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Cracked Wheat

A simple porridge made from cracked wheat, steamed for hours and served with cream and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Cracked Wheat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rinse the cracked wheat thoroughly with cold water.

  2. Add the cold water to the cracked wheat.

  3. Place the basin in a steamer, covering it closely.

Steam

  1. After 30 minutes, stir.

  2. Add salt to taste.

  3. Let it steam for 4 hours, stirring twice during cooking.

Serve

  1. Serve with cream and sugar.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Wheat + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together681 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Wheat + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,071 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cracked wheat
Its starch swells and thickens as it absorbs water and heat, forming the porridge body.
Cold water
Hydrates the grain so it can soften and swell during long steaming.
Cream
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to balance the mild, nutty flavour of the wheat.

The step that matters

Stirring during the 4-hour steam. As the grains absorb water and their starch gelatinizes, the mixture thickens and can stick to the base and form lumps. Stirring redistributes heat and moisture, keeping the texture even.

“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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