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Cracked Wheat

A simple porridge made by boiling cracked wheat with water and salt, served with cream or milk and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Cracked Wheat

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine cracked wheat, hot water, and salt.

  2. Boil slowly for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

  3. Serve with cream and sugar or rich milk.

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

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

  2. Wheat + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together681 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Wheat + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,071 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Cracked wheat
Provides the starch that swells and thickens the water into a porridge.
Hot water
Hydrates the wheat so it softens and cooks into a soft, spoonable texture.
Cream or rich milk
Adds fat and richness, softening the flavour and mouthfeel of the porridge.

The step that matters

Stirring during the slow boil. Wheat starch and sugars settle on the bottom of the pot and scorch easily. Frequent stirring keeps the grains moving, prevents burnt flavour, and keeps the texture even.

“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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