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Peptonized Gruel

A gruel made with thick gruel, milk, pancreatic liquor, and bicarbonate, boiled and sweetened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Peptonized Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gruel

  1. Prepare the thick gruel using your preferred farinaceous food.

  2. Add the cold milk to the gruel and stir well.

Peptonize and serve

  1. Mix in the liquor pancreaticus and bicarbonate of soda immediately.

  2. Cover the mixture and maintain the same temperature for about 30 minutes.

  3. Boil for a few minutes, then sweeten and flavor to taste before serving.

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh milk
Supplies the liquid and fat that form the body of the gruel.
Liquor pancreaticus
Enzymes that break down starches and proteins, partially digesting the mixture.
Bicarbonate of soda
Raises the alkalinity of the mixture, helping the enzymes work.

The step that matters

Holding the temperature while peptonizing. The enzymes in liquor pancreaticus work within a narrow temperature range. If the mixture cools or overheats during the 30 minutes, digestion slows or the enzymes are damaged, so the gruel will not be properly peptonized.

“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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