Comments on: McCann’s Irish Oatmeal and Golden Syrup

By: McCann's Irish Oatmeal

McCann's Irish Oatmeal — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:46:31 +0000

Thanks so much for the great recipe and review of our Irish Oatmeal – feel free to become a fan of our Facebook page! http://www.facebook.com/McCannsIrishOatmeal

By: John R. Van Atta, PhD

John R. Van Atta, PhD — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:26:55 +0000

I was a group vice president of Quaker Oats in Chicago for 8 years. We left to go to Santa Barbara and now love McCann’s Oatmeal. However, I can’t get McCann Oatmeal from Safeway/Von’s in Santa Barbara and it takes about 6 miles to go to Ralph’s. Can you help us? Thanks, John

By: Maureen

Maureen — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:43:30 +0000

I set up my regular-style steelcut oats, raisins and water before going to bed – just set it all in the saucepan, ready for the morning. The oats absorb some water and get softened; the raisins plump up and the whole things cooks in about five minutes.

By: lindsey

lindsey — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 03:48:25 +0000

best idea ever for steelcut oatmeal lovers: zojirushi rice cooker, set to cook in the AM! love it!

By: regan

regan — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 02:13:29 +0000

Oh how I love Golden Syrup, but it is so impossible to find. I had a friend that made frequent trips to CA smuggle it back for me but since we’ve moved I’ve been doing without. Maybe it’s time to start the hunt here.

By: Gemma

Gemma — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:12:09 +0000

Thank you for tidying up for me :)

By: just barrie

just barrie — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:18:57 +0000

I use that syrup for my granola bars! Love.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:28:57 +0000

I remember having the Lyle’s syrup as a kid for breakfast on buttered toast. The picture on the tin is of a dead lion with bees who have built a nest presumably inside and the caption around the picture says,”from the strong comes forth sweet…” Something like that.
It was heavy thinking first thing in the morning especially for something as innocent as syrup.
Also my mom used this syrup for leftover yorkshire pudding, doing double duty as dessert.

By: megan

megan — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:54:03 +0000

RLW – “meandering syrup instability” is awesome, thanks so much!

By: RLW

RLW — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:51:27 +0000

Great to see another good recipe for Lyle’s golden. I’m a die-hard fan. Believe it or not I fell in love with the stuff doing a physics project – it turns out Lyle’s Golden has been used by a couple of physics research groups in Cambridge and Toronto to do fluid dynamics experiments because it’s so thick and goopy. They call the loopy patterns it makes when you drizzle it the “meandering syrup instability”.

You might get a kick out of this!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nonlin/3585645592/
http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~nonlin/
And it tastes so good.

By: megan

megan — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:28:05 +0000

LauraVW – Oh! That sounds amazing.

Maria – No trouble at all, we love them. They were labeled “chili bowls”, I bought them to make the tentacle pot pies. In retrospect I actually wish we’d gotten those ones with little handles. We found them at Fred Meyer (a general purpose department store/grocery here in Seattle).

By: Manders

Manders — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:30:09 +0000

Flapjacks are some of my favorite things in the whole, whole world, as is golden syrup. I spent some time in the UK in college and STILL crave flapjacks on a regular basis.

By: LauraVW

LauraVW — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:34:42 +0000

If you have any Golden Syrup left over, another nice thing to do with it is make hot chocolate sauce for ice cream: mix equal parts syrup, butter and cocoa powder in a pan, stirring them together while melting everything over a low heat. (Not advised if you’re on a new year health kick, of course!)

By: maria

maria — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:31:48 +0000

Sorry to be off-topic, but I love the bowl-mug that your oatmeal is in (Huge oatmeal lover here too–almost every morning)
Can you tell me where you purchased that bowl?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:02:20 +0000

Throw some raisins in with those pecans (of which I heartily approve) and it’s like eating oatmeal cookies for breakfast.

By: Kitty

Kitty — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:45:45 +0000

I remember having Golden Syrup on toast for breakfast as an extra special treat when I was a child. Being a UK product it can be found in any supermarket (where it comes in tins not jars for some reason), that said you wouldn’t be able to find corn syrup that easily.

By: Tina

Tina — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:24:19 +0000

I grate an apple into the pot when the water boils, it adds a nice sweetness without having to add sugar. A dash of maple extract and a small amount of brown sugar is good too.

By: Linda

Linda — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:02:44 +0000

I make the steelcut oats once a week in the crockpot, leave them in the fridge and microwave as we need them. I’m going to give the golden syrup at try, though – sounds great!

By: megan

megan — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 06:33:42 +0000

Michelle – I don’t have a rice cooker, but I will acquire one when I get a bigger kitchen. Great to know they are good for oats, thank you!

Cathy – Great tip, thanks. I used it in a Nigella recipe to make butterscotch pie topping, so so good.

By: tina

tina — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:31:56 +0000

yum, yum, this is a timelypost! i am also a fan of the make-a-big-batch of the stell cut oats and reheat a little everyday (i just keep it in the fridge too). i cannot tolerate the mush of any more-processed oats for some reason. also, my absolutely favorite topping is vanilla ice cream…kept in a separate bowl so that it doesn’t all melt before i can eat it and combined by the spoonful — this probably negates any health benefit of the oatmeal, but yummmmm.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:20:10 +0000

Oooh, Golden Syrup. I’d heard about it but never actually tried it. I need to hunt some down now. Do you happen to have a fancy rice cooker, you know the Japanese kind with the fuzzy logic and ten bajillion functions? If you do, it makes a great oatmeal maker. I premake my steel cut oatmeal on Sundays using the porridge function: 1 cup of steel cut, dash of salt, 3 cups water (ignoring the premeasures on the bowl) and hit porridge. An hour or so later, perfect steel cut oatmeal. Then I just stash it in the fridge and reheat in the mornings in the microwave with a little water added to loosen it up.

By: betty

betty — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:55:02 +0000

I love Mccanns, but now that I’m on a stricter budget i’ve tried the tj version, and it is pretty comparable.

By: Melissa Dominic

Melissa Dominic — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:26:25 +0000

everything about this sounds delicious!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:59:36 +0000

And Golden Syrup is great to use in your Pecan Pie recipe instead of Corn Syrup. Just gives it a more caramelly taste!

By: megan

megan — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:31:23 +0000

Gemma – Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! I went ahead and re-formatted it so that it showed up more cleanly, I do hope that is ok.

By: megan

megan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:18:13 +0000

Gretchen – I think I did post that in the past. That is a great idea. Doesn’t work for our house since we would never remember it was there and the lacking of a microwave, but if one is dedicated to oatmeal for breakfast it’s perfect.

p.s. I think I’m talking myself into finding space for a microwave.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:12:15 +0000

This link has been a revelation to me (and I thought I got it from you, but perhaps I was wrong…). Anyway, I have started doing this on Sunday night while watching tv and just set the timer and when it beeps, I take it out and put it in the fridge. No soaking, no stirring, just EASY!

http://www.giverslog.com/?p=10349

By: megan

megan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:35:25 +0000

Katie – I’ll have to make bigger batches to reheat, I hadn’t really considered that. Do you freeze the oatmeal? Or just keep it cold in the fridge?

I have a friend who cooks, adds toppings and then freezes individual oatmeal portions to microwave later, it’s a DIY version of frozen oatmeal that Trader Joes used to sell. I would do this but we (brace yourselves) don’t have a microwave, our itty bitty kitchen simply don’t have space for one.

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:27:51 +0000

Well, both of my suggestions were already suggested – making the night before and reheating in the morning (something I’ve done in the past to make breakfast with four kids easier) and soaking overnight. I soak my oats now, with a bit of whey added in, and cook them up in the morning. I do a big batch that lasts us three to five days and then reheat each morning. It is best the morning of, but reheated they are quite good as well. I’m a big fan of the chewiness of steel cut oats..yummy!

By: Gemma

Gemma — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:28:12 +0000

Sorry the formatting of my message is so messy… but seriously try this recipe out some time, it is wildly popular with my Providence pals!

By: Gemma

Gemma — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:27:05 +0000

Oh, this is one of my favorite meals, actually! Just delicious! Another super-delish, but maybe dangerously addictive use for Golden Syrup is:

Salted Caramel Popcorn – old recipe from the now defunct Cookie Magazine!

makes about 14 cups

This insanely good mix of sweet and salty is treacherously hard to stop eating.
Install a bigger sink and double the recipe.

Ingredients:
10 cups oil-popped popcorn (Trust me, the air-popped and microwavable kinds don’t work. We pop 1/3 cup of kernels in 1 tablespoon of oil.)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped or crushed pecan halves or pieces, toasted in a 350-degree oven for 7 minutes
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (available at Whole Foods and some specialty stores) or light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Unless you have the world’s largest mixing bowl, give your kitchen sink a quite thorough scrubbing and an equally thorough drying, then dump the popcorn and pecans into it. In a small pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter with the brown sugar and syrup, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat and add the vanilla, baking soda, and salt, and stir vigorously. (The mixture will get very foamy and light.) Pour it over the popcorn and pecans, and use a wooden spoon to stir it quickly, gently, and well. Spread the coated popcorn mixture out on a pair of large, rimmed baking sheets, and heat it in a 200-degree oven until it feels dry to the touch, about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely before packaging, about 20 minutes.

By: Amy in StL

Amy in StL — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:33:28 +0000

Both of these things remind me of the recipe I saw for british flapjacks. They’re not pancakes, they’re kind of a sweet oatmeal bar – which my boyfriend loves to take on fishing trips.

By: Kara

Kara — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:26:14 +0000

I eat oatmeal every morning and am always thrilled to have more options to mix up the monotony. Off to find golden syrup….

By: Katie

Katie — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:00:08 +0000

We love steel cut oatmeal too, and recently made the breakfast-changing discovery of making it the night before. http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/breakfast/how-to-cook-steelcut-oats-for-breakfast-the-night-before-134185

I have a jar of golden syrup in my pantry that I haven’t known what do with, I’ll try it tomorrow morning, thanks.

By: Sarah S

Sarah S — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:53:18 +0000

I just finished up some of this oatmeal for a late lunch. Delicious! Now I’m intrigued about golden syrup.

By: megan

megan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:28:29 +0000

Stiney – Ah! Good to know, thank you. Figures my (standard) grocery store would only carry the quick and easy version. I’ve updated the post to reflect this information.

Robin – Thanks! We get there frequently so I’ll stock up.

Seanna Lea – You are a more responsible person than I am:) Every time I attempt to do the crock pot thing (0r the soaking overnight thing) my morning plans don’t work out and I have a bunch of soggy oats left uneaten.

By: Seanna Lea

Seanna Lea — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:24:07 +0000

I need to get back to making oatmeal in my crockpot. Then I can set it up before bed and have tasty-tasty food for when I get up.

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:05:24 +0000

Trader Joes has a quick and easy steel cut oatmeal too, just as a fun fact!

By: Stiney

Stiney — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:02:28 +0000

McCann’s makes traditional steel-cut oatmeal. I’ve never seen their “Quick & Easy” version in the store, actually. Just make sure you’re buying the right one!