THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 3, 1997 TAG: 9701030487
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: 53 lines
A note from Rhetta Wilson informs me, ``You haven't eaten oatmeal until you fix it my way.''
From the light touch of her accent and the use of ``fix'' to substitute for the verb ``do,'' which I also employ, it was evident she is from the Deep South - South Carolina, it turns out.
(Sometimes it occurs to me I should have been a detective, another Sherlock Holmes.)
Her husband, Harold, teaches Southern history at Old Dominion University, much of it being the Civil War these days. How interesting that more of the Civil War is taught now than at any other time. The more the War recedes, the larger it looms.
But back to the oatmeal. What beguiled me about Wilson's recipe was that she cooks it with skim milk instead of water - it's tastier that way.
Either old-fashioned or one-minute quick oats will do, ``but you have to watch and stir them,'' she writes.
Later, on the phone Thursday, she said she couldn't abide instant oats boiled in a bag.
I agree. Anything instant, including getting out of a chair, rattles me. My way is to ruminate before moving and save energy for running from a tiger that breaks out of the brush.
While the milk is heating almost to boiling (three to five minutes), put in a half cup of raisins so as to plump them out, Wilson said.
She advised me that you can tell when the milk is about to boil by the steam or smoke arising from it. You don't find instructions like that in the ordinary cookbook. Chefs like to keep that sort of thing to themselves and pretend astonishment when the recipe doesn't work.
Add the oats, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat but continue to stir for one to three minutes or maybe upwards of five.
Top with a little butter as well as dark brown sugar. There is a light brown sugar, a beige sort, but the Wilsons prefer the dark sugar as being stronger, as do I. Of course, a sprinkling of pure maple sugar would be ideal.
Rhetta Wilson also sprinkles homemade granola atop the oatmeal and adds a little milk. Some gourmandizers would add a dollop of heavy cream.
She also offered directions for granola. Much of her version derives from an ODU faculty wives' cookbook, but one recipe at a time is all I can handle.
That was a lesson learned last week after I invited any of you wishing to have the recipe for red velvet cake to call. Thus far, 358 have replied.
Requests are still coming. Mary Morris of Virginia Beach just phoned. It comes to me that we can save time by my printing the recipe in an extra column next Thursday. Mary Morris agreed that's a good idea. So keep an eye out for it Thursday. ILLUSTRATION: [Drawing]