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Breakfast

Oatmeal and Cracked Wheat

A simple porridge made by boiling water, adding oatmeal and salt, then simmering for several hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Oatmeal and Cracked Wheat

Ingredients

Directions

Cook on the stove

  1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil.

  2. Slowly pour in 1 cup of oatmeal and 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring continuously.

  3. Cook for 15 minutes.

Finish slowly

  1. Place over steam and let cook slowly for 3 to 4 hours.

  2. For a fireless cooker, heat a stone, place it in the cooker, and let it sit overnight.

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

Oatmeal
Its starch and fiber absorb water and swell, thickening the liquid into a porridge.

The step that matters

Slowly pour in the oatmeal while stirring continuously. Dry oat starch hitting hot water clumps as its outer layer hydrates first and traps dry powder inside. Pouring slowly and stirring disperses the grains so each one hydrates evenly and the porridge stays smooth.

“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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