I was surprised how good this was when I made it. As much as I like oatmeal, I’ve never been a fan of boiled oatmeal as a breakfast dish. I expected this soup to be some sort of gloop that only a whole foods aficionado would pretend to enjoy. Instead, it turned out to be a wonderful dish with a wonderful texture, somewhat quinoa-like.
It’s not really a soup, at least the way I made it: the liquid is all absorbed, so that it’s more like rice or other grains that will be placed on the side of the plate.
“El Molino Best” is a promotional book from El Molino Mills of Alhambra, California, dedicated to “simple stone grinding of select quality grain, without refinement or chemicals”. The recipes run the gamut from amazing to absolutely disgusting.
I use “Ruth Ann’s Muskego Ave Chicken & Fish Seasoning” for the “vegetable salt”. It consists of, in order, “salt, black pepper, garlic, lemon peel, onion”. This is not a deliberate choice: someone gifted me a collection of spices, and this is one of them. It seemed like the closest thing to vegetable salt in my cupboards. When this runs out, I’ll use something else. If the replacement isn’t as good, I’ll probably just add salt, pepper, fresh garlic, and maybe some lemon zest.
The original adds the alternative of a teaspoon of soy sauce and a teaspoon of accent for the bouillon. It also does not specify what kind of bouillon. I always have beef bouillon powder on hand, because I use beef stock less often than chicken stock.
Carbon is a beautiful thing. — Anthony Bourdain (A Cook’s Tour: A Mystical World)