The Cooking of Oatmeal
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Use a large pot lined with agate or granite.
Bring the water to a brisk boil.
Cook
Slowly stir in the oatmeal using a wooden spoon. Avoid boiling over.
The best part foams at the top.
Cook for 1.5 hours, stirring gently until moderately thick.
Reduce heat and cook until done, stirring occasionally.
Serve
Serve with cold milk on the side, not poured over the porridge.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Oatmeal
- Forms the body of the porridge as its starch thickens during long cooking.
- Water
- Hydrates the oats so they swell and soften into a porridge.
The step that matters
Stirring in the oatmeal into boiling water. Adding oats slowly while stirring keeps them from clumping and lowers the chance of the pot boiling over as the starch thickens the mixture.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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