The Importance of Cooking Oatmeal: A Guide to Understanding Texture and Convenience

As I sit here thinking about this title, I have to assume that you must be looking at the title thinking "I know this man didn't just take eight weeks off from posting to come back with a video for oatmeal." But if I have to suffer through the knowledge that products like brekkie and mush are trending, I feel obligated to ensure that one of history's cheapest and easiest foodstuffs is never allowed to become a mail-order luxury product like so many others in the world of oats.

There are three main styles of oats that will yield meals of three distinct textures: steel-cut oats, rolled oats, and instant oats. To understand the difference, you first have to understand what an oat groat is - the raw, unprocessed, untouched whole oat that needs to be transformed into one of these three forms. Steel-cut oats require cutting the growth into chunky nuggets, which are denser than all other oat formats and thus take much longer to cook. This process can take at least 30 minutes, but it results in a chewy texture that is unparalleled.

Rolled oats, on the other hand, require rolling the groat between big drums that flatten it out into a little flake. This process cooks the oats quickly, usually within about five minutes. Instant oats are also rolled, but they're chopped up into tiny pieces so that they hydrate more quickly. The maximization of surface area in instant oats illustrates the dependent relationship between convenience and texture.

Now, let's talk strictly about cooking oatmeal. For now, we'll focus on cooking it with just oatmeal and water. Steel-cut oatmeal is cooked by boiling steel-cut oats and water in a 1:4 ratio with a pinch of salt, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can put the oats in a slow cooker with the same ratio and cook it on low for eight or so hours. This allows you to slow-cook your oatmeal overnight and have breakfast ready as soon as you wake up.

Rolled oats are cooked by boiling them for about five minutes, but the overnight preparation is even easier than that of steel-cut oats. To make rolled oats, combine one part oats with one part milk or milk alternative plus an optional spoonful of chia seeds, and let it sit in the fridge while you sleep. Divide a big batch among a couple of food storage containers, and you'll have breakfast set for the better part of a full week.

Now, my advice for preparing instant oats is quite simple: just stay away from them entirely. It's impossible for them to ascend to a plane any higher than that of gruel. Everything that I just outlined won't taste exceptionally good, especially when compared to cooking oatmeal with more care and attention. But once you know how to cook plain oats in nothing but salted water, you get to flavor it and start adding sweetener, sweet elements like brown sugar, honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, dried fruit, fresh fruit, stevia, sucralose.

As important as sweetness is, richness is just as important. You can definitely cook your oats in water only, but then maybe luxuriate it in a little bit of heavy cream or full-fat yogurt at the end. Alternatively, you might choose to cook your oats in half water and half whole milk, or even sub all of the water for a relatively watery alternative, depending on your taste for richness and dairy tolerance.

While you're improving textures, consider adding something crunchy, like a roll easily filled by a nut or seed, be it pecan or pepita. These additions add texture sugar richness and crunch to your oatmeal, making it a more satisfying meal.

You know I love presenting culinary possibilities in the form of matrices, like this scientifically undeniable oat matrix. And just in case you need some inspiration to get started, the following combinations are linked in the description as third-party recipes that can help you potentially cut your oatmeal budget by 90 percent.

But let's not forget why we're here - to celebrate cooking oatmeal with a feast! If our brethren and sistren are waiting by the door for oatmeal at $18 a pound, then we must rise to the challenge. After all, if you can boil water and set a timer, you can make oatmeal your move.

As I wrap up this article, I hope it's shown at least a few beginners that cooking can indeed be much easier than advertised. And who knows - maybe one day, we'll see oats become as trendy as they are for mush and brekkie. But until then, let's keep cooking oatmeal with care and attention, and making the most of its incredible texture and convenience.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ensurely you must be looking at the title thinking i know this man did not just take eight weeks off from posting to come back with a video for oatmeal but if i have to suffer through the knowledge that products like brekkie and mush are trending i feel obligated to ensure that one of history's cheapest and easiest foodstuffs is never allowed to become a mail-order luxury product like so many others in the world of oats there are three main styles that will yield meals of three distinct textures steel-cut oats which are chewy rolled or old-fashioned oats which are what you probably know to be the regular kind and instant aka quick cooking aka minute oats which are trash in order to understand the difference you first have to understand this this is an oat groat the raw unprocessed untouched whole oat to turn this into steel cut oats you've got to cut the growth into chunky nuggets which are denser than all the other oat formats and thus take much longer to cook like at least 30 minutes to make rolled oats you've got to roll this road between big drums that flatten it out into a little flake that cooks in about five minutes instant oats are also rolled but then also chopped up into little tiny pieces so that they hydrate more quickly that maximization of surface area really illustrates the dependent relationship between convenience and texture i want to talk strictly about cooking oatmeal so for now let's just speak in terms of oat plus water this is how to make it totally plain for steel cut oatmeal boil steel-cut oats and water in a 1-4 ratio with a pinch of salt stirring occasionally for 30 minutes alternatively you can put them in a slow cooker with that same one to four oat to water ratio and cook that on low for eight or so hours this allows you to slow cook your oatmeal overnight and have breakfast ready as soon as you wake up as far as rolled oats go you can boil them for about five minutes as previously mentioned but the overnight preparation is even easier than that of the steel cut variation just combine one part rolled oats to one part milk or milk or malk plus an optional spoonful of chia seeds and let that sit in the fridge while you sleep divide a big batch among a couple of food storage containers and you will have breakfast set for the better part of a full week my advice for how to prepare instant oats just stay away entirely it's impossible for them to ascend to a plane any higher than that of gruel you would be right to assume that everything that i just outlined won't taste exceptionally good i just walked through how to cook plain oats in nothing but salted water but once you know how to cook oatmeal you get to flavor it and that usually starts with sweetener sweet elements include brown sugar honey agave nectar maple syrup dried fruit fresh fruit stevia sucralose and no matter what you choose you also get to choose how sweet your oatmeal becomes just as important as sweetness is richness i talked about cooking everything in water and you could definitely still just do that and then maybe luxuriate it in a little bit of heavy cream or full fat yogurt at the end you might instead choose to cook your oats in half water and half whole milk or even sub all of the water for a relatively watery anyway milk alternative depending on your taste for richness and dairy tolerance while you're in the business of improving textures consider adding something crunchy a roll easily filled by a nut or a seed be it pecan or pepita with texture sugar richness and crunch all locked in you may consider the highly marketable superfood additions that expensive oatmeal loves to tout such as chia seeds maca powder goji berries warming spice blends or even cooked quinoa you know i love presenting culinary possibilities in the form of matrices such as this scientifically undeniable oat matrix but just in case you need some inspiration to get started the following combinations are linked in the description as third-party recipes that's how you might potentially cut your oatmeal budget by 90 as much as i hate seeing ads all day at least they're illuminating the new ways in which the invisible hand of the free market is sneakily finger blasting our bank accounts hopefully this broad overview shows at least a few beginners that cooking can at times be much easier than advertised i know it's way more fun to watch flashy lessons on homemade chateaubriand but what's there to celebrate with a feast if our brethren and sistren are waiting by the door for oatmeal at 18 a pound a rising tide lifts all oats and now it's no secret if you can boil water and set a timer you can make oatmeal your move mush yousurely you must be looking at the title thinking i know this man did not just take eight weeks off from posting to come back with a video for oatmeal but if i have to suffer through the knowledge that products like brekkie and mush are trending i feel obligated to ensure that one of history's cheapest and easiest foodstuffs is never allowed to become a mail-order luxury product like so many others in the world of oats there are three main styles that will yield meals of three distinct textures steel-cut oats which are chewy rolled or old-fashioned oats which are what you probably know to be the regular kind and instant aka quick cooking aka minute oats which are trash in order to understand the difference you first have to understand this this is an oat groat the raw unprocessed untouched whole oat to turn this into steel cut oats you've got to cut the growth into chunky nuggets which are denser than all the other oat formats and thus take much longer to cook like at least 30 minutes to make rolled oats you've got to roll this road between big drums that flatten it out into a little flake that cooks in about five minutes instant oats are also rolled but then also chopped up into little tiny pieces so that they hydrate more quickly that maximization of surface area really illustrates the dependent relationship between convenience and texture i want to talk strictly about cooking oatmeal so for now let's just speak in terms of oat plus water this is how to make it totally plain for steel cut oatmeal boil steel-cut oats and water in a 1-4 ratio with a pinch of salt stirring occasionally for 30 minutes alternatively you can put them in a slow cooker with that same one to four oat to water ratio and cook that on low for eight or so hours this allows you to slow cook your oatmeal overnight and have breakfast ready as soon as you wake up as far as rolled oats go you can boil them for about five minutes as previously mentioned but the overnight preparation is even easier than that of the steel cut variation just combine one part rolled oats to one part milk or milk or malk plus an optional spoonful of chia seeds and let that sit in the fridge while you sleep divide a big batch among a couple of food storage containers and you will have breakfast set for the better part of a full week my advice for how to prepare instant oats just stay away entirely it's impossible for them to ascend to a plane any higher than that of gruel you would be right to assume that everything that i just outlined won't taste exceptionally good i just walked through how to cook plain oats in nothing but salted water but once you know how to cook oatmeal you get to flavor it and that usually starts with sweetener sweet elements include brown sugar honey agave nectar maple syrup dried fruit fresh fruit stevia sucralose and no matter what you choose you also get to choose how sweet your oatmeal becomes just as important as sweetness is richness i talked about cooking everything in water and you could definitely still just do that and then maybe luxuriate it in a little bit of heavy cream or full fat yogurt at the end you might instead choose to cook your oats in half water and half whole milk or even sub all of the water for a relatively watery anyway milk alternative depending on your taste for richness and dairy tolerance while you're in the business of improving textures consider adding something crunchy a roll easily filled by a nut or a seed be it pecan or pepita with texture sugar richness and crunch all locked in you may consider the highly marketable superfood additions that expensive oatmeal loves to tout such as chia seeds maca powder goji berries warming spice blends or even cooked quinoa you know i love presenting culinary possibilities in the form of matrices such as this scientifically undeniable oat matrix but just in case you need some inspiration to get started the following combinations are linked in the description as third-party recipes that's how you might potentially cut your oatmeal budget by 90 as much as i hate seeing ads all day at least they're illuminating the new ways in which the invisible hand of the free market is sneakily finger blasting our bank accounts hopefully this broad overview shows at least a few beginners that cooking can at times be much easier than advertised i know it's way more fun to watch flashy lessons on homemade chateaubriand but what's there to celebrate with a feast if our brethren and sistren are waiting by the door for oatmeal at 18 a pound a rising tide lifts all oats and now it's no secret if you can boil water and set a timer you can make oatmeal your move mush you\n"