I love my Instant Pot, but I’ve discovered that there are some things that it’s just not suited for. Porridge of any sort needs to be cooked slowly and gently and to me as effective as it is for pressure cooking , there’s just nothing gentle about the it, even the saute feature tends to get to burning quickly. Besides, I’ve been really spoiled. When we still had Windesphere, our farm in Burton, Ohio, there were evenings before I’d climb into bed that I’d put our buckwheat cereal, water, cinnamon, chopped apples and brown sugar into a cast iron pot on our old wood stove and let it slow cook overnight.
We’d get up and it would be perfect, rich and creamy and the whole house would smell like something out of an Outlander novel.
I’ve missed that so much, but recently I learned how to do the next best thing… now I get up at 4:30 am and put the buckwheat, butter, cinnamon, chopped apples, salt and water into the good old fashioned crock pot. I don’t know why it gives me such pleasure to do this, but it does. There’s something about padding around my kitchen when the house is quiet and still. It just feels really heartwarming to me. Sometimes that’s when I do my best writing and creating.
Personally I love the mini crock pot for this, I think any other size wouldn’t cook it nearly as well. Turn it on low, stir it in about 1 and again in another hour and in two and a half hours you’ve got perfect, creamy porridgy buckwheat. Each crock pot is different so get to know how yours heats before you use my times. You will figure it out quickly!
We usually add berries, cream, more cinnamon and maple syrup, but yesterday we had it with spiced pears and pear syrup from last years harvest. I’ve used the same method for grits, adding the cheese, cream and more butter at the end. Sometimes I make Meusli, a oatmeal dish full of rolled oats and other ingredients such as grains, nuts, seeds and fresh or dried fruits in this way. Sometimes if I’m feeling really nostalgic I add smoked salt to get a wee bit of that woodstove vibe.
Just so you are aware, oatmeal doesn’t take nearly as long to cook as whole buckwheat so start watching it closely at the hour and a half mark. Be very good to yourself and use Bobs Red Mill cereals. They are really in my opinion the very best.
This is such an easy and lovely way to do breakfast and is something that the Instapot can’t do nearly as well. Nothing better than this kind of warm homey breakfast in the wintertime unless you add a hot cup of Earl Grey Tea , a snuggly cat, snoring dog and the Sunday New York Times.
#buckwheat #woodstove #breakfast #porridge #homemade #hygge #comfortfood #herbanfarmgirl #schooloftheseasons