My Favorite Breakfast Food

Let's start at the beginning.

Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal, the fare that sets the standard for the rest of your day. After all, what you eat then is the source of energy and nutrients for the next waking 16-18 hours. 

My favorite breakfast is a formula. As a boy, I loved cereal. I liked the cold variety, as well as oatmeal (or Malto-meal), and I've eaten enough bacon and eggs in my time. I can't remember when I first discovered this concoction; perhaps it was a desire to sample the "genuine" European flavor of authentic gruel. My forebears--several generations back--hailed from the West Country of England--Yorkshire or perhaps Wales--and I've always thought of this meal as resembling something they might have enjoyed.

The ingredients are important, because their specific flavors and textures can't be substituted. 

First, John McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal. Still sold in a rigid metal can, with the old-fashioned label you see above. You can buy it in cardboard boxes, but you need to preserve its freshness, and the sealed metal lid is made to do just that. Start with about a full quart of fresh water--got to use unadulterated stuff--and add perhaps a half teaspoon of non-iodized salt. In a deep pot, bring the salted water to a rapid boil (big bubbles) over a high flame, then gradually pour in about 3/4 of a cup of oats, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring. The mixture will boil up into a froth, and to keep it from boiling over, you have either to lower the flame or periodically remove the pan from the fire to let it subside. Keep it frothing up for about 2 minutes, then reduce the flame to low. (If you're in a hurry, you can cook it faster, but there's a danger it will stick to the bottom of the pan, especially if not continuously stirred). It can simmer this way for the better part of 30 minutes. As the water cooks down, and the meal thickens, you can add more water if you need to extend the cooking time. 

When it's thick and sticky, add between 1 and 2 tablespoons of Lyle's Golden Syrup. It has to be Lyle's, because of its flavor. If you grew up as I did eating Cracker-Jacks, you know exactly what the sugar-coating on the popcorn tasted like; it's inimitable! Stir this into the cooking mixture thoroughly. When it is blended, pour in about 2-3 table spoons of your favorite single malt scotch. I usually "waste" my least favorite distillate for this, since it's the generalized flavor of scotch which is required, not specific. Pour the resulting oatmeal into thick pottery bowls. Before it's had a chance to develop a dry skin on top, pour pure thick whipping cream right into the center of the mass; it will "undermine" the stuff and come up on the sides. Pour some more on the top so that there's a ring of white around the edges of the bowl. Sprinkle some ground cinnamon over the top, and it's ready. To eat it, start at the drying, cooling edge, since the middle will still be too hot. 

This goes so well with coffee, that it's a shame to take it with anything else. We're presently on a Garuda jag, but any heavy, rich dark brew will do--freshly ground, and thick. More cream into the coffee, if you like.

Thick, chewy Canadian bacon makes a wonderful accompaniment.  

I've probably had this combination at least a hundred times, and it never gets old. 

If you have high cholesterol, you might cut back on the cream, but evaporated milk will work, too.