Cooking Advisory- Irish Oatmeal
I bought this can of Irish Oatmeal purely out of fascination for the design of the can. Also I think dad bought some similar stuff when he came to visit me in the UK. The other day when I had a cold seemed the perfect time to try out my Irish Oats. I read the directions three times, until finally it dawned on me they were actually saying that the oats took THIRTY minutes to cook, not three as I had decided in my mind, and this thirty minutes starts an indeterminate amount of time AFTER the oats are softened by cooking for what is presumably another 30 minutes. Who has that kind of time in the morning? I guess the Irish, and no wonder they are putting whiskey in it! And dad, which would partly explain why he is up at 4 AM...
The oats, with a long time yet to go before they're finished...
posted by Pammie at 9:54 PM
14 Comments:
That is a handsome tin. (I'm betting it's the whiskey that fixes a cold, not the oats!)
Hi Ostara,
I'm a sucker for good design, which is not always a testament to the quality of what lies inside. I have many many bad haircuts, clothing choices, and restaurant meals based on my architectural/design deciding factors and I still haven't learnt my lesson!
I knew a woman who cooked oats (Scottish, I think) every night in a double boiler on very low, so her family could have them for breakfast the next morning. She said that made them really creamy. Sounds like a lot of trouble to me, but then I'm not that fussed about oatmeal.
This is dad
These are really good, but take far too long to cook for a regular breakfast. If you have a cold, you have time. And that's not really the reason I get up at 4. I'm still thinking of why
Hi Mom,
Man, if I tried something like that I would burn the house down. I'm hardly ever in the mood for oatmeal and when I am, it's because actually all I'm really interested in is the brown sugar...
Hi Dad!! Welcome to my website, glad you are making comments, they are fun to read! Actually I think you get up at 4 because grandma did...I definitely inherited the sleeping gene from mom's side of the family!
LOL, got that exact same can of mc cann's in my pantry.
if you soak them overnight and nuke them they take a fraction of the time. this type of oatmeal is much better for you although the time factor makes it less desirable over rolled oats.
i'm a sucker for good lookin' things too. sigh.
ever go to meinhardts? if you haven't, try it. foodie's love central. LOL :)
Hi Burekaboy, hmm, soaking them would be a good idea. Although that requires a certain amount of forward planning that unfortunately I haven't got...I only ever think about cooking things when I'm hungry...But you never know, maybe this weekend!
I did bumble into Meinhardts not long after I moved to Vancouver, totally unaware that it was there. I spent about 2 hours staring at everything. It's too far away for me to go to regularly though since I haven't got a car. Have you heard of Urban Fare? They are a similar sort of shop, but much larger, in Yaletown, and it's right across the street from me. Not as intimate as Meinhardts and probably not as good, but a decent alternative. Although, I notice the Urban Fare fellahs sometimes sell food past it's prime, and very rarely put a sell by date on their packages. Hmm.!!
I buy the stuff that you add warm milk too and it goes all soggy like clag glue. You know the one, it's in a bright orange packet that says "good for kids" and it has all these really cool competitions for knitted penguin bedwarmers and stuff. I don't think it qualifies as oatmeal though. When does porridge become oatmeal? When it has crunchy bits in it?
Hi Cailli,
See, the claggy stuff is what I am used to also. Except in the northern hemisphere we never got knitted penguin bedwarmer competitions. English and colonial chaps call oatmeal porridge and yanks call porridge oatmeal. Remember Collin House in London actually had the translation for the tourists on their menu card?
didn't know about urban fare til my friend mentioned it. never been.
meinhardts isn't convenient unless you live in/near south granville area. (they do deliver though if you know what you want exactly and call it in :P). it's fun just to stare at the stuff or get a latte type thing and people watch.
btw...my friend soaks the oats and then drains them, puts the portion in a ziploc and freezes it til needed.
Who would have thought that a post on oatmeal would generate the most commentary on this blog! Heh heh.
It's fun!
wow, glad to have that bit of information. I have been hyptnotized by the can before too, it's just such a neat can, you KNOW the oats have to be good!
Hope you got over your cold.
Hi Jenn, well, when you come to visit we can try the oats for breakfast. And you can see whether they are worth 45 minutes of cooking! Or even faster if we take Burekaboy's advice and soak them over night. I was wondering about the whiskey though. I haven't got any, I don't really like it. Whaddya reckon tequila would be like in oatmeal?!
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