Re: The overnight method. It’s not necessary but I think some people just like the idea of setting it up the night before, walking away and having it ready in the morning. Especially useful if you have to work and don’t want to get up 30 minutes earlier just to make some oatmeal.
I found when I make it stove top that I end up having to watch it, stir it and adjust the temperature so it doesn’t boil over. I’m just not crazy about spending that much time in the kitchen for breakfast.
It’s not just the convenience, though that is a bit part of it. In my (admitedly limited) experience, the two methods produce entirely different dishes, texture-wise. I preferred the texture of the overnight recipe to the 30-minute recipe immensely.
Just polished off my first batch. It yielded about 3 bowls.
Not bad, but it didn’t blow me away this time. They’re bland to the point of weirdness. Even with liberal amounts of honey, some half-and-half, and a sliced banana, it was a very bland dish. The texture wasn’t too bad, but every 5 bites or so I’d get a grain that didn’t soften in any way, and it’d really hurt to bite down on. Much like biting down on unpopped popcorn except that bothers me so much I’ve learned to be extra cautious and avoid it. I can’t avoid these concrete grains because I don’t know what they look like.
I’ll try again. Maybe cook them a little longer and go the salt/pepper/sausage route this time.
I just got back from Target with a slow-cooker, so I’ll be using that tonight for tomorrow morning’s batch.
One thing I didn’t mention in my earlier post with the modified recipe is that when I first put everything in, I stirred thoroughly (I mean, for like a minute and a half), and then when I came back an hour later I stirred thoroughly again. I don’t know if that would help with your very high ratio of uncooked oats, Cisco, but it might be worth a try. On the blandness, all I can say is I don’t exactly think of honey, half-and-half, and banana as a cure for blandness. 
Cisco: you did put salt in at the end, right? Otherwise they are kinda bland. But still good.
Re slow cookers: that’s interesting that the texture is different when using one. Anyway, I don’t find it all that much work to make on the stove; but I don’t generally make it in the morning anyway except on the weekends. Other days I’ll cook up a big batch at night and then just reheat in the morning in a serving size. The Bob’s Oats in particular comes out really well this way: there is little or no difference from just-cooked, except it’s less soupy, which is a plus to me.
Well, it actually turned out to be Sunday morning’s batch, and I botched it, and have been calling myself a sonofabitch all morning.
Alas, when I set everything up last night, I neglectfully turned my slow cooker to “low” instead of “warm,” and awoke this morning to a badly overcooked mess. Provided I can sufficiently chisel off the encrusted remains of this effort and work up the gumption to go out and buy more half-and-half, I’ll try again tonight.
They say the nice thing about learning to cook is you can eat your mistakes. This is not always true.
But, but, but it sounds like you followed the instructions perfectly! Alton’s recipe says it’s to go on “low”. 
But maybe I won’t rush out and get a smaller crock-pot for this recipe after all!
I make porridge every night, it’s nice to get up in the morning and find breakfast ready:
I use my slow-cooker, which is a biggish one. I don’t cook the porridge directly in the crock part, though.
First, put about an inch of water in the crock,
Second, put a cup of water in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup and set it in the water in the crock,
Third, add 1/3 cup oatmeal (or steel-cut oats, rolled oats, Sunny Boy, 9-Grain cereal, Red Mill mixed grain, whatever you fancy) to the water in the measuring cup,
Fourth, put as much salt as you like, up to about 1/2 tsp in with the grain,
Fifth, stir well,
Sixth, put the lid on the crock, set it to low, and walk away. (All this assuming the Pyrex cups will fit and the crock lid will fit over them.)
In the morning, turn off the pot, stir the porridge, and dish it up. It’s perfectly cooked.
This is like the way my Mum used to make it when we were kids, in a double boiler set at the back of the woodburning kitchen stove.
Since my husband likes only oatmeal and I like the mixed grain, I use 2 - 2 cup Pyrex measuring cups and Bob’s yer uncle.
The Pyrex cups are easy to clean, and the crock part isn’t. Easy peasy.
You can make more in each cup, if you like a bigger serving. And if you make more than you can eat, put it in the fridge and the next morning, slice it, fry it up and eat it with maple syrup or brown sugar, et.
Well, well. Indeed it does. Huh. Somehow I got the “warm” setting on my rice cooker confused with what I was supposed to set the slow cooker to.
Now I must re-evaluate. Maybe if I had remembered to lube up the crock. Well, I’m not giving up, it’s just a setback.
Good luck!
I did see in the feedback on that recipe that a number of folks had trouble with it burning 
Maybe I’ll stick with the rice cooker! Or just cook it on the stove the night before. I had leftovers over the course of the weekend - scooped out a serving into a bowl, added a splash of apple juice (as I’d used up the last of the milk in cooking it initially) and microwaved it, and it was still quite tasty.
Salt, butter, cinnamon, maple syrup . . . this stuff has a great texture but it’s like it sucks the flavor right out of everything I add to it. So bland.
Normally I cook my oatmeal on the stovetop. Last time I got distracted and had a boil-over. (And it seems that when I make McCann’s it usually takes longer than half an hour.)
So I decided to try slow-cooking it this time. I put one cup of McCann’s steel-cut oatmeal in my trusty old (over 20 years old) Hamilton Beach oblong slow cooker and added four cups of water and a goodly handful of raisins I’ve had sitting around. This morning it was a little on the thick side. (I didn’t add milk as others have suggested, as I normally don’t use milk in my oatmeal.) I added another cup of water, some brown sugar, and some cinnamon. I let it sort itself out while I had some coffee.
Very nice. Not mushy. Still has the bursties when I chew the half-groats. I think I’ll use the overnight method from now on when I have steel-cut oats.
I had never tried steel-cut oatmeal before, but based on this thread, and my long-standing admiration for the McCann’s can, I bought a can and tried out the standard Alton Brown recipe – toast in butter for 5 minutes, then simmer for 25, add milk + buttermilk, simmer another 10, add brown sugar & cinnamon.
Consistency was excellent – I thought it looked watery, but there was just a thin layer of liquid floating on the top. so I ladled out a hearty bowlful and dug in.
:eek:
You guys actually like this stuff? It was like a mouthful of tiny rubber balls, and about as tasty. I may give it another try, with more cinnamon & brown sugar.
I went to make a second batch a few days ago - had it all assembled in the rice cooker, but I put the cooker bowl in the fridge until it was time to set it up.
Naturally, I forgot. So the next morning I figured I’d cook it on the stovetop.
Blech! Some of it scorched onto the pan. The rest had the consistency of wallpaper paste. Chunky, to be sure, but a very gluelike mouthfeel (well, I’ve never actually eaten glue but it sure seemed like you’d imagine glue to be like).
I’ll do it in the rice cooker again and see what it’s like.
I still say you’re missing a bet by not eatin’ them uncut! But I am just a voice in the wilderness…
No, you’re not alone. Jack Dean Tyler would agree with you!
You know, I thought of JDT when I posted that, actually. :eek:
Twisted minds surely think alike…
Where do you find them uncut? I’d try it if I could find 'em.
My theory is - I HATE HATE HATE regular oatmeal. I don’t even eat oatmeal cookies. It’s not just the texture - I don’t like the taste.
The steel-cut stuff was barely edible. The taste was better but not great, and the texture sucked.
BUT, I really like the Kashi stuff that uses whole oats. I can taste the oats, but it tastes different to me than the cut stuff.
So I want to try whole oats. Cooked like a whole grain, rather than a breakfast porridge.
If I can find them.