Skip to main content
Main

Frumenty

A sweetened, nutmeg‑flavored cracked wheat porridge served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Frumenty

Ingredients

Directions

Make the porridge

  1. Cook the cracked wheat in water with a pinch of salt until soft.

  2. Add the milk and stir until thick like cream.

  3. Remove from heat and strain the mixture.

Sweeten and finish

  1. Stir in sugar, nutmeg, and currants.

  2. Return to heat until the fruit is soft.

  3. Add the beaten egg yolk.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Serve cold in a bowl for supper or lunch.

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Wheat + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together359 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Nutmeg + curranttop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,983 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Cracked wheat
Provides the bulk and body of the porridge as it softens in liquid.
Milk
Adds richness and creaminess, thickening the porridge as it reduces.
Egg yolk
Enriches the mixture and helps it set to a smoother, thicker texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the mild, nutty flavour of the wheat.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk. Egg yolk can curdle or scramble if it meets very hot liquid. Remove the pan from heat before adding it and stir steadily so it blends smoothly and thickens gently.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, milk, sugar, nutmeg, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, milk, sugar, nutmeg, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

You might also like

Wheat GruelWheat Gruel6 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes