When English chef April Bloomfield’s first book,
A Girl and Her Pig, came out in 2012, it wasn’t her
famous crispy pig ear salad or lamb burger that really got people talking. It
was porridge.
A bowl of steel-cut oats is a chewy, hearty coal
miner’s breakfast. Made from nubbly, chopped-up whole oat groats, it’s a
stand-up oatmeal with loads of flavor and texture, but can take a good 30 or 40
minutes to break down and become porridge-like. Rolled oats are the standard
weekday alternative—hulled, steamed, and flattened, they make a quick-cooking
porridge that runs smooth and doesn’t bite back. Can we all agree that both of
these can get a bit tiresome midway through the bowl?
Bloomfield negotiates between too much and too
little chew with equal parts of both styles of oats, to give us a porridge
that’s (finally) just right. Cooking them together for just 20 minutes means the
steel-cut oats keep their pop while the rolled oats melt around them. She also
simmers the oats in half water, half milk—creamy enough to make your breakfast
feel rich and loving, without slogging you down—along with what seems like a
whole lot of sea salt.
But it won’t be too much, because at the end you’ll
add something sweet and something milky. Or a few spoonfuls of Judy Rodgers’s
not-too-sweet roasted applesauce. The
oatmeal might also make you think of risotto, and next time you’ll want to go
savory and try some Parmesan cheese and a runny egg on top instead. However you
take yours, this is a simple enough formula that you’ll memorize it quickly, and
start cooking all your porridge this way.
Serves 2 or 3
1½ cups (360ml) whole milk, plus a
few generous splashes
1½ teaspoons Maldon or another
flaky sea salt (if using finer salt, start with ½ teaspoon and add to
taste)
½ cup (50g) rolled oats (not
“quick-cooking” or “instant”)
½ cup (80g) steel-cut
oats
About 2 tablespoons sugar (maple,
brown, or white) or maple syrup
1 Combine the 1½ cups milk, 1½ cups (360ml) water, and
the salt in a pot (a 2-quart/1.9L pot should do it) and set over high heat. As
soon as the liquid comes to a gentle simmer, add both kinds of oats and lower
the heat to medium.
2 Cook the oats at a steady simmer, stirring frequently
and tweaking the heat as necessary to maintain the simmer, for about 20 minutes.
The rolled oats will have turned a bit mushy, while the steel-cut oats will be
just tender and pop when you bite them. Turn off the heat. Have a taste. It
should be good and salty. Now, add sugar or syrup to your taste (Bloomfield
likes her porridge to taste a little salty at first, then fade into sweet):
Spoon the porridge into warm bowls and let it sit for a minute. Then carefully
pour a little cold milk around the edges of each bowl, so it pools all the way
round. Sprinkle a five-fingered pinch of sugar or drizzle syrup in the center of
each and let it melt, then serve right away.
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