Why it works: Sugar and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,141 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Oatmeal Gruel
Ingredients
Directions
Make the porridge
Mix the groats with the cold water thoroughly.
Pour the boiling water over the mixture while stirring continuously.
Boil for 10 minutes, stirring all the while.
Finish and serve
Sweeten with sugar and add sherry or brandy if desired.
You can use milk instead of water if preferred.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Groats
- Oat grains that thicken into a creamy, porridge-like texture as they cook.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the plain oat flavour.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling water over the mixture while stirring continuously. Adding the hot water while stirring keeps the groats from clumping into lumps, so the porridge cooks evenly and becomes smooth.
“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.
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