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Preserve

Corn Meal Gruel

A simple porridge made by simmering cornmeal in water with salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Corn Meal Gruel

Corn Meal Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a pot.

  2. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of cornmeal to avoid lumps.

Cook and serve

  1. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.

  2. Add salt to taste before serving.

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
Forms the thick body of the grits as its starch swells and sets in the hot water.

The step that matters

Whisking in the cornmeal gradually. Adding cornmeal slowly into boiling water lets each grain disperse before it hydrates, which prevents lumps. Dumping it in at once clumps the starch on contact.

“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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