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Restorative Gruel

A grain gruel made from barley, sago, and rice simmered in water, sweetened with sugar, and finished with cream or port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Barley and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 568 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Restorative Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the barley, sago, and rice in cold water.

  2. Put them into a saucepan and add 1 quart of cold water.

Make the gruel

  1. Set on a gentle fire and simmer slowly for 1½ hours.

  2. Place a fine sieve over a bowl and press the thick part through, adding a little liquid occasionally.

  3. Boil the strained mixture, adding 1 tablespoon of sugar for each pint of gruel.

  4. Pour into a basin and stir in 4 tablespoons of cream or 2 tablespoons of port wine if prescribed.

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. Barley + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together568 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Barley + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together755 recipes

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

  4. Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Barley + creamtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together301 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Barley
Thickens the liquid as its starches soften during long simmering, giving the gruel body.
Sago
Its starch thickens the liquid and gives the gruel a smooth, soft texture.
Rice
Its starch breaks down during simmering, adding body and a soft, creamy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the mild flavour of the grains.

The step that matters

Simmering and straining the grains. Simmering slowly for the full time softens the starches so the grains break down fully. Pressing them through a fine sieve removes lumps and leaves a smooth, even texture.

“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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