The encyclopaedia of practical cookery

English. Gruel. — Put a good table-spoonful each of rice, sago, and pearl barley in a saucepan, pour in 3 pints of water, and boil gently till the liquor is reduced to about lqt., stirring constantly to prevent it sticking. When cooked, have a fine hair sieve placed over a basin, through which pass the Gruel, rubbing it with a wooden spoon. Sweeten and flavour the Gruel to taste. To make the Gruel for serving cold, 6 table-spoonfuls of each of the ingredients should be used with the above quantity of water. When boiled and passed through the sieve, it should be turned into a mould, left till cold and set, then turned out like a jolly on to a dish, and served with preserves or sugar. German Gruel (Griitze). — The night before making the griitze, put lib. of sago to soak in plenty of cold water. On the following morning remove the stalks from 21,1b. of red currants and Jib. of raspberries, put the fruit into a saucepan with lqt. of cold water, and boil it until soft. Strain the liquor through a fine hair sieve, pressing the fruit well to extract all the juice, return the liquor to the Gruel — continued. saucepan, and when boiling put in the soaked sago, and stir it over the fire with a wooden spoon until quite cooked. The mixture must not be left for a moment, as it is likely to burn very quickly. Rinse out a mould with cold water, pour in the mixture, and stand it on ice or in a cool place. When quite set and cold, dip the mould in hot water, taking it out again quickly, wipe it, and turn the contents out on to a fancy dish. Serve the griitze with cream or wellflavoured custard. Hamburg Gruel. — Put 26 fluid ounces of expressed redcurrant juice into a saucepan with 3 breakfast-cupfuls of cold water, and sufficient sugar to sweeten. Stir well over the fire until it boils, then add Soz. of soaked sago or lOoz. of ground rice, and boil for fifteen minutes longer, stirring all the while. Let it cool in moulds, or it may be poured on t© plates and eaten with sugar and milk. The juice from any acid fruit will answer the purpose, but that from currants is preferable. Norwegian Gruel.-- Put 2 pints of strained red-currant juice into a stewpan with lj pints of water, a few drops of essence of almonds, and loaf sugar to taste. When boiling, mix in gradually fib. of ground rice. Stir and boil the mixture for a-quarter-of-an-hour. When cooked, pour the Gruel into soup-plates, leave it until cool, then serve with cream and caster sugar. Scotch Gruel. — Rub 2oz. of oatmeal quite smooth in a little cold water, working with the back of a spoon against the side of the basin. Pour off the milky fluid into a saucepan as the coarse parts subside until you have about lj pints in all, and then boil slowly until the fluid is a thick mucilage. Water Gruel. — Mix quite smoothly 1 level table-spoonful of flour with 2 breakfast-cupfuls of water, taking care to have no lumps ; put it on the stove, add 1 level teaspoonful of salt, and boil for ten minutes, stirring constantly. If desired, it may be sweetened and a little grated nutmeg added. GRUNTS.— The name of a species of American edible fish. It is so called because of the noise it makes when taken, but it is not very highly esteemed for kitchen purposes. GRUYERE CHEESE.— See Cheese.