Linus’ Pressure Cooked Oat Technique – Reader Recipe
Steel cut oats, like many other grains have a tendency to splatter, bubble and foam while under pressure. The usual remedy of adding a spoon of oil helps but does not stop the oats from splattering completely. Having seen the Bain Marie technique on this website, Linus came up with a genial method for cooking them. With no muss and no fuss.
In his own words:
Steel cut oats and water. 1:3 ratio
Toast the oats in oven at 150 C / 300 F (this can be done in bulk) this gives the oats a good flavor and they cook in less time. They can be stored for weeks after toasting.
Put oats and water mix in a container. Add a small amount of olive oil (a few drops) oil to prevent foaming. Add optional ingredients (cut banana, strawberries, or blueberries).
Place a strainer with handle broken off (or splatter screen, or metal mesh with canning jar ring if using jar as a container) over the container. This prevents oats from getting into the pressure cooker if foaming occurs.
Place the container on a trivet and add 1-2 cups of water to the bottom of the pressure cooker. Cook at HIGH pressure for 10-15 minutes and release the pressure using the Normal release method. You can also cook it for 8 minutes and open it with the Natural release method.
Remove strainer and use it to strain excess water if needed from the cooked oats.
Increase pressure or time if softer oats are desired.
Photo and Recipe Credit Linus.
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Great idea. Thanks for letting us know. I always cook beans in a bain marie but never thought about doing oatmeal.
Kitty
I wonder if instead of using a strainer you could simply use tin foil over the top of the container, crimped around the edge, then take a pin, knife, toothpick, whatever, and poke several holes in it.
Lumpynose, that is a great suggestion but you would have to poke lots of holes in your tin foil. Using more than a “mesh” would limit the flow of the super-heated vapor to the top of the jar/container and increase the cooking time.
Ciao!
L
I tried it this morning with my breakfast mush (80 grams wheat bran, 40 grams oatmeal, 380 grams soy milk, plus other stuff). The result was a failure; I’ll explain below.
I don’t think having lots of holes is an issue, especially if you poke them with the tip of a knife. The volume or amount of air/steam moving through the holes is low. The air/steam movement is very slow, even though it’s high pressure, but the high pressure is spread evenly throughout the inside of the pressure cooker. The pressure inside the bain mari container rises along with the pressure in the pressure cooker, which is relatively slow. Once it reaches 15 lb psi/0.8 bar there will be little movement through the holes.
I would wager that even only 2 or 4 holes would be sufficient. Or even no holes; the foil isn’t that tight around the edges. See for example, http://goo.gl/QMYfy .
But the problem is that the condensation from the steam collects on the aluminum foil and drips through the holes onto the food. Perhaps this could be avoided by taking the tip of the knife and pulling the foil up by a hole in the center and tenting it. But it’s going to be a delicate operation because you run the risk of pulling the foil off the bain mari container. At the moment I think that the ideal solution would be a regular lid for the container, domed, and perhaps with a hole or two at the top.
Tomorrow morning I’ll try again with the aluminum foil on my mush, with no holes.
(I just received my pressure cooker this morning; I ordered it two weeks ago and it finally arrived. Woo hoo!)
Here’s another idea. Use the steamer basket, inverted over the bain mari container. I’m thinking of the metal kind that folds up with the petals. Remove the center holder thing if yours has one. (I removed the center thing from mine long ago and have no idea where it is now.)
lumpynose, what do you mean that it was a failure? It was too liquid? Not cooked? Please give more details and we’ll try to keep you from having another failure!
Unfortunately, I cannot test this myself right now because I do not have access to a pressure cooker (while traveling) nor Oats while home. But perhaps if you can give us more details about “the other stuff” and how it failed I can try to figure out what went wrong!
Ciao,
L
It was a failure in the sense that it was obvious as soon as I took the lid off the pressure cooker; condensation was dripping through the holes onto the mush. The flavor and texture were reasonable.
It’s somewhat wetter than I’m used to; previously I have been cooking it in the microwave on a medium setting for 26 minutes and a lot more of the milk steams off.
Yesterday I tried it with no cover and it came out essentially the same so today I’m trying it with 10 grams less of milk, i.e., 370 grams of soy milk. I’ll keep reducing the milk by 10 grams until I get something I like.
In my case I think a cover is unnecessary because my proportion of liquid to dry ingredients is such that it doesn’t boil or splatter.
I also think a cover (with no holes) would collect condensation on its underside which would drip back and that won’t help the end result.
Also, since I’m using rolled oats (not quick oats) it cooks quickly; all I do is bring the pressure cooker up to 15 psi pressure then turn the stove off and let the pressure go down on its own. (It ends up cooling for about an hour and a half on the alternating mornings that I run; warm up walk + run + cool down walk.) I’m also using 4 cups of water outside the bain marie container. The first time I used 8 cups but that takes longer to bring to a boil.
Has anyone tried steaming brown rice (or any other whole grain) in a pressure cooker?
As an experiment I tried it. I soaked 2/3 cup of brown rice in water for about 5 hours. Then I poured the rice into a metal sieve, like the one in this article. I put 3 cups of water in the pressure cooker, then set a glass in it, then set the sieve on the glass. I forgot to pour some water in the glass but the water wasn’t deep enough to cause it to want to float and be unsteady.
I cooked it for 15 minutes. On the positive side the rice was evenly cooked. I was worried about that because my sieve is small and it was about 3/4 full but the rice in the center was cooked the same as that near the edges, as far as I could tell because on the bad side, 15 minutes wasn’t long enough, and I used the natural release methog (the pressure had gone down after 10 minutes).
For the next experiment I’ll try 20 minutes. After that I want to try it without soaking the rice.
Brown rice can also be cooked with the bain marie method: http://lumpynose.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/pressure-cooker-brown-rice/
Oooh… want to do a guest post, about it?!?
Ciao,
L
I’m brand new to pressure cooking, and I’m already learning so much from your website! So happy I stumbled upon it (I actually saw your post on Martha Stewart’s website).
Is there any reason why a quart glass canning Ball jar can’t be used for this recipe? I can’t seem to locate an inexpensive vessel like a bain marie in the store. I’m afraid what I found isn’t tall enough, and the bain marie where I live is quite expensive.
Thanks so much for your help and direction!
Mindy
Ciao Mindy, welcome! First of all, you don’t need an official “bain marie” to pressure cook “Bain Marie” – take a look on my accessories page for other things you an use – even a small metal mixing bowl, should do!
A canning jar is a great idea. If it can fit you can pressure cook it!
Ciao,
L
I tried cooking steel cut oats in PC and they came out ok but still messy. But I found method I like even better for making small quantity and there is no mess at all. you need thermos container and hot water. toast the oats if you would like and then add them into thermos container. pour hot water into container. close it and mix it well. keep it overnight. voila next day breakfast is ready. just add some berries nuts and soy milk. its the best. ika
What a great idea!
I haven’t been able to try any of these… Oats are just not readily available in Italy. But I just spotted some at the “Ethnic” store! It was a Quaker Oats canister with a picture of the pilgrim on it, between the coconut milk and the Rosewater!!!
I’ll have to pick some up next time I go there and try it!
Ciao,
L
I’ve had fabulous results, at 6000 feet, with steel cut and whole oat groats in the cheap Fagor I just bought (first timer! whoopee!).
I soaked the groats for a day (or a long night), then put them in the cooker with salt, water, a little sugar (a few teaspoons to take the edge off the plain grain), a knob of butter and let it rip.
Learning from failed batches of late, I had great results by pre-boiling the groats with an open lid before closing and locking it down. I use a two-burner method, as I have electric elements, which totally sux. A diffuser plate underneath helped keep it from scorching, as did the shortened exposure to the element turned up to HI on initial pressurization.
Got me a big batch of creamy, roasty, perfectly cooked groats in 18 minutes. I cool them, store them in the fridge and reheat them with a splash of almond milk stirred in for breakfast. Also having them with sauteed mushrooms and a touch of truffle oil for with dinner. Nice that oats can go both directions on the culinary scale.
Hope this helps.
Jen, thanks so much for sharing your technique!!
Ciao,
L
I just discovered this site, and it’s awesome!
I have to say this sounds like a lot of work compared to the “overnight” method on the back of the tin (McCann’s, at least). It requires planning ahead, but is only about 7 minutes cooking time, and has great results.
Toast the oats
add the butter
add the water
boil 5 minutes
put the whole pan in the fridge overnight.
In the morning, season as desired (dried fruit, nuts, salt, etc) and boil for 2 minutes.
add sweetener, cream, etc to taste.
serve
Gee, maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I frequently cook steel-cut oats in my PC (4 qt B/R/K) in the simplest manner possible and with consistently good results. I use the Veggie Queen (Jill Nussinow)’s recipe. In the PC pot put 1 cup steel-cut oats (I use Whole Foods’s or Bob’s) + 2 cups water + 1 cup nondairy milk (I use unsweetened almond milk) + cinnamon stick + half vanilla bean + pinch of salt, stir to mix, lock on lid, bring to high pressure, and cook 3 minutes. Turn off burner and set aside to release pressure naturally. Then add whatever else you like (I just put in raisins). I’ve never noticed any splattering or foaming. They are a little soupy at first, but quickly thicken up. Or you could adjust the amount of liquid before or after cooking to suit your taste. They keep for days in the fridge. You can check out Jill’s recipe in her book or her Veggie Queen blog.