Corn Meal Gruel
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the cornmeal with a little cold water until smooth.
Add the salt and one quart of boiling water.
Cook
Cook for twenty minutes, stirring frequently.
If the gruel becomes too thick, add more boiling water to thin it.
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
- Fine cornmeal
- Its starch swells and thickens as it cooks in the water, giving the gruel its body.
The step that matters
Stirring frequently while it cooks. Cornmeal is heavier than water and settles toward the bottom of the pan, where it can scorch while the starch thickens. Regular stirring keeps the mixture even and the texture smooth.
“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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