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Indian-Meal Gruel

A simple gruel made with cornmeal, water, butter, sugar, cream, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter 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 ↓

Indian-Meal Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cover the cornmeal with cold water, stir briefly, then drain.

  2. Slowly add the boiling water while stirring continuously.

Cook

  1. Add a pinch of salt and cook in a double boiler for at least 1 hour.

Serve

  1. Serve in a heated bowl with sugar, butter, and cream.

  2. Optionally, omit the butter and add more slightly whipped cream.

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

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.

  1. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Granulated white cornmeal
Forms the thick body of the gruel as its starch swells and gelatinises during long cooking.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety mouthfeel to the finished gruel.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, softening the flavour and mouthfeel of the gruel.

The step that matters

Cook in a double boiler for at least 1 hour. Gentle, indirect heat lets the cornmeal starch swell and soften evenly without scorching on the bottom of the pan. Stirring and steady low heat keep the texture smooth rather than lumpy or burnt.

“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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