Made from the whole oat grain, Hamlyns Pinhead Oatmeal has no sweeteners, additives or preservatives but maintains the oat bran and oat germ essential to make this the most nutritious cereal. Add nutrition and texture to stews or soups, toppings for crumbles, pies or puddings, or use it in your breading for fish and meat. A note on cooking oats, oatmeal or porridge - like eggs, steaks, pizza or countless other beloved food items - the relative doneness of oatmeal is largely a matter of personal taste. Some people like their oatmeal runny, and some prefer it a little more firm, with the excess liquid cooked off. A general rule of thumb is to cook one part oats with three parts liquid (generally water). A half cup of oats cooked with 1.5 cups of water makes a pretty hearty serving for one adult. It's not hard to find a whole range of subtle recommendations in older Scottish cookbooks about how to cook oats -- which hand to use to pour the oats in the water, which hand to use to stir, when to salt, how long to cook, etc. A safe approach is to bring the water to a low boil, add the oats, stir, put a lid on the pot and cook for 20 minutes at low heat, stirring (with a spurtle if you have one!) to keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot, add a little salt after 10 minutes or so. Remember that oats can thicken a little after taken off the stove. Take that into account. Whether you serve your oatmeal with cream, milk, butter, treacle, maple syrup, fresh fruit, lemon curd or yogurt is also a matter of choice and taste. Are you as obsessed with Scottish oatmeal as we are? Read more about Scotland, oats and porridge here. Did you know there's an annual porridge-making competition in Scotland? Read more about it here. The top spoon shows the pinhead oats.
