Scottish Oatmeal with Brown Sugar and Butter
Coarse oats simmered properly, then loaded with butter. Slower than instant and worth the fuel.
- calories
- 360
- weight
- 3 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 1 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 16 min
- water
- 350 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Scottish or steel-cut oats | 1/2 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Brown sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Butter | 1 tbsp | |
| Salt | a pinch |
Method
- Bring 350 ml of water to a boil and salt it.
- Stir the oats in and drop the flame as low as it goes.
- Simmer ten to fifteen minutes, stirring now and then, until the grains soften and the pot thickens.
- Take it off the heat and beat in the brown sugar and butter.
This is the opposite trade from an instant packet: fifteen minutes of fuel and attention for oats that have texture instead of paste. On a cold morning the stove is doing something useful anyway.
The butter is not a garnish. It is a third of the calories and the reason this holds until lunch.
Packing
Oats, sugar, and salt premix into one bag. The butter goes in a small screw-top tub; it keeps for days without a cooler.
Variations
- A splash of reconstituted milk powder at the end makes it creamier.
- Dried fruit added at the start of the simmer rehydrates in time.
Scottish oatmeal on the Outdoor Boys channel, catalogued at outdoorboysalmanac.com.