Pin Head Oatmeal (Top), Rolled Oats (left), Oat Groats (Right)
I wanted the title of this post to be just Perfect Porridge, but porridge is one of those dishes that elicits a huge variety of opinions as to what is right; porridge afficinados will debate the type of oats, cooking pot, cooking liquid and stirring implement. Every year the Golden Spurtle runs a porridge cookoff with contestents from all over the world, bringing their own oats, water and spoon / spurtle / spurkle / theevil or theedle. One of the things that I love about the foodie world is how something as seemingly simple as porridge can become so complicated.
My primary breakfast need is something that will keep me full and satisfied until lunchtime, and porridge made entirely from rolled oats does not seem to work for me; Sophie gave an excellent explanation why porridge does not fill some people up which is well worth a read. The benefits of oats (mainly soluble fibre which reduces chlorestrol) made me want to perserve with them for my breakfast so I started to experiment. In the end I found that a mix of equal quantities of rolled, oat groats and steel cut oat meal produced the perfect porridge for me.
Oat groats are a whole grain and are mainly used for animal feed, happily Whole Foods sells both groats and pin head oatmeal (very cheaply) and I buy about 7lb of each every autumn to see me through the winter. Because oat groats are such a large grain they need far more cooking; or soaking overnight. Even after soaking and cooking they still retain a little bit of bite and give some texture to the porridge. There is more about oat groats here.
Helen’s Perfect Porridge
Make a mix of 1/3 rolled oats, 1/3 steel cut oat meal and 1/3 oat groats by volume.
I find that an American half cup measure (3oz) with twice the volume of milk is just the right amount per person, so for 2 you need 6oz (1 cup) of mix and then 2 cups of milk* (this is just under a pint – leave enough for your coffee and there should be the right amount). Put the oat mix in a saucepan, pour the milk over and soak overnight, in the morning cook over a gentle heat, stirring, until thickened.
Being diary milk adverse I use homemade soy & oat milk made in my Soyquick machine, using 2/3 soy beans, 1/3 oat groats.
I’ve always been a fan of just rolled oats, a pinch of salt and half and half milk/water for my porridge.