Hot cereals..Malt-o-Meal, Cream of Wheat, Oatmeal

[EdS]

I had steel-cut oats this morning for the first time in about a year. They have a nicer texture than rolled oats like Quaker Oats but take longer to cook. I think a half-hour simmer is the minimum and an hour or more is even better. I put mine in the rice cooker last night and set it to Keep Warm (about 160 degrees). I had a nice hot breakfast waiting for me in the morning. You can add dried fruit to the mixture at the beginning too.

Steel-cut oats can go rancid pretty quickly. That's why they usually come in a can. So, if you get them in bulk you might want to treat them like brown rice or other whole grains and keep them in the fridge or freezer.

Alton Brown did a show on oats.

[edited to add link]

Edited January 4, 2005 by esvoboda (log)

[cakewalk]

Many thanks to you both for the steel cut oats information. And now I am curious. I'm assuming I can probably get them at Whole Foods. This sounds like Saturday morning's breakfast.

[Margo]

I want my Maypo! I'd forgotten that.

My brother and I had the little pouches of instant Quaker oats in winter as kids. I liked the apple and brown sugar flavor.

I was introduced to the range of hot cereals at Star Island, a summer resort for Unitarians. A windswept island off the coast of NH/Maine, so hot cereal was appropriate for chilly mornings. Breakfast included a choice of cold cereal or hot: Ralston, Maltex, CoW, oatmeal... a different one every day.

I went off the hot stuff when I made it myself and burned the milk. Yuk. But I've been back at it for several years now. Malt o Meal made with milk with chopped chipotles in adobo. Kinky, hm?

[Suzanne F]

Many thanks to you both for the steel cut oats information. And now I am curious. I'm assuming I can probably get them at Whole Foods. This sounds like Saturday morning's breakfast. 

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Even the Food Emporium carries McCann's.

Maltex!!! How could I have forgotten?? Loved it. And I may even have some Ralston in the back of the closet.

And as for songs, who remembers:

Watch Wilhemina

Eat her farina

HO Farina

Cream Farina

something something something

Maypo was only in the house when my mother got sick of our whining. It wasn't anywhere as good as regular cereal with maple syrup (which, in our house, was homemade regular sugar syrup with maple flavoring stirred in ). Now, of course, I only have the real thing.

Edited to add: is anyone keeping track of the regional differences on this thread?

Edited January 4, 2005 by Suzanne F (log)

[Peter B Wolf]

Many thanks to you both for the steel cut oats information. And now I am curious. I'm assuming I can probably get them at Whole Foods. This sounds like Saturday morning's breakfast. 

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You might want to try any half way decent supermarket, Shaws and Hannaford here in Maine both carry the Irish kind in a tin, and locate them in the 'natural' foods section of their stores.

To the preparation method: I like to toast this grain in a heavy duty stainless frying pan over a stove burner. Make sure the pan is completely dry. You must constantly stir and shake the pan, almost from the beginning, a motion of both hands similar to a drummer at a concert.

This may take a while, do not walk away!! Also have some kind of bowl or dish at hand, as once the grain starts browning it will do so very fast, quicker hand shakings are required, and when desired color is achieved, dump quickly into ready bowl. The heat of the pan would otherwise burn the grain!!

I cook mine in lightly boiling water (4 cups water to 1 cup oats), takes half an hour minimum. Serve with Demarara Sugar, a lump of unsalted quality Butter and light or heavy Cream

[forever_young_ca]

We ate hot cereals growing up as kids in cold, cold Canadian winters. I love the stuff and to me it is very soul satisfying.

To this day I often make porridge of some sort in the winter - my choices are Red River Cereal, oatmeal and Cream of Wheat - always from scratch. It is easy and doesn't take long. That stuff in pouches tastes like wall paper paste

[helenjp]

I'm with Jensen...didn't realize that I liked porridge until I stopped putting milk on it. Cold milk on hot porridge...nooooo waaaaay!

Three day old porridge? Not for me! I like that just-cooked flavor.

I like the chewy texture and oaty flavor of steel-cut oats, but I also like thick-cut whole-grain rolled oats (when I can get 'em...) because they cook beautifully over night in a slow cooker, while steel-cut oats seem to get lumpy in a slow cooker.

Kids have brown sugar or butter on their porridge; I have toasted sesame seeds on mine.

[Jaymes]

My dad (84) who's been reading along said, "Those folks all live too close to the grocery stores. When I was a kid, we'd dip some hominy out of the soaking barrel where it was soaking in lye and grind it on the grinding stone to make grits...finely if we were going to have it as cereal, or not so fine if the chicken had laid some eggs and we were going to have it that way. Then after breakfast, we'd get our biscuits that Mom had made with clabbered milk, and a piece of bacon, for lunch, and get on the horse (and damn, she was a mean ol' mare) and go to school."

But, he says, he shore does enjoy the comments from all you pampered kids.

Edited January 4, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[fifi]

My dad (84) who's been reading along said, "Those folks all live too close to the grocery stores.  When I was a kid, we'd dip some hominy out of the soaking barrel where it was soaking in lye and grind it on the grinding stone to make grits...finely if we were going to have it as cereal, or not so fine if the chicken had laid some eggs and we were going to have it that way.  Then after breakfast, we'd get our biscuits that Mom had made with clabbered milk, and a piece of bacon, for lunch, and get on the horse (and damn, she was a mean ol' mare) and go to school."

But, he says, he shore does enjoy the comments from all you pampered kids. 

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How exceedingly cool. I remember teasing memories out of my parents as they got older. There were some very funny stories to be had.

Mom made oatmeal and Cream of Wheat mostly. Of course, that was before there was any of this instant stuff. Grits were also a favorite. Malt o' Meal would make a cameo appearance now and again. But I have to say that the CoW was probably the favorite. Brown sugar or Steen's cane syrup were the sweeteners of choice.

Oddly enough, I have gotten away from hot cereals, except for the packet of instant grits or plain oatmeal now and then. I do intend to mend my ways. Somewhere around here we were discussing making really good grits in a crockpot. Ah Ha! Here it is. Next I will have to try those Irish style oats.

Even more oddly . . . In the past 20 years or so, I have developed an aversion to anything sweet for breakfast. (And, even more oddly . . . no, insane . . . I drink my coffee sweetened. ) I found that I really did enjoy the grits or the occasional oatmeal with butter and Cajun seasoning that I make myself.

Now I need to try my fancy schmancy fuzzy logic rice cooker on this stuff. (After all, a $200 (US) rice cooker should be able to play "Hail to the Queen" when I plug it in.) If it can cook a small amount of any of these delights, I am in business. Either that, or I have to get a smaller crockpot.

[andiesenji]

I had steel-cut oats this morning for the first time in about a year. They have a nicer texture than rolled oats like Quaker Oats but take longer to cook. I think a half-hour simmer is the minimum and an hour or more is even better. I put mine in the rice cooker last night and set it to Keep Warm (about 160 degrees). I had a nice hot breakfast waiting for me in the morning. You can add dried fruit to the mixture at the beginning too.

Steel-cut oats can go rancid pretty quickly. That's why they usually come in a can. So, if you get them in bulk you might want to treat them like brown rice or other whole grains and keep them in the fridge or freezer.

Alton Brown did a show on oats.

[edited to add link]

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The reason I began to use a rice cooker is that it takes so long to cook on the stovetop and had to be constantly stirred and when I began having trouble with arthritis it was too much.

I experimented with microwaving and it wasn't too bad in the micro-rice cooker but still not the way I wanted, so I tried the rice cooker and it worked perfectly. It is especially helpful when using milk, coconut milk or stock with the grains as there is no possibility of scorching, which, with milk, produces an awful tarry taste that permeates the entire mass.

[fifi]

Andie . . . Which setting would you use? I have this cooker. I see that it is now on special and includes a cookbook. I will have to see if I can get my hands on one of those books. Maybe the answers are all in there. After all, the description now includes "soft grains."

[jgarner53]

and who remembers the Malt-o-Meal tv commercials? "Edgar, this is your tummy speaking. Edgar, I want Malt-o-Meal. Edgar, Malt-o-Meal." Talk about your irritable bowel...

[ruthcooks]

The contrast of hot and cold is what makes oatmeal or cream of wheat pleasurable to me. In fact, I put my light or heavy cream, never milk, in a separate bowl and dip each spoonful of cereal into the cream. I read somewhere that the British do this. I use brown sugar (now Whey-Low Gold) for sweetening. Possibly all the nutrition in the oats is rendered meaningless, however, because I eat buttered toast and bacon alongside. A rare treat, nowadays.

[Toliver]

and who remembers the Malt-o-Meal tv commercials? "Edgar, this is your tummy speaking. Edgar, I want Malt-o-Meal. Edgar, Malt-o-Meal." Talk about your irritable bowel...

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I remember the commercial where the Dad talked his son into eating Malt-o-Meal by convincing the boy's invisible friend, Maynard, that "It's some good stuff, Maynard." A phrase that has slipped ever so quietly into my own daily vernacular.

My mom couldn't make lumpless Cream of Wheat to save her life so I never became a fan of the stuff. Oatmeal became the favorite amongst us kids.

I still eat it during the Winter months.

I was shocked to find out that if I want to lower my cholesterol, though, I need to eat one & a half servings of it!

From the Quaker Oats FAQ web page:

How much oatmeal do I need to eat a day to reduce my cholesterol?

  The FDA suggests that you need 60 grams of oatmeal daily. This would be about one and one-half servings (one large bowl) of cooked Old Fashioned or Quick oatmeal. If you're eating Instant Quaker Oatmeal you'll need about 3 pouches.

[sHAGGY] Zoinks! [/sHAGGY]

edited to add hot link

Edited January 4, 2005 by Toliver (log)

[andiesenji]

Andie . . . Which setting would you use? I have this cooker. I see that it is now on special and includes a cookbook. I will have to see if I can get my hands on one of those books. Maybe the answers are all in there. After all, the description now includes "soft grains."

←

I have the same cooker, as well as the "neuro fuzzy" one. I use the brown rice setting.

On the "neuro" I use the "mixed porridge" setting.

If I happen to use one of the others I have, (if these are in use for something else), I just add twice the amount of water (or other liquid) as is called for in regular rice.

For the savory version I learned a "trick" - I put frozen butter in the bottom of the cooker, add the rice or grains, then add room temp liquids.

The result is a buttery "crust" on the bottom something like that which forms when cooking rice in the Lebanese manner (AKA "Armenian style"). It isn't really crusty, but I like the effect when the mass is turned out of the cooker pan in one mound.

[Darcie B]

I grew up on Malt-o-Meal, Cream of Wheat, and Quaker Instant Oatmeal. Great for cold North Dakota mornings. However, I lost my taste for it as a young adult when I cooked up a bowl of COW (that had been in the cupboard for only a very short time) and noticed some little dark spots on it...upon closer inspection I found it was full of BUGS!

A couple of months ago my husband spotted COW in the store and had to have some. I warily opened the box and found no critters, so we ate up. MMMmmmm. I transferred the stuff to a plastic container and put it in the freezer. Please don't remind me that the eggs are probably there...

[MelissaH]

I also do steel-cut oats overnight, but I don't use a crockpot or rice cooker. My method is to boil 4 cups of water in a 3-qt saucepan, stir in 1 cup of oats (might have to try toasting them next time I do this), put the pot's lid on, and turn off the heat. In the morning, all you need to do is heat through, stirring occasionally to be sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pan. I haven't tried, but I suppose there's no reason a bowlful couldn't be heated in the microwave.

MelissaH

[chile_peppa]

While I abhor hot cereals (the texture gets to me), I will cook them for others. My BF likes oatmeal but his favorite is Coco Wheats -- does anyone else eat this?

Edited January 4, 2005 by chile_peppa (log)

[Knicke]

MelissaH Posted Today, 03:39 PM

  I also do steel-cut oats overnight, but I don't use a crockpot or rice cooker. My method is to boil 4 cups of water in a 3-qt saucepan, stir in 1 cup of oats (might have to try toasting them next time I do this), put the pot's lid on, and turn off the heat. In the morning, all you need to do is heat through, stirring occasionally to be sure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pan. I haven't tried, but I suppose there's no reason a bowlful couldn't be heated in the microwave.

Brilliant!

I have a longing for hot non-instant cereal in the mornings, but not the wherewithal to get up extremely early and make it. I'll be trying this method soon.

[jetsie]

Growing up, I remember being fed lumpy oatmeal, lumpy cream of wheat, and lumpy cream of rice. (Not surprisingly, I really like lumpy food.)

My kids eat oatmeal almost daily. I eat it a couple of times a week, to boost milk production. Sad to say, oatmeal gives me heartburn and makes me feel really hungry all the rest of the day.

I used to have a friend whose husband (from Scotland or Ireland--can't remember) insisted on cooking and letting his oatmeal ferment for days before he'd consider it edible.

[EdS]

Andie . . . Which setting would you use? I have this cooker. I see that it is now on special and includes a cookbook. I will have to see if I can get my hands on one of those books. Maybe the answers are all in there. After all, the description now includes "soft grains."

←

I have the same cooker, as well as the "neuro fuzzy" one. I use the brown rice setting.

On the "neuro" I use the "mixed porridge" setting.

If I happen to use one of the others I have, (if these are in use for something else), I just add twice the amount of water (or other liquid) as is called for in regular rice.

For the savory version I learned a "trick" - I put frozen butter in the bottom of the cooker, add the rice or grains, then add room temp liquids.

The result is a buttery "crust" on the bottom something like that which forms when cooking rice in the Lebanese manner (AKA "Armenian style"). It isn't really crusty, but I like the effect when the mass is turned out of the cooker pan in one mound.

←

I wish I could try your butter trick tonight but I filled my cooker pan right before reading your post.

I just checked and I see that my cooker also has a Porridge setting and I can set a timer so the cycle completes when I want. I'll use this tonight. There's a chart in my rice cooker manual that indicates that the cycle for porridge is an hour and a half.

By porridge, I believe this setting is designed for okayu, rice gruel, and the similar Chinese congee. I've never had either. A common proportion of rice to water for this is 1:7, according to one of my Japanese cooking books. When the gruel is done cooking, you can add things like raw egg yolk, powdered green tea, dried bonito, sliced shiitake simmered in dashi, etc.

I bet you could dump some Carnaroli or Arborio in the cooker and create a breakfast risotto if you used the right additions.

[bloviatrix]

Coincidentally, today's NY Times has an article about the health benefits of oatmeal as well as chart showing the tastiest through the nastiest. As you can imagine, steel-cut make the best tasting oats.

Oatmeal to Please the Palate and the Label-Obsessed

More people than I ever imagined like oatmeal as much as I do. The nutty aroma of the simmering oats makes the kitchen seem even toastier on a chilly morning. I confess I eat it year round because it keeps my hunger pangs at bay for quite a long time, and it may reduce cholesterol levels.

[Jensen]

The SF Chronicle had an article in today's issue as well...

Morning Comfort

I liked this article much better than the NY Times one (which seemed to be mostly bashing instant oatmeal instead of singing the praises of porridge!).

Anyone get Saveur? There was a brief piece in the December issue (No. 80) on the Benevolent Knights of the Fraternal Brotherhood of Anglo-Afro-Italo-American Society of Porridge Aficionados (AKA Bonnie Raitt's band).

[Jensen]

my choices are Red River Cereal

Oh, I love Red River cereal! We never got it very often as kids; maybe it was more expensive than oats.

My favourite memory about Red River cereal is of eating it while I was at summer camp. We'd gone on an overnight hike and, for dinner, we ate weiners that had been skewered onto sticks, covered in a dough made from Red River cereal, and then cooked over the campfire.

[Jaymes]

So both the SF Chronicle and the NYT food sections have features about hot cereals? I think it's utterly amazing how often a thread on eG coincides with an article on the same topic in this newspaper or that.