Name: Gruel
Ingredients: 14 oz. of oatmeal; 3 oz. of molasses or sugar; coarse sea salt to taste

Gruel

Ingredients

14 oz. of oatmeal
3 oz. of molasses or sugar
coarse sea salt to taste

Directions

Cook the oatmeal

Combine 14 oz. of oatmeal with 1 pint of water for each serving in a large pot.
Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until thickened.

Sweeten and season

Sweeten with 3 oz. of molasses or sugar on alternate days.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

What each ingredient does

Oatmeal: Its starch swells in hot water and thickens the mixture into a porridge-like body.
Molasses or sugar: Adds sweetness and, in molasses, a deeper flavor.

“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.