Skip to main content
Main

Whole Wheat

A simple boiled whole wheat dish seasoned with baking soda and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Whole Wheat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick and wash the wheat.

  2. Put it in a steamer with enough cold water to cover it.

  3. Add baking soda and boil until soft.

Rinse

  1. Drain the wheat.

  2. Place the wheat in cold water, rubbing it well with your hands.

  3. Wash the wheat again in cold water.

Finish cooking

  1. Place the wheat on the stove to heat slowly.

  2. Add salt to taste and let it boil until very tender.

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

Whole wheat
Forms the bulk of the dish, softening into a tender, chewy grain as it cooks.
Baking soda
Raises the water's alkalinity, which helps the wheat's outer bran soften during boiling.

The step that matters

Boil until very tender. Whole wheat kernels have a tough bran layer and dense starch, so they need prolonged boiling to soften fully. Stopping early leaves the grain hard and unpleasantly chewy.

“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.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes