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Strained Gruel for Invalids

A strained oatmeal gruel served with butter, salt, and optional cream or sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Margaret · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and walnut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,832 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Strained Gruel for Invalids

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Steep the oatmeal in the cold water for 1 hour, stirring well.

  2. Strain the oatmeal through a fine sieve.

Cook and serve

  1. Put the liquid into a saucepan with a pinch of salt.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring all the time.

  3. Serve with cream, or fine sugar and a piece of butter about the size of a walnut.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

282Calories
6 gProtein
17 gFat
28 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Oat1/2 cup dry (40g)154
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hamilton, Margaret. 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

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. Butter + walnuttop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Oatmeal
Forms the body of the gruel as its starch thickens the liquid when steeped and boiled.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the finished gruel.

The step that matters

Boil for 10 minutes, stirring all the time. Oatmeal starch can settle and scorch on the bottom of the pan if left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed as it gelatinises, giving a smooth, thickened gruel without lumps or burnt flavour.

“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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