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Cracked Wheat

A simple porridge made from cracked wheat, water, milk, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Cracked Wheat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Salt the water and bring it to a boil.

  2. Add the cracked wheat and let it simmer uncovered for 1 hour.

  3. After an hour, the water should be almost evaporated.

Cook the porridge

  1. Add the hot milk and cook for an additional hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

  2. Use a copper, porcelain saucepan, or earthen crock to reduce the risk of burning.

  3. Ensure the milk is fresh and sweet to prevent curdling.

  4. Stir carefully when done, as the mixture will be thin.

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.

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.

  1. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cracked wheat
Forms the body of the porridge as its starch swells and softens during long simmering.
Milk
Adds richness and creaminess, and its proteins and sugars contribute to flavour and browning risk.

The step that matters

Stirring while the milk cooks. Milk contains sugars and proteins that stick and scorch on the pan base during long cooking, so frequent stirring and a suitable pan help prevent burning.

“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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