Experimentation in The Morning

[mishalak]

Experiment #229: Ongoing

Every morning is a new opportunity for experimentation. I am slowly closing in on the best method of cooking oatmeal in a microwave. Particularly the thicker oatmeal that I prefer. The ultimate goal is easy steel cut oats with lots of texture done easily for breakfast. I am not bothering with instructions from the packager (oats cannot be said to be manufactured) as they are useless. Right now I'm tending towards using much less water than recommended as it seems genuinely unnecessary in a microwave. Though a ratio of 2-1 or even 3-1 is traditional for cooking grains on a stove top my results have been perfectly tender using as little as 1½-1 water to oatmeal in the microwave. Less chance of boil over and less time as well.

Comments

[bureinato.livejournal.com]

I buy bulk rolled oats from wild oats or similar. I put in 1/2 cup oats to 1/2 cup water and nuke for 3 min. I like my oats more solid than mushy. Add milk afterwards.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

"Instant oatmeal" is, of course, an abomination -- though if I happen to buy it by mistake it can go into the rat/mouse food pail. Generally, I use Quaker brand Old-Fashioned type because the cheaper store-brands tend to be iffy, as are the expensive Scottish Imports I've tried. It's still a few weeks early for oatmeal breakfast here in Southern California, and every Autumn I have to re-tweak my microwaving procedure, but ISTR that it's close to 1:1 (water or skim milk to oats -- I like it with Texture) and zapped at half-power for about four minutes in my machine .