I tried every trick to stop oatmeal explosions – it worked here

As soon as the cold of autumn begins, I would like to instinctively start my day with a steam Bowl of oatmeal Lace with cinnamon and a splash of good maple syrup. It is healthy, filled, endlessly adaptable and it requires almost no effort. But as much as I love it, oatmeal often has a way to transform my fast morning routine into a sticky catastrophe. More often than I can count, I thrown a bowl into the microwave to cook – or just warm up – to return to return to have broken down a sticky geyser everywhere on the turntable, to tear down the pages and glue it into every corner. So much for my “quick breakfast”.

I know that I am not alone in this scenario. Regardless of whether you are slowly cooking oats on the stove or blowing them up in the microwave, oatmeal seems to be uniquely prepared to bubble over and make a chaos. It’s not just bad luck – there is a fascinating science behind it. The good news is that the solution is fairly simple as soon as you have understood what happens in this pot or a bowl.

Why does oatmeal cook?

In order to know how we can prevent the dreaded oatmeal, we first have to understand why it happens. If you cook simple water, physics is uncomplicated: the heat generates steam bubbles on the bottom of the pot, the ascending, break the surface and release your steam. It is a constant cycle of bladder formation and the crack that happens to the water happily.

But oatmeal is not just water. As soon as you add oats, add strength and strengthen the equation. When the oats heats up, their strengths absorb water, thresholds and strain the molecules amylose and amylopectin into the cooking fluid. These carbohydrate polymers create a loose but sticky network that turns the liquid into somewhat thicker than water – a gel. As Harold McGee explains in his groundbreaking food book On food and cookStrength granules gelatinating in hot water and swelling until they burst and release molecules that get involved.

This is where the difficulties begin. The water (or the milk or fluid with which you cook) is still trying to do what water does when it boils: form steam bubbles that rise and pop. But now, instead of bursting cleanly on the surface, the bubbles are caught in this starchy gel. The thicker the liquid becomes, the more difficult it is that steam escapes. Instead of dispersing, the bubbles piled up under the surface and press the oatmeal higher and higher.

In oatmeal, this gelatinated starch network has an impact like a ballonnet network and keeps the blisters intact instead of strain on them. The more bubbles the strength network holds, the foamer and duklier the oatmeal becomes until the entire mass suddenly flows up. Therefore, oatmeal seems to be completely calm in a second, and then it is how a volcano breaks out in a moment.

The tested (and failed) “solutions”

After I understood why oatmeal merges, I wanted to see if I could outsmart the strengths. A short scan of cookbooks, Reddit forums and the reader comments made some popular “corrections”. Some of them sound plausible and even of science injury, but when I tested these methods below, nobody stood on the oatmeal volcano. I tested these methods in the microwave and on the stove, and here is what I found.

Add fat (like butter): Theoretically, this makes sense. Fats are hydrophobic. So when you dispel fat in your oatmeal, the fat molecules coat the swollen starch grain. This coating impairs the strength network and walks the gel so that steam bubbles should be able to slip through and burst instead of being caught. The keywords are Theoretically.

In order for this to work, the fat cannot just sit over it – it has to be stirred thoroughly so that it actually coated the strengths. And then there is how much fat is to be used. I systematically tested it with half a cup portion from oats in the microwave with full power and added a tablespoon of butter, then two, then three and finally four. (I chose butter because it is the fat that I actually want to eat in my oatmeal, although it is only about 80% fat compared to 100% in oil.)

The results were that a tablespoon did not do anything – the oatmeal was still changing. Two tablespoons delayed the boilover a little, but did not stop it. With three tablespoons, I finally saw a complete batch of batch without spilling. Four tablespoons also worked too, but at this point my “bowl with oatmeal” tasted like butter with oatmeal taste on his own way, but hardly a practical solution for the daily breakfast.

It is worth noting that when I used oil instead of butter, I need a little less because oil is 100% fat. But realistically, I do not reach for a quarter -time olive oil to stir into my Morgenhila. Butter, cream and milk are the fat ingredients that most people actually want here – and in everyday quantities they will not prevent cooking.

Put an eating stick or spoon over the pot or bowl: Another common trick is to rest a utensil over the ship, supposedly bang the bubbles before exceeding. It made no difference in my tests in the microwave. The bubbles climbed straight around them and continued to foam until the oatmeal broke out.

Add dried fruits or nuts early: Some Reddit users suggested that mix-ins could affect the starch network, but I was not lucky with it. Similar to the spoon test, the starch simply formed for fruits and nuts, and oatmeal was still boiling.

All of these “hacks” sound promising, but in practice they did not keep the oatmeal in the bowl where it belonged, or in the case of the fat it worked, but the oatmeal left an incredibly rich.

The practical corrections that actually help to keep your oatmeal in check. The most effective solutions proved to be the easiest and they differ depending on whether they cook on the stove or in the microwave.

On the stove

If you stir oatmeal when cooking, break the bubbles physically before swelling and surpassing. Even a few stirring during cooking – especially when the oatmeal approaches, make a big difference. So most of the serious ones eat Recipes for oatmeal Call stirring occasionally. It disturbs the starch network enough to let steam escape without sending oatmeal over the edge of the pot.

The heat mirror is just as important: keep the pot more than a roller. Lower heat means that the blisters form slower and less aggressive, which gives them even more control. Use at least a 1-liter pot for half a cup of dry oats to ensure that there is a lot of head space. Together, lower heat and occasional stirring also prevent the oats from being cooked on the bottom of the pot of the vaulting of the oats.

In the microwave

The microwave is more difficult because they are not there with a spoon. The solution is less about intervention than prevention. Start with a large, wide bowl. This gives the oatmeal more surface so that steam can escape, and vertical head space has the room to rise in the bowl. Use at least one microwave-safe bowl with three cups as a general guideline for every half cup of dry oats.

In my tests, I also found that the microwave with a lower performance setting – 50% – was effective. The lower temperature means that oatmeal boils more slowly so that the bubbles form less strong, which means that they are less likely to be caught under the starch. With stirring stirring and a watchful eye, I experienced the dramatic cooking that occurs with full performance. The restriction is that “low” performance over all microwaves is not consistent. Although it is not a perfect control, I can give you a final time stamp, and cooking reliably reduces the risk of spill with lower power.

Summary: 5 tips to prevent oatmeal

• Do not overfill your pot or bowl. The more space above the oats, the more border you have before the overflow.
• Use a wide ship. Shells and pots with a wide top make steam more easily escaped than a high, narrow mug.
• Keep an eye on the timing. Cooking tends to suddenly appear towards the end of the cooking, regardless of whether they are at the stove or use the microwave. If you are microwave, pause and check them through. If you are on the stove, don’t go away in the last few minutes.
• Stir occasionally. The stirring disturb the strength network and breaks up blisters before swelling to a large increase. Stir on the stove, as the oat cooks; In the microwave, the break lasts to stir every or two minutes, the oatmeal calmer.
• Save the butter for taste, not the prevention. A small Pat at the end adds wealth, but do not expect you to keep before cleaning up.

Take away

Oatmeal cooks past because the strength network bubbles until it broke out. I wish I could tell you that a clever trick or a viral hack works here, but the truth is more practical: adding fat or balancing a spoon over the pot will not help much while a few simple corrections do this. Stir your oat while cooking on the stove (or all or two minutes in the microwave), monitor your heat level and always use a larger pot or a larger bowl with a lot of head space. These quick adjustments mean that your oatmeal, your microwave remains clean and your morning routine actually stays fast.