

I like to place rolled oats, or more commonly now, buckwheat groats mixed with some flax or chia seed and an equal volume of water to dry ingredients in a bowl in my pressure cooker set up as a pressurized double boiler. I bring it up to full pressure on high, set it to warm and go take my shower. It is ready by the time I am dressed. I like my pressure cooker. I find it is like having a high speed slow cooker.

[brewerpaul]

it is allowed in competitive porridge championships,

You gotta be kidding. Man, some people will compete in ANYTHING!

[Lambchop]

it is allowed in competitive porridge championships,

You gotta be kidding. Man, some people will compete in ANYTHING!

I found that remarkable, as well. It conjures up an image of an army of contestants, slaving away over large pots for hours, zealously guarding their preparation secrets. At the end of this endeavor, every single one of them has produced a product which is indistinguishable from anyone else's . . . it's all porridge.

[Innocent Bystander]

it is allowed in competitive porridge championships,

You gotta be kidding. Man, some people will compete in ANYTHING!

It must take careful timing to have contestants swim through an olympic-sized swimming-pool full of porridge before it gets uncomfortably cool. Probably they confine themselves to breast-stroke, as freestyle would be ...lumpy. Doubtless the contents of the swimmingpool are afterwards distributed to the needy. I'm sorry to have missed this. An olympic-sized swimming-pool full of porridge would be something to see.

[dwest]

it is allowed in competitive porridge championships,

You gotta be kidding. Man, some people will compete in ANYTHING!

It must take careful timing to have contestants swim through an olympic-sized swimming-pool full of porridge before it gets uncomfortably cool. Probably they confine themselves to breast-stroke, as freestyle would be ...lumpy. Doubtless the contents of the swimmingpool are afterwards distributed to the needy. I'm sorry to have missed this. An olympic-sized swimming-pool full of porridge would be something to see.

This is no joking matter, they serve whisky at this thing. And the prize is a Golden Spurtle! You can get wood one from Lee Valley tools for five bucks!

[chrisoff]

I don't soak my oats. But then I also microwave them... this has caused a couple of arguments with my Dad...

[Doug_Tipple]

My preference is a rather coarse stone-ground multi-grain meal (7 grain), which lately I haven't been able to find at the stores where I normally shop. I sometimes make the steel-cut oats, available at Trader Joe's, although this is not my favorite. Rolled oats are cheap and available everywhere, and I find myself cooking them when that is all that I have in the house. To make the rolled oats more like the porridge that I want, I add oat bran to the rolled oats.

I have been buying four-pound boxes of dried cherries from our next-door neighbor, Michigan. I pick them fresh in July on our annual visit, but in January the dired cherries are a delight to have cooked with the porridge. I also sometimes add honey or maple syrup to the hot cereal.

I use a stove-top double boiler to cook the porridge. That way I don't have to watch it to keep the cereal from burning on the bottom of the pan. The boiling water also helps add humidity to the home environment. Rolled grains are cooked with two-parts water to one part cereal. Smaller cut or stone-ground grains are cooked with three-parts water to one part cereal. I generally make a whole pot of porridge and store it in a covered glass bowl in the refrigerator. I warm up the porridge with milk in the microwave when I am ready to eat it.

[Hotblack]

I don't soak my oats. But then I also microwave them... this has caused a couple of arguments with my Dad...

That's what my misses does.

I, on the other hand, eat them raw and call it muesli.

[burnsbyrne]

I am afraid I'm going to be seen as a heretic on this issue. I just microwave 3/4 cup instant Quaker oatmeal and 3/4 cup milk for 1 minute 50 seconds, add a little cold milk and an ice cube and eat. Who has an extra half hour between getting up and going to work each morning to cook steel cut oats? I certainly do not.

My wife is 1/2 Swiss and we lived in Switzerland together for quite a while. The most common way to eat Birchermuesli there is to mix it with yogurt and a little whole or mager milk and eat immediately. I used to buy it at the Migros cafeteria for breakfast. They usually added a bit of slightly whipped unsweetened cream to the top and sometimes a strawberry on top of the cream. All for 2 francs. Whole grains and milkfat really stick to your ribs.

[sbfluter]

There's a cooking method I learned while backpacking (3000 miles of it over the last 2 years) that works for pasta. It also works for my 4-grain rolled cereal and would probably work for steel-cut oats. You just get the water boiling and then turn it off and wait at least 15 minutes. While backpacking, you put the pot in a cozy of your warm socks and hat or under your sleeping bag. In the kitchen, you would have to be more creative, or if your pots are pretty heavy, you probably can just leave the pot on the stove, turned off. No need to worry about scorching the bottom. Saves energy, too.

[chas]

The only appropriate use for oatmeal is to add body to stout, in which case it is soaked in wort.

[Hotblack]

The only appropriate use for oatmeal is to add body to stout, in which case it is soaked in wort.

Maybe not the 'only appropriate use' but certainly the most important.