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Water Gruel

A simple gruel made by mixing oatmeal with water, boiling, and seasoning with salt and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Water Gruel

Water Gruel

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gruel

  1. Mix the oatmeal with ½ cup of water until smooth.

  2. Pour the mixture into 1 pint of boiling water.

  3. Stir well and boil quickly, ensuring it doesn't boil over.

  4. After 15 minutes, strain the mixture.

Season and serve

  1. Add salt and a bit of butter before serving, stirring until the butter is incorporated.

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
Thickens the water into a light gruel as its starch cooks and swells.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the finished gruel.

The step that matters

Mix the oatmeal smoothly before adding it to the boiling water. Oatmeal stirred into cold water first disperses evenly, so the starch hydrates without forming lumps when it meets the boiling liquid.

“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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