So this is a little embarrassing, but following the standard overnight oatmeal instructions on a can of McCann steel cut oats isn't yielding the expected result. I'm simply bringing four cups of water to a boil, dropping in one cup of oats, and letting it simmer for a minute or two. I then place the covered pot in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, the oatmeal is still submerged in water.
I figure I could use less water to reduce the risk of this happening, but why aren't the standard instructions giving me a standard result?
Best Answer
The instructions on www.mymccanns.com that I can find read:
Although these are instructions for overnight soaking, they aren’t instructions for ‘overnight oats’ that are popular to eat cold. Was that what you were aiming for? I read this as a process to reduce the 30 minute cooking time they suggest for ‘Irish porridge’ further down the page. As you can see the final sentence tells you reheat the oats next morning. Presumably at that stage the oats will swell and thicken the remaining liquid to form porridge.
If these are the instructions you were following, they will not yield ‘overnight oats’. I think you really need rolled oats for that.