anyone have any luck slow-cooking oatmeal in a crockpot...?

[mike_c]

I tried cooking steel cut oats last night in my mini-crockpot-- NOT quick cook oatmeal or rolled oats, but good Irish pin-head oats. Woke up this morning expecting a bowl of creamy oats, but instead found a hard and crusty mass on the outside and top, with a watery gruel in the center. Nothing edible in the entire mess. This is especially disappointing because cooking oatmeal is the main reason I bought the crockpot in the first place! Any advice from more experienced crockpotters?

[wildeyed]

1. I have never done that.

But I saw Alton Brown do it on his cooking show Good Eats. Maybe try his website, see if the recipe is still posted.

[mike_c]

2. thanks-- I just chiseled the crusty mess out of the pot....

ugh

[wildeyed]

3. Let is soak for a while, maybe even with the pot on.

That should get it out.

How disappointing! Hope you had a back up meal available.

[wildeyed]

4. OK, I found the recipe.

I always mean to make it myself, so maybe this will get me motivated. Or you can try it again, let us know how it went ;)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_17138,00.html

[mike_c]

5. thanks! That recipe is almost exactly what I did...

...except I left out the fruit-- I microwave frozen berries with some Splenda to make an instant fruit sauce in the morning. The major difference between this recipe and what I did is the AMOUNT. Instead of 1 cup oatmeal and 4 cups water I used 1/4 cup oatmeal and 1 cup water-- same proportions, but less total amount. I wonder if filling the crockpot more might make a difference? It's a mini-crockpot and was about 1/4 full. I'll try doing a larger amount tonight and let you know what happened. Extra oats refrigerate nicely, so there's no worry about making too much.

[wildeyed]

6. I read the recipe reviews.

Most people loved the recipe, but many had trouble, too. Seems like all crockpots are not created equal. Some may be too hot for this recipe. Others got edible results, but seemed to think the oats were overcooked.

If the recipe doesn't work out next time, you may still be able to return the crockpot if you bought it from a store with a good return policy.

[mike_c]

9. OK, this time I got something edible...

...but WAY over-cooked. It's almost as smooth as library paste rather than nicely toothy like steel cut oats ought to be. The first result is likely from having too little in the crock pot, which allowed the contents to get too hot. Maybe I can resolve the over-cooking by cooking for a shorter duration, but the whole point of this was to be able to start the oats before bed at night and have them ready in the morning. If eight hours cooking is too long, well, I can't do that. I think it's back to cooking up a big batch on Sunday mornings and refrigerating it for the whole week, which actually works quite well.

Now I need to find other uses for my mini-crockpot so that it doesn't get permanently relegated to the back of the cupboard. :-(

[wildeyed]

10. Use it for soups and stews.

Do the prep in the AM or the night before. Put it on before you go to work. Come home to a hot meal! Yum.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. I got that same result

Never again.

I do it the way it says on the can (McCann's), and it's never failed me.

I just cook up a big batch, keep it in the fridge, and we dip into it all week, microwaving as much as each of us wants. It works out perfectly.

[mike_c]

8. I think that's what I'm going back to....

Oh well, another kitchen gadget for the back of the cabinet....

[canichelouis]

11. I have soaked steel oats overnight

and they cook quickly in the am.
I brought the water ( and oats) to boil first.
Turn off heat and cover.
Like, 10 min. or so the next am.

[franmarz]

12. Who would want to cook oats slowly anyway

Just put a handful of whole grain oats in a pot of water about twice as much water as oats, cook on the stove top a few minutes and Walla!
OR take a bowl of uncooked oats splash half as much water over it, and nuke it for 30 seconds, which gives a nice firm consistency.
Guten Appetit.

[Stepup2]

13. I use my crock pot

for steel cut oats, but I do not mind the consistency of the oats cooked with this method.

I use 1 rounded cup of steel cut oats, 2 cups of water and 2 cups of milk. I toast the oats in a skillet with butter before I add them to the CP, and I schmear the CP with butter prior to adding the ingredients.

I cook on low, but the typical nights sleep for me is 6.5 hours.