Bob wrote:
> I used to like oatmeal, until I decided to attempt to lower my cholesterol
> by having a bowl every morning for a month. That was six or seven years ago,
> and I haven't been much of an oatmeal fan ever since. But today I tried
> McCann's Irish Oatmeal (Steel-Cut Oats) for the first time, and it was
> exceptional. Normally, oatmeal is made by rolling oats between steel rollers
> to flatten them into little booger-shaped plates, a resemblance which
> becomes even more pronounced upon cooking. This oatmeal is made by cutting
> the grains (called "groats") into little cylinders instead. When cooked, the
> oats plump up nicely and take on a pleasant chewy texture. Toasting them
> beforehand also causes them to take on a nutty flavor.
>
> It wasn't particularly quick: Altogether, the process took about 40 minutes,
> but it wasn't labor-intensive; all I had to do was toss the oats while they
> were being pan-toasted for two minutes, dump in some water and cook them for
> 25 minutes (without stirring at all), then dump in some milk and cook for
> another 10 minutes, while stirring occasionally.


The pan toasting adds a lot of flavor to the final result. You will
notice a big difference between that and the crockpot version.



>
> I'm going to try an even easier recipe for tomorrow: Before I go to bed, the
> oats get dumped in a crock pot, water and dried fruit are added (I'm going
> to use dried apricots and dried cranberries), and the crock pot cooks the
> oatmeal while I sleep.
>
> Bob
>
>