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Table for Cooking Cereals

A table of instructions for cooking various cereals such as oats, wheats, rice, cornmeal, wheatlet, oatmeal, and hominy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Oats and wheat work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 473 recipes. Both carry 2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Table for Cooking Cereals

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Bring water to a boil in a large pot.

  2. Add salt.

Cook the grains

  1. Add 1 cup rolled oats to 3 cups boiling water. Cook for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

  2. Add 1 cup rolled wheats to 3 cups boiling water. Cook for 20 minutes to 2 hours.

  3. Add 1 cup rice to 4 cups boiling water. Cook for 45 to 60 minutes.

  4. Mix 1 cup cornmeal with cold water. Gradually add the mixture to 3 cups boiling water. Cook for 3 hours.

  5. Add 1 cup finely ground wheatlet to 3 cups boiling water. Cook for 30 to 60 minutes.

  6. Add 1 cup coarse oatmeal to 4 cups boiling water. Cook for 3 hours.

  7. Add 1 cup fine hominy to 4 cups boiling water. Cook for 1 hour.

Finish

  1. Stir constantly to prevent burning.

  2. Cover and steam until fully cooked.

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. Oats + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together473 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Wheat + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together423 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Oats + ricetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together349 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Rolled oats
Softens and thickens into a creamy, starchy porridge base.
Rice
Releases starch as it cooks, adding body and a soft, tender texture.
Cornmeal
Thickens the porridge and gives it a grainy, substantial texture.
Hominy
Adds a soft, starchy body and a distinct corn flavor.

The step that matters

Stirring while the grains cook. Starchy grains settle and scorch on the bottom of the pot during long cooking. Stirring constantly keeps the grains suspended and heat even, preventing burning and lumps.

“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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