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Gruel, Barley

A barley gruel made by blending barley flour with milk and cooking slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Gruel, Barley

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gruel

  1. Blend 2 tablespoons of barley flour with a little cold milk.

  2. Stir the mixture into 1 quart of scalding milk.

  3. Cook in a double boiler for two hours.

Season and strain

  1. Salt to taste and add sugar if desired.

  2. Strain.

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Barley flour (in the method)
Thickens the gruel as its starch swells and gelatinizes during long, gentle cooking.
Milk (in the method)
Forms the liquid base and adds body, richness and a mild sweetness as it cooks.

The step that matters

Blend the flour with cold milk before adding it to the hot milk. Starch granules disperse evenly in cold liquid. Added directly to scalding milk, the flour would clump into lumps that cannot be smoothed out later.

“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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