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Peptonised Gruel, Arrowroot, &C.

Gruel treated with Benger's Liquor pancreaticus, a pancreatic preparation, to partly digest it.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Peptonised Gruel, Arrowroot, &C.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gruel

  1. Boil the gruel well until thick and strong.

  2. Pour it into a jug.

  3. Let it cool to a lukewarm temperature, not exceeding 140°F (60°C).

Peptonise and finish

  1. Add the Liquor pancreaticus and mix well.

  2. Cover the jug and keep it warm for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

  3. Bring to a boil and strain.

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

What each ingredient does

Gruel
Forms the thick, starchy base that the enzymes act on.
Benger's liquor pancreaticus
Pancreatic enzymes break down proteins and starches, partly digesting the gruel.

The step that matters

Let the gruel cool before adding the enzyme. Pancreatic enzymes are destroyed by high heat, so the gruel must be cooled to lukewarm, not exceeding 140°F (60°C), before the Liquor is added. Adding it to hot gruel would stop the digestion from working.

“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.