Mush or Porridge
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Place the grain in a porcelain vessel.
Add salt and moisten with water, but do not soak completely.
Cook
Cover the pot and place it in a 350°F (175°C) oven for several hours, or overnight.
Serve
Serve as is, or allow to cool, then cut into thin slices.
Cook the slices in a pan to mimic frying.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal, oatmeal, cracked wheat, or hominy
- Forms the bulk of the porridge; its starch thickens and sets as it cooks slowly with moisture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the grain and gently firms its texture while it cooks.
The step that matters
Moisten the grain without soaking it. Too little water leaves the grain dry and gritty, while soaking it fully makes the porridge soggy and slow to set. Moistening evenly lets the starch hydrate and gel in the oven.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.