Skip to main content
Main

Water Gruel

A simple oatmeal porridge made with water, salt, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Water Gruel

Water Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine oatmeal and water in a pot.

  2. Stir well and bring to a boil, stirring often to prevent boiling over.

  3. Once boiled three or four times, strain the mixture through a sieve.

  4. Add coarse sea salt to taste and a piece of fresh butter.

  5. Stir until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Oatmeal
Forms the thick body of the porridge as its starches swell and gelatinize in water.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel as it melts into the hot porridge.

The step that matters

Stirring while bringing to a boil. Oatmeal starch can scorch on the bottom and boil over if not stirred often, so frequent stirring keeps the porridge even and prevents spills.

“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

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes