Name: Oatmeal Gruel
Ingredients: cooked rolled oats; water; coarse sea salt (optional); nut butter (optional); dairy cream or milk (optional)

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Oatmeal Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

Sift the cooked rolled oats through a sieve.
Add water to achieve the desired consistency.
Stir in a little coarse sea salt, nut butter, or dairy cream/milk if desired.

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

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Oats + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,939 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Oats + creamtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together634 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).