Step 1 / 5
boil
medium-high, stirring once
milk + water + salt, until it just breaks into a boil — the water is not dilution, it is insurance: milk proteins and lactose settle and scorch on a dry-ish pan bottom in the minute before the oats absorb anything, and the burnt note carries through the whole pot. Salt goes in now, with the liquid, because once the starch has gelled it seals the grain and surface salt only tastes like salt sitting on top of bland oats.