A few years ago I heard Oprah mention that one of her favorite breakfast foods was steel cut oats. She couldn’t say enough about how good they tasted and how healthy they were. Having always enjoyed oatmeal as part of my breakfast routine, I was intrigued by her fascination with something that I had never heard of. I decided to find out for myself what all the fuss was about.
Where they come from – While the origin of oats isn’t exactly known, their cultivation and use as a food supply originated in medieval Scotland. Oats were well suited to the cool, moist climate and became the staple grain of that country. Scottish oats are prepared by grinding the oat grain into coarse flour, mixing with water and cooking to form a paste known as “porridge”, which was a popular peasant food.
How they’re made – Steel cut oats are also known as coarse cut oats, Irish oatmeal or sometimes pinhead oats. They are made from raw oat grains which are cleaned and mechanically processed to remove the hull exposing the grain called the oat groat. The groat is simply an unprocessed, raw oat grain.
After removing the hull they are steamed and heated to perfection producing the nutty, roasted oat flavor that makes them unique. Finally they enter the cutting stage where steel discs or knives cut each cooked grain into three or four very small pieces to produce the final product, thus the term “steel cut”. They are golden in color and are smaller than a grain of rice.
Rolled oats, also known as instant, quick or original oats are the kind that most people know. In this process the already cooked grains are sliced and rolled through a mill and re-cooked producing the familiar looking flakes.
Both rolled and cut oats are made from the same grain and seem to contain virtually identical nutritional information on their respective packages but I would argue that cut oats are better for you simply because they are processed less than the rolled variety. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence yet to support that theory but they are fast becoming the preferred option among health conscious people.
Amazing taste - What I think truly sets Steel cut oats apart from everyday rolled oats is the incredible nutty, roasted flavor and the substantial texture they have. To say that they taste better is without a doubt an understatement. They have incredible flavor! And the texture is best described as “chewy” – it’s positively something you have to experience.
Cooking steel cut oatmeal does require a considerable amount of time, somewhere between 25-35 minutes for a serving. At my house this means that they are usually reserved as weekend fare since I rarely have that much time on my hands during the weekdays. There is a way to prepare the oats in advance to reduce cooking time but I’ll cover that in another post. Thanks for reading!!!
