How to Prevent Oatmeal from Sticking to the Pot

What makes oatmeal sticky? A combination of heat and the lack of water, along with the creation of too much free starch in the water.

Remember, in the end you want grains that are hot, fully hydrated, and not broken into small pieces. How do you keep oatmeal from sticking and still get your grains like that? A few things - all of which are related to heat, water and free starch in the water.

Keep the heat low. High heat will reduce the water content in the pot, but the oatmeal/water slurry will not pass the heat evenly towards the surface. The result: the oatmeal slurry at the bottom loses water content, sticks and burns, and you will want to mix the pot and disturb the grains, making more starch, and more stickyness. Solution: Add the oatmeal to boiling water, and reduce immediately to very low heat or flame. Slow cooking adds more time, but makes better oatmeal.

Boil water before adding rolled oats. Adding raw oatmeal to cold water increases the time water absorbs into the oatmeal, increasing the development of starches. This leads to a starchy slurry, and a tendency to stick, then burn. Solution: boil the water first, then add the oatmeal, reducing the stovetop to very low immediatley. I believe heat seals the outside of each grain, as the starches there expand, and this slows the absorption of moisture into the grain.

Don't overmix the oatmeal. Stirring oatmeal breaks down the oats, and encourages the formation of free starches in the water. This makes the mixture thicker, and increases the chances of high temperature at the pot's bottom. A feedback loop ensues - you feel like mixing to keep from sticking. Solution: Low heat, minimized mixing.

• "But, I need to check the bottom of the pot". O.k. Do that. But rarely, and slowly, and carefully. If you do this, the bottom will have some "tacky" oatmeal on the bottom. What is tacky will still be a little moist, and will quickly clear with water and a sponge. The higher the heat, the more mixing, the more likely that the "tacky" remnants at the bottom will stick and burn.
• If the heat is low enough, and you are patient, cooking the oatmeal while doing other things, you'll end up with moist, whole flat grains, fully cooked, with just a little tackyness at the bottom.

Pay attention to the water content. The easiest way to start this is to use a ratio of 2:1, water to oats. But, thereafter you must not mix. After a few minutes, as the free water content drops, the oatmeal slurry will begin to thicken. The trick is leave the slurry alone, avoiding overmixing the slurry, till the bottom just begins to get tacky, and concurrently you have hydrated and heated grains.

• With the heat very low, it is very unlikely that you will burn the oatmeal. Also, whatever little bit of tacky oatmeal served from the pot can be cleaned out quickly in the sink.
• If you add oats near the end of the cooking scheme, or dried fruit, these will absorb water. Adding grain at the end also adds texture variation to the oatmeal, as some grains will be firmer; I sprinkle in 1/8 of a cup of raw oats a few minutes before serving.

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