Water Gruel
Ingredients
Directions
Stir the Indian meal or oatmeal with a little water until smooth.
Pour the mixture into the boiling water.
Let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes.
Season with salt, and add sugar and nutmeg if desired.
If the patient can take it, add a little milk or cream.
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
- Indian meal or oatmeal
- Starch that thickens the boiling water into a gruel as it cooks.
- Boiling water
- Liquid that hydrates the grain so it swells and thickens.
- Milk or cream
- Adds richness and softness to the finished gruel.
The step that matters
Stir the meal smooth before pouring it in. Dry meal or oatmeal clumps when it hits hot water, and lumps stay lumpy as they cook. Mixing it into a smooth slurry first lets the starch disperse evenly and thicken the gruel uniformly.
“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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