Customer Reviews

McCANN'S Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, 28-Ounce Tins (Pack of 4)

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4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I first heard about steel cut oats on the Oprah show about its health benefits. First of all I DO NOT like regular oatmeal like you buy in the grocery store. I don't like the slimy texture. But I figured I'd try steel cut oats and I'm glad I did. They are delicous and very good for you! The warm nutty aroma when they are cooking is very appetizing. I add a little bit of sugar or splenda and some cinnimon, it tastes fantastic! I also sometimes skip the cinnimon and add a tablespoon of granola and/or some dried berries. Excellent healthy breakfast.

Normally these take about 30 minutes to cook on the stovetop. I found a way to cut the cooking time in half. Take 1/3 cup of oats, and 1 1/3 cup of water and put it in a large microwavable bowl. Cook in the microwave on High for 5 minutes, stir, then another 5 minutes, then stir again, and then cook about another 2-3 minutes until the texture is just the way you like it.

For those of you who are asking what the difference is between regular oatmeal and steel cut oatmeal:
-Steel-Cut Oats are whole grain groats (the inner portion of the oat kernel) which have been cut into two or three pieces using steel discs. Golden in color and resembling mini rice particles, they are as nature intended - nothing added and nothing taken out.
-Rolled oats are flake oats that have been steamed, rolled, re-steamed and toasted. Due to all of this additional processing they have lost some of their natural taste, goodness and texture.

If you dislike oatmeal made from rolled oats, try this product. You will like it. If you like oatmeal made from rolled oats, try this product. You will LOVE it. You must cook this oatmeal for half an hour, so put it on before your shower. You can eat it plain if you make it thin, or you can add cream, half-and-half, whole milk, or 2% milk to thin it a bit. I also like it with a dollop of plain yogurt. Sweeten it with brown sugar or raw sugar, or just add dried fruit (dates and figs are my favorites - dried cherries are good also). Goes well also with a sprinkle of walnut pieces. But here is the best way to eat it -- better than dessert:
Sweeten cooked oatmeal slightly with a modest amount of brown sugar, add just enough half-and-half to wet it thoroughly, and then add a healthy serving of fresh blueberries. Now THAT is some breakfast.

Steel cut oatmeal has a grainy, hearty texture that's more like al dente pasta than mush. American grown varieties often have a gelatinous texture between the grains. The Irish grown oatmeal is firm and nutty through and through.

My electric range cooks the oatmeal in about 25 minutes. I use a straight-edged spatula to keep the oatmeal from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Avoid over-stirring to keep that nice, firm texture.

More good news: Steel-cut oatmeal, like chili or stew, is better on the second day. Pour your leftovers into a bowl, lay plastic film directly on the surface of the oatmeal, and store in the 'fridge. Reheat in the microwave with a spoonful of water for a minute or two.

Genuine maple syrup is the best sweetener for oatmeal, in my opinion. Add diced apples or raisins or bananas, with a little milk, and you've got yourself a bowlful of breakfast!

I can tell this is a great oatmeal. It's thick, chewy, wholesome, filling but does not feel like a lead weight in your stomach. However, there is a slight stale smell when opening each can and if you eat them without brown sugar or honey you can taste that staleness. I would not buy them from amazon again as it seems they were kept around too long. You can get them for $5 a can at Trader Joe's I noticed today. I think the turnover there would be faster so will be doing that from now on. Great product though!

McCann's (in the tin) is nothing like the tasteless mush that passes for oatmeal in the U.S.. True, it does take 25 minutes and sometimes you need to fool with the water amount and/or the flame until you figure out what to do to get it exactly as you like -- too high a flame, for example, does away with the water before the oatmeal is completely cooked, but remember you don't want it to cook so long that the special consistency is lost. I've cooked it for years but even so when I took a can to our country place where we have a propane gas stove, it was as though I'd never made it before. However, the finished product is well worth the time. Even unadorned or with just a bit of grated nutmeg, it has a satisfying crunch and slightly nutty taste. My husband, based on bad childhood oatmeal memories, initially turned up his nose at the thought of eating oatmeal; he likes it so much he makes it for himself several times a week. Two of our younger grandkids accustomed to starting the day with cold commercial cereal ask for the "special" oatmeal when they visit. Additionally, it's substantial; a serving at breakfast easily holds you till lunch time. PLEASE NOTE -- what I've written refers only to McCann's in the tin; I've never tried the flakes.

They're for eating, of course (ok, maybe if you're an oat farmer, you have a different persepctive.) At any rate, rather than argue the relative virtues of rolled vs. steel cut oat cereals, I sing the praises of both. Maybe it's a seasonal thing, the somewhat coarser, nuttier, rougher steel cuts somehow more fitting to cold winters than are the mellower and softer rolled oats. It's like black coffee to an au lait, dark beer to light, hard bebop to cool jazz...you get the picture.

You'll also feel virtuous spending some old-fashioned time over the stove (albeit not that much, or that arduous). The warming experience is itself sufficient, you'll feel like mending a fence somewhere (or tearing it down if in a RObert Frost frame of mind), but it's common to top this
with contrasting fruit, or perhaps nuts, syrups, flax seed oil, brown sugar, yoghurt, raisins, prunes, lat night's stew?--it's HEARTY enough to stand up to almost anything you can throw at it. Your doctor will probably extol the nutritional benefits: Fiber, protein, certain vitamins, etc. McCann's is the best of the bunch, and yes, that is a can that belongs in the Smithsonian--or its Irish equivalent. Hebridean soul food.

McCann's is "just" oatmeal, but it's perhaps the best oatmeal widely available in the United States. It's made from nothing but 100% whole grain oat kernels which are grown in Ireland and cut in a device similar to a burmill. The cutting technique provides a much firmer and more complex texture than the rolling which is used on commoditized oatmeal products available in the U.S. This is not an "instant" or "quick" oat product, and these oats have not been precooked at all.

What this means is that McCann's Traditional makes a great bowl of porridge with a fresh grain flavor and an al dente consistency. This is oatmeal with a natural crunch and tang to it. Rolled oats -- especially instant, sugar-added, flavored rolled oats -- don't come close.

The obverse of this is that you are actually cooking these grains rather than merely heating and stirring a pre-cooked product. Be prepared to spend some time -- a half hour or so -- in your kitchen watching over these and stirring them with your spurtle (porridge-stirring spoon). Consider this a luxury, an excuse to slow down for a while. You can find cooking ideas and great recipes at goldenspurtle dot com, which is the home page for the world porridge-making championships. Specialty porridges, made with fresh fruits, liqueurs, and cream sauces, make distinctive desserts if you really want to get creative.

A few more things: these oats are kosher, the can looks sharp, and they make great cookies.

Long time Oatmeal eater here. I usually bought McCann's in the store, but it can get pretty pricey. Amazon is a great deal, and you get free shipping.

FYI, medium- to long-term is it unhealthy to consume steel-cut oatmeal UNLESS you soak it in warm water with something acidic between 12 to 24 hours, preferably some fermented milk product like yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, etc. Reason being is that oatmeal contains in its hull enzyme inhibitors that have a chelating effect on your body, i.e., they remove metal from your body. While short-term this may be beneficial (meat eaters stockpile extra iron, copper, etc. over time), medium-term this could lead to deficiencies in essential metals. Soaking the oatmeal at least overnight neutralizes the enzyme inhibitors. Additionally, it allows you to cook up the oatmeal in about five minutes, versus over 30 minutes when left unsoaked.

This recipe follows the recipe in Nourishing Traditions, but basically soak one part oatmeal with one part lukewarm water. Add a little bit of yogurt to create the acidic environment: I use one TBSP per 1/2 cup of oatmeal and 1/2 cup of warm water.

Oatmeal should be eaten with some fat (many of the vitamins are fat soluble), so I add butter or cream. I also add shredded flax and coconut, increasing the healthiness of my breakfast. I then top it off with plenty of raw honey (also from Amazon), which sweetens my porridge and thus makes me look forward to breakfast in the morning.

Enjoy!

SHIPPING

As was stated by many others, the shipping for this product is too hard on the cans. Of my four cans, one was nearly undamaged. One had cosmetic damage in the form of a dented side. The other two were dented to the extent of having sharp creases in the bottom and flaws near the seal lines at the top. I never buy cans like those at the supermarket.

COOKING

The cooking went much better than I expected. The evening before, I put 1/4 cup chopped black walnuts, 10 pitted prunes cut into pieces with scissors, and two cups of water into my saucepan. I brought this mixture to a boil over a simmering-level flame on my propane stove. I dumped in one-half-cup of McCann's steel cut oats and stirred. I waited for the mixture to come to a boil again, stirred it a little, turned off the flame, put a lid on the saucepan, and went to bed. In the morning I was surprised to find that it was perfectly edible with no further cooking. I did heat it up again on the stove before serving but it stuck to the pot, so I think in the future I will microwave it right in the bowls just before serving it.

EATING

These oats were good, but it was hard to say if they were "nuttier" in flavor than the Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats which I had been eating because I cooked them both with nuts. The texture was of course firmer. I do like bulgar wheat and these oats are more like that in texture. Since I was careful not to overcook the rolled oats, there was not much difference in the "slime" feel of the two, but the rolled oats were papery much like eating raw oatmeal cookie dough.

NUTRITION

I found little difference between the nutritional content listed on the McCann steel cut can and that listed on the Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats container. I had to do some Internet research to find the differences which turn out to be subtle but important for certain types of health conditions. There is also the likelihood of the product simply being fresher due to less processing and better packaging at the mill.

REPEAT PURCHASE

Now that I have found that the cooking of steel cut oats is much less intimidating than I had imagined, I will probably eat these in preferance to rolled oats in the future. The possibility of adding them to soups and other cooked entrees in place of barley or bulgar wheat is a bonus. However, I will probably try a more economical source as I am not convinced that Ireland's soil is superior to that in any other region in which oats are farmed, and metal cans with sharp creases and bent seams don't seem worth the extra cost.

We love this product and make it often. An efficient alternative to the 30 minute cooking time is to place the oat, stick cinnamon, and liquid in a crockpot before bed. It's there hot and ready to eat in the morning.