Oatmeal Gruel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oatmeal
Mix the coarse oatmeal with a little cold water and let it stand for a few moments.
Pour 4 cups of boiling water over the oatmeal and let it stand for 15 minutes.
Pour off the liquid into a saucepan and boil gently until it thickens.
Flavor
Flavor with salt or sugar as preferred.
Variations
For a different gruel, use 1 tablespoon of ground oatmeal with 1½ cups of water, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
For rolled oatmeal, mix 2-3 tablespoons with a little cold water, then pour into 1 pint of boiling water, boil for a few minutes, and strain.
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
- Coarse oatmeal
- Forms the thickened body of the gruel as its starch gelatinises in hot water.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the oatmeal and softens its starch so it can thicken on gentle boiling.
The step that matters
Boiling gently until it thickens. Oat starch thickens as it heats in liquid and then sets as it cools. Boiling too hard can scorch the bottom of the pan or break up the grains, so keep the heat gentle and stir to prevent sticking.
“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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