Oatmeal: How Do You Make Yours?

[Lallans]

I went looking for Dr Johnson's first dictionary definition of oatmeal "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses but which in Scotland supports the people" and, via Google, found a reference to an incident where Boswell came upon a barrel of oats and started eating it dry, presumably in the Great Man's presence (the site turned out to be one of those where you have to pay to view public domain texts, so I didn't follow up.)

Anyway, a very important grain in Scottish history- and one which is apparently eaten raw upon occasion.

[Bugbear]

Hmmm- I've never heard of such a thing before, except for the Appalachian practice of eating "rock hominy", or in regular English, parched corn, and in British English, dried maize, as a travel food. Experts will explain that corn/maize isn't digestible uncooked (or made into grits, don't ask how that's done), but rock hominy has stood me well when I actually got around to preparing it (ie, with a hammer) and carrying it with me. But... perhaps the corn in cooked in the parching? As to the digestibility of raw oatmeal, you must stand as a tribute to that.

You take a sip of water now and then.

Flint corn, which is popcorn, is very hard, and would probably eventually break one's teeth. Flour corn has a fairly hard outer shell but a softer core, and can be chewed upon, but is probably not good for the teeth either. If they are processed in lime or something like that, as discussed in an earlier post, that outer shell and other parts are broken down and drained away from the corn etc. It's all digestible to one degree or another.

You can eat the corn when it is young, kind of like sweet corn but starchy tasting, and you can also eat the sweet corn "green" and fresh off the stalk without any cooking. The problem comes when corn is the only food being eaten. The lime processing releases additional nutrients in the corn, and that combined with beans for a few missing proteins, and squash for some minerals, and a slice of animal here and there, is a complete diet. Squash also fills you up quite a bit. Like I said, it's the alchemy of the Ancient Ones.

[Drac]

Not that odd...

[Lallans]

[Reply to Bugbear]: Yes, and with rock hominy you have to pre-chew it, with a claw hammer. I do recall that a steady diet of corn used to lead to Pellagra, a nutritional deficency cause of serious mental illness related to Vitamin B, I believe. Made me nervous about corn for years after I learned that. I was young then.

[Reply to Drac]: C'mon, that has to be the most processed corn in the known universe! With added flavour!

[Old Hippie]

I do two things. We buy whole hulled oats, rye, wheat and kamut in bulk. The wheat I grind to make bread (whole wheat flour, ground extra fine, is not like sawdust in bread.)

I mix oats, rye and kamut in equal parts, then put the grains through a flaker. I keep the flaked grains in the freezer and use them for breakfast and additives to cookies and breads. My wife likes them as porridge, but I like to put the flakes in a pie pan and toast them in the oven at 375F for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. When I take them out, I immediately pour maple syrup on them, which makes a nice snap-crackle-pop sound and causes the water in the syrup to boil off, leaving toasted dry grains with a coating of maple sugar.

The other thing I do with the oats is to run them through the grain grinder, set to just crack the grains into four or five pieces. These more-traditional Scottish-style oats I will use for haggis and porridge, occasionally for a cookie we call "Bug Bars." As porridge, I eat them with butter and a touch of sugar.

(For some reason, I don't really like wet grain, nor do I like maple in wet grain. But I love Scottish-style oats.)

[Drac]

[Reply to Bugbear]: Yes, and with rock hominy you have to pre-chew it, with a claw hammer. I do recall that a steady diet of corn used to lead to pellegra, a nutritional deficency cause of serious mental illness related to Vitamin B, I believe. Made me nervous about corn for years after I learned that. I was young then.

[Reply to Drac]: C'mon, that has to be the most processed corn in the known universe! With added flavour!

Actually wouldn't know about that. Never got the courage to try it. I like my teeth too much and I've heard the crunching coming from other people eating it.

I thought that pellegra came about when you didn't mix with the alkalis? Wasn't that something that happened in Europe when corn became the rage without the traditional cooking methods?

Back on topic though we’ve mentioned steel cut/groats and instant but does anyone ever use the old fashion for anything besides cookies?

Jim

[piperdbh]

You take a sip of water now and then.

That reminds me of a poor old mountain man who told a stranger that he ate dried apples for breakfast, drank water for lunch, and swelled up for supper.

[Tobus]

When young and extremely foolish I used to inflict Quaker Instant Oats on myself, a series of experiences I still remember with particular horror. QUICK oats aren't as bad but personally I find them a little like minit rice, more suitable for a survival ration than for serious eating pleasure.

That's about all I keep rolled oats around for these days... emergency use (or for cookies). The thing is, any type of rolled oat has already been cooked, and the bulk of the nutritional content and flavor is already gone.

There is a HUGE difference in flavor when you go to a steel-cut oat that hasn't been cooked already. I can't go back to rolled oats, be they instant or old-fashioned. The flavor is just pitiful.

The other big turn-off for me with rolled oats is that I seem to get a husk with almost every bite of oatmeal. Apparently even with our modern technology, they still can't completely get rid of the husks when processing rolled oats. With steel-cut oats, though, there are no husks.

I like McCann's steel cut oats.

McCann's is decent, but it's WAY overpriced. And all it is, is plain old steel-cut oats in a fancy can. You're literally paying as much as 5 to 10 times as much for the same quantity of oats as you would by buying it in bulk from a store that sells it. I do like the cans, though, for their vintage styling.

All right, I'll throw a twist into the discussion.

I often eat handfuls of raw, dry oatmeal as a snack. It's something I learned from my grandmother. If I had un cut or unrolled oat grain, I would probably chew on that. I've eaten other grains that way, like wheat.

I do it too. Steel-cut oats, especially. I'll take a handful in my mouth and push it over between my cheek and gum, and just suck on it a while for the nice nutty flavor. Then chew it little by little.

[Curly]

I make a quick microwave mix of chopped apple with butter, maple syrup,and cinnamon over simmered steelcut with raisons, bit of milk . Usual breakfast.

Christmas variant: cooked oats with raisins, good bit of butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, a touch of cream just to fill the lumps and a splash of whisky. It is unreal!

[Curly]

grits: about the consistancy of mashed patatos with a few lumps maybe... redeye gravy