Oatmeal is usually a lavish affair, laden with milk or cream, topped with flowing rivers of butter, drizzled with honey or maple syrup, garnished with fruits, and mounted with nut butters and pastes. I really like oatmeal like that, and have recipes like a bananas foster–impressed oatmeal with peanut butter and a wealthy and creamy milk-based oatmeal. However oatmeal does not need to be chock stuffed with these sorts of issues to be nice, and if you’d like proof, look no farther than the Land of Oats itself: Scotland.

I do not know if the Scottish would agree with this moniker I’ve bestowed upon them, however until they’d desire I name them the Land of Fried Mars Bars, I am sticking with it. Additionally, our new AI overlords agree with me: Once I requested ChatGPT which nation it could guess I used to be referring to with The Land of Oats, it replied, “My greatest guess could be Scotland. Scotland is famend for its oats, that are a staple grain used historically in varied Scottish dishes, most notably porridge and oatcakes. The local weather and soil situations in Scotland are significantly well-suited for rising oats, making it a distinguished a part of the nation’s agriculture and culinary traditions.” So, as everyone knows, if AI says it, it is true.

The Key Components in Scottish-Fashion Oatmeal

Anyway, again to oatmeal. Traditional Scottish oats are made with three primary components, and two of them—water and salt—hardly even qualify when taking part in the recipe publication ingredient counting sport. In order that leaves the oats as the one foremost ingredient, which implies I might declare in a headline that These One-Ingredient Oats Are Higher Than My Wildest Desires and possibly get some consideration on Google Uncover. (I would get vastly extra consideration if I wrote Taylor Swift Says This Ina Garten Recipe for Scottish Oats Is the Finest Breakfast Ever, however they don’t have anything to do with this recipe so we’re not gonna go there.)

Up till this second I’ve not talked about the butter, however it’s an optionally available topping, together with some stunning flaky sea salt. I will be sincere, although, it isn’t an optionally available topping for me as a result of the butter makes it. As they are saying fairly rightly in Scotland, “Give me that pat of golden butter on my porridge or give me haggis.”

Ideas for the Good Bowl of Scottish Oats

As for the cooking methodology, listed here are crucial strategies and particulars to concentrate to:

1. You do not want a spurtle for this. A spurtle is a standard Scottish oatmeal-stirring implement that others would establish as…a stick. I personal one and I get an enormous kick out of it, however I’ve performed side-by-side exams stirring with a spurtle and a wood spoon and I am unable to detect a lick of a distinction.
2. Use steel-cut oats, not rolled oats, and toast them if desired. This oatmeal is appropriately made with steel-cut (additionally bought as “pinhead”) oats, not rolled or on the spot oats. They take longer to prepare dinner, however they’re nuttier and produce a a lot better texture. You possibly can dry-toast them for a deeper, calmly roasted taste; it is a good contact that solely takes a number of additional minutes. (Do not burn them!)
3. Save time with an in a single day soak. Whereas there is no requirement to consider breakfast the night time earlier than, you’ll save time within the morning by waking as much as a pot stuffed with oats which have been sitting within the water when you slept. As soon as totally hydrated, they prepare dinner up rather more shortly, saving you ten to fifteen minutes on the entire cooking time.
4. Salt issues. Add a little bit of salt to the oats and water earlier than cooking will make all of the distinction within the oatmeal’s ultimate taste. It should not be too salty nevertheless it ought to style seasoned. Ending the oatmeal with a number of giant crystals of flaky sea salt can be a worthwhile transfer.
5. Stir gently. Whereas the spurtle does not matter a lot, the way you stir does make a distinction. Stir too little and you would find yourself with scorched oatmeal, skinny and watery oatmeal, or each. Stir too quickly, and it might flip right into a pot of oat glue. That is as a result of the stirring movement loosens starches from the oats and disperses them all through the pot, thickening the porridge within the course of. With mild and frequent stirring, you may get oats which are plump and suspended in a creamy glaze, neither skinny nor cement-like.
6. The recipe says the butter is optionally available, nevertheless it’s not. I do know I already advised you this, however I am telling you once more as a result of I imply it. Eat the butter, benefit from the butter. If you happen to should skip butter, take into account a little bit of cream as a substitute.