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Breakfast

One-cent Breakfast

A simple oatmeal porridge made by boiling water, adding oatmeal, simmering, and serving with skimmed milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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One-cent Breakfast

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the porridge

  1. Boil 4 cups of water in a pot.

  2. Add 2 cups of oatmeal to the boiling water.

  3. Reduce heat and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  4. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve about 1 pint of porridge per child with ½ cup of skimmed milk.

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

Oatmeal
Its starch absorbs water and swells as it simmers, thickening the liquid into porridge.
Skimmed milk
Adds creaminess and a mild, cooling richness when served over the hot porridge.

The step that matters

Simmering with occasional stirring. Oatmeal can settle and scorch on the bottom of the pot during a long simmer. Stirring keeps the starch evenly hydrated and prevents burnt spots, giving a smooth, uniformly thick 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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