Oatmeal Mush
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the mush
In a double boiler, combine the oatmeal, water, and salt without stirring.
Cover the kettle tightly and keep the water in the lower kettle boiling.
Cook for 3 hours.
Overnight and serve
For breakfast, prepare the mush the day before, leaving it in the kettle overnight.
In the morning, add ½ cup boiling water and replenish the hot water in the lower kettle.
Heat while preparing the rest of breakfast.
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
- Coarse oatmeal
- Forms the body of the mush as its starches swell and soften during long cooking.
- Water
- Hydrates the oats so they cook into a soft, spoonable porridge.
- Boiling water
- Loosens the set mush in the morning, restoring a thinner, serveable consistency.
The step that matters
Keep the lower kettle boiling for the full cook. A tightly covered double boiler holds steady heat, so the oats cook gently for hours without scorching. If the outer water stops boiling, the mush cooks too slowly and may stay grainy.
“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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