My foolproof tip for perfectly creamy, never gummy oatmeal

Oatmeal can be a sumptuous affair, loaded with milk or cream, topped with rivers of butter, drizzled with honey or maple syrup, topped with fruit, and topped with butters and nut pastes. I love oatmeal like this and have recipes like Banana-Inspired Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Rich, Creamy Milk-Based Oatmeal. But oatmeal doesn’t have to be full of the stuff to be delicious, and if you want proof, look no further than the land of oats itself: Scotland.

I don’t know if the Scots would agree with this nickname I gave them, but unless they prefer me to call them the land of Mars fry bars, I’m sticking to it. Plus, our new AI overlords agree with me: when I asked ChatGPT which country it guessed I was referring to. The land of oatshe replied: “My best guess would be Scotland.” Scotland is famous for its oats, which are a staple grain traditionally used in various Scottish dishes, including porridge and oatcakes. Scotland’s climate and soil conditions are particularly well suited to growing oats, making them an important part of the country’s agriculture and culinary traditions. So, as we all know, if the AI ​​says it, it’s true.

The key ingredients of Scottish oatmeal

Anyway, back to the oatmeal. Classic Scottish oats are made with three basic ingredients, and two of them (water and salt) barely qualify when playing the recipe post’s ingredient counting game. So that leaves oats as the only main ingredient, which means I could state in a headline that These One-Ingredient Oatmeal Are Better Than My Wildest Dreams and perhaps attract attention on Google Discover. (I would get a lot more attention if I wrote Taylor Swift Says This Ina Garten Recipe for Scottish Oats Is the Best Breakfast Everbut they have nothing to do with this recipe so we’re not going to go there.)

So far I haven’t mentioned butter, but it’s an optional topping, along with a nice flaky sea salt. I’ll be honest, though, it’s not an optional topping for me because the butter does. As they rightly say in Scotland: “Give me that pat of browned butter on my porridge or give me some haggis.”

Tips for the Perfect Bowl of Scottish Oats

As for the cooking method, here are the most important techniques and details to pay attention to:

1. You don’t need a spurtle for this. A spurtle is a traditional Scottish tool for mixing oatmeal that others would identify as…a stick. I own one and enjoy it, but I’ve done side-by-side tests stirring with a squirt and a wooden spoon and detect no difference.
2. Use steel-cut oats, not rolled oats, and toast them if desired. This oatmeal is properly made with steel-cut oats (also sold as “pinhead”), not rolled or instant oats. They take longer to cook, but they are nuttier and produce a much better texture. You can dry roast them for a deeper, lightly roasted flavor; it’s a nice touch that only takes a few extra minutes. (Don’t burn them!)
3. Save time with an overnight soak. While there’s no need to think about breakfast the night before, you’ll save time in the morning by waking up to a pan full of oatmeal that’s been sitting in water while you slept. Once fully hydrated, they cook much more quickly, saving you a good ten to 15 minutes on the total cooking time.
4. Salt matters. Adding a little salt to the oatmeal and water before cooking will make a big difference in the final flavor of the oatmeal. It shouldn’t be too salty but it should taste seasoned. Finishing the oats with a few large crystals of flaky sea salt is also a nice move.
5. Stir gently. Although the movement doesn’t matter much, the way you stir makes a difference. Stir too little and you could end up with burnt oatmeal, thin, watery oatmeal, or both. Stir too quickly and it could turn into a pot of oatmeal glue. This is because the stirring movement loosens the starches from the oats and disperses them throughout the pan, thus thickening the porridge. Stirring gently and frequently will result in plump, suspended oats in a creamy glaze that’s not thin or cementy.
6. The recipe says the butter is optional, but it’s not. I know I’ve told you this before, but I’m telling you again because I mean it. Eat the butter, enjoy the butter. If you have to avoid butter, consider a little cream instead.