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.
Moisten the cornmeal with a little cold water.
Pour the moistened cornmeal into a pint of boiling water.
Stir well and cook for about 10 minutes.
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
- Cornmeal
- Provides the starch that thickens the water into a smooth gruel as it cooks.
The step that matters
Moistening the cornmeal before adding it to the boiling water. Cornmeal added dry to hot liquid tends to clump. Wetting it first with cold water lets the grains separate, so they disperse evenly and the gruel cooks 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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