Oatmeal Texture - Methods to our Madness

Have you ever had oatmeal at the end of a four-hour hotel breakfast buffet and it is all sticky and gooey? It's so thick that your spoon will stand up in the bowl. I love that! he he he Some people just can't stand that texture and want it just as flaky and loose as corn flakes. I love that, too! Okay, I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to oatmeal.
Oatmeal is more or less sticky depending on released starch. The more starch released, the stickier the oatmeal. So if you want your oatmeal stickier, let out the starch. If you want it flakier, don't let out the starch. Simple as that.
Here's how to make oatmeal so sticky you can patch tires with it - Put 2 cups of water and 1 cup of oats (or mixed rolled whole grains) in a pot (for 2 servings). Add a pinch of salt. Cook on medium-low. Stir a lot. If it starts to dry out before you get the stickiness you want, add another cup of hot (boiling) water and keep cooking and stirring. Keep adding water a cup at a time until you get what you want. This is what happens in the breakfast buffet. They put a pot of oats in the steam table for hours and add a bit of water. Patrons stir the oats when they dip out their portion. Once you know how much water and cooking is required you can just put that much water in at the start. Or you can always use instant oatmeal; Its naturally sticky.
Most people don't want to know how to make oatmeal more sticky, since it tends to want to do that on its own. So how do you make it less sticky and more flaky? Its really simple. Put a cup of oats and a cup and a half of milk in a ceramic mug or bowl. Microwave it just a bit until the milk is hot. Usually then I cover it with a piece of foil or a saucer or a lid and put it in the oven on the lowest temperature (170F). Leave it while you work out, shower, whatever. It needs to be in the oven at least, I don't know, 10-15 minutes and I've left it a couple hours. Once the oats absorb all the milk that they can and cook up a bit, they just hang out until you are ready for them. Technically, maybe this is muesli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli), but it is good and it is flaky. There are other things you could do, like just soak the oats and leave it overnight. I've put the oats and hot milk in a thermos and that works, too. I've never tried upping the temperature to cook it more, but that might work if you like it that way.
Some interesting approaches to oatmeal from Alton Brown:
- Overnight oats - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-oatmeal-recipe/index.html
- Steel cut oats - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/steel-cut-oatmeal-recipe/index.html