Cracked Wheat
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place a quart of boiling water in the outer pot of a double boiler.
Add a teaspoonful of salt to the boiling water.
Put a half‑pint cupful of cracked wheat into the inner pot.
Cook
Boil for three hours or longer until the wheat is done.
Reheat and serve
For reheating, keep the wheat in the inner pot and add boiling water to the outer pot.
Boil until heated through, without adding water to the inner pot.
Serve hot or pour into a mold while hot, or before starch sets, for a cold dish.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Cracked wheat (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the dish as its starch gelatinises and softens during long cooking.
- Water
- Hydrates the wheat so its starch swells and the grains become tender.
The step that matters
Keep water out of the inner pot during reheating. The double boiler cooks gently through steam from the outer pot. Adding water to the inner pot dilutes the wheat and can make it watery or cause it to stick, so heat only the outer pot.
“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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