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Oatmeal Gruel

A simple oatmeal gruel made by mixing oatmeal with water, boiling, seasoning with salt, and optionally adding milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Oatmeal Gruel

Oatmeal Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

Make the porridge

  1. Combine oatmeal and water to make a smooth paste.

  2. Stir the paste into boiling water.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring well.

  4. Add a little salt.

Finish and thin

  1. Strain through muslin.

  2. Thin with a little milk if too thick.

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
Provides the starch that thickens the water into a porridge.
Boiling water
Hydrates the oatmeal so its starch swells and gels as it cooks.

The step that matters

Make a smooth paste before adding the boiling water. Stirring oatmeal into water first keeps it from clumping when it hits the boiling liquid. Dry oatmeal dropped straight into hot water forms lumps that stay raw in the center and are hard to smooth out.

“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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