Gruel

Ingredients

• a huge basin of gruel
• Brown sugar
• a large tablespoonful of treacle
• a small quantity of rum

Method

1. 1

   Prepare a large quantity of warm gruel, which can be flavored with brown sugar or treacle.

2. 2

   For additional flavor, add sugar, lemon peel, and a small quantity of rum if desired.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c (1880), page 113. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

gruel or barley- water can be made in a few minutes. When, however, time is of no object, it is well to bear in mind that barley-water made from pearl barley is far preferable to that made from ground barley or groats. In order to make barley-water properly, pearl-barley is necessary, and m making it great care should be taken to thoroughly cleanse the bar- ley from all impurities. There are pro- bably many persons who, at one period of their life, have been, owing to sick- ness, compelled to drink _ that by no , means unpleasant preparation known as barley-water, and have noticed, when it | has been poured out into a glass and I allowed to stand by the bedside, that at | the bottom of the tumbler they find a I sort of black sediment, which is simply dirt. Now when the system is in a very delicate state, and this barley is the only nourishment which patients take, this sediment is very objectionable. This sediment in barley-water is owing to the ignorance, and often to the care- lessness of the cook. In making barley- water cooks should always proceed as follows : Take some pearl-barley, and wash it well in two or three waters. Then throw it into some boiling water and let it boil for five or ten minute's. Strain it through a sieve, and throw away this first water in which it was boiled. This water, of course, contains a trifling quantity of nourishment, but it is simply from the outer coating of the pearl-barley mixed with the dirt. The barley will now be thoroughly clean. Place it in a small saucepan, with some pure water, and let it simmer gently for several hours. Then strain the pearl- ; barley off, and pour the liquor into a I jug. It should be stirred up with a ! spoon before being poured out for the | patient, as the barley will settle, and I the top will be perfectly clear while the bottom will be thick. There are a variety of ways of flavouring barley water, the best being a little sugar and some Very thin strips of the rind of a t lemon — only the yellow portion of the | lemon-peel should be used. These strips | should be cut so that there is no white at all on the inner side. Of course the modes of flavouring barley-water arc almost infinite— orange peei, cinnamon, nutmeg, wine, etc., as the doctor may order. Groats are exceedingly useful for making that well-known compound, gruel, which is probably one of the best cures for that most incurable of com- plaints— a bad cold. There is an old ; saying, and a perfectly true one, that a i cold will always cure itself. However, HOUSEKEEPER'S GUIDE. Tama- i 76 CROSSE AND BLACKWELL'S there is no harm in “assisting nature.” When gruel is taken for a cola, it is best to take it in large quantities, and also best for the patient to lie in bed. Per- haps one of the best remedies is to lie in bed all day long and take plenty of hot gruel. A huge basin of gruel— an ordi- nary slop-basin— is about the quantity. This huge quantity of warm fluid tends greatly to promote perspiration, which assists to get rid of the cold. Gruel can be flavoured in a variety of ways. Brown ^ sugar, or, still better, a large tablespoonful of treacle, can be dis- solved in it. A very nice flavouring, also, for gruel is sugar, lemon-peel, and a small quantity of rum

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.