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Water Gruel

A simple gruel made by boiling cornmeal or oatmeal in water, seasoned with salt and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Water Gruel

Water Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil the water in a pot.

  2. Add the cornmeal or oatmeal and stir well.

  3. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  4. Strain the mixture to remove any solids.

  5. Add salt and sugar to taste.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal or oatmeal
Thickens the water into a gruel as its starch swells and gelatinizes during cooking.

The step that matters

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stirring keeps the meal from settling and scorching on the bottom of the pot. Cooking long enough lets the starch swell fully, so the gruel thickens evenly and loses its raw grainy taste.

“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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