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Indian Meal Gruel

A simple gruel made from Indian meal or oatmeal, boiled with water and optional cream or milk.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the Indian meal or oatmeal with cold water until smooth.

  2. Add the salt and pour in the boiling water.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and boil gently for 30 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir often and thin with more boiling water if it thickens too much.

  2. After straining, add cream or milk if desired, but omit if the stomach is weak.

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

Indian meal or oatmeal
Forms the body of the gruel as its starch thickens during gentle boiling.
Cream or milk
Adds richness and a softer, smoother mouthfeel to the finished gruel.

The step that matters

Stir often while boiling. Meal and oatmeal starch settle and scorch on the bottom of the pan and thicken quickly as they cook. Frequent stirring keeps the mixture even and prevents burnt flavour, and adding boiling water restores the right consistency.

“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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