Gruel, the Real Deal
"Please, sir, can I have some more?" You know the line even if you haven't read Charles Dickens' classic Oliver Twist. But did you ever wonder if a bowl of gruel was worth asking for seconds, as the title character did?
Well, members of The Royal Society of Chemistry in London followed their curiosity, and, based on an array of Victorian-era recipes, replicated what they supposed gruel would taste like. The BBC asked some brave samplers what they thought of the concoction.
But the slushy gruel, containing oats, water, milk and onion, got a mixed response from tasters.
"It's extremely bland," said Jennifer Gilson, a retired scientist. "There's no flavour at all without the onion."
But Israel Philip, an administrator at the RSC had a different view.
"In this weather it's the best thing to have. I'd have this for breakfast every morning. It's just like porridge."
What is gruel? Wise Geek posted a decent definition with some history, but basically it's a type of porridge. Here are some recipes for different types of historical gruel I've found while poking about the web: Medieval gruel, Catholic Almond Gruel, and meat gruel.
These actually sound kind of good. Anybody a gruel fan or have a good recipe?
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13 Comments:
Hello. I think the meat gruel link is the same as the almond gruel...
The Almond one sounds good though!
meg3j at 2:01PM on 01/14/09
Gastrodomus prediciton: 2009 will be the year that Gruel comes back! In these tough economic times, what better way to nourish body, pallete and pocketbook than with a nice heaping bowl of gruel. Gone is that gloppy grey slop your grandma ate - Think organic, think artisinal. Why add onions when you can add shallots? Organic Oats? Of course! Farm fresh milk, and what's this floating in my gruel? House-cured bacon bits?
Gruel: Its the new Ramen!
JudgeFudge at 2:03PM on 01/14/09
The catholicc almond gruel actually sounds good....but the others sound, um, well i don't really want to try them.
veginbk at 2:04PM on 01/14/09
i don't have a copy in front of me but i think older editions of 'the joy of cooking' have a recipe for 'gruel for babies and invalids.'
coolname at 3:19PM on 01/14/09
I've made "gruel" before, not from any recipe, but just did what I imagined gruel might be. What prompted this was the leftover bone and it's attached scrappy bits from a roast leg of lamb. I cooked up some onion carrot and celery in butter in the bottom of a big stock pot, threw a ton of barley and the lamb bone, covered with water, and then let it simmer for hours, topping it off with more water to keep it covered. When the barley was cooked right, I seasoned it with salt and pepper. Super easy. It was very good.
simon at 3:53PM on 01/14/09
I think it would taste just like unflavored oatmeal maybe?
mxs at 4:07PM on 01/14/09
We make a kind of oatmeal gruel around here for breakfast. It's basically just oatmeal, with twice as much water as the box calls for. Mix everything together cold, bring to a boil and then simmer until the oatmeal is tender and begins to thicken (5-10 minutes). Add 1/2 cup milk and sweeten to taste with brown sugar. Really tasty!
Teahlo at 4:42PM on 01/14/09
Here is a better source for an almond milk based gruel:
Gode Cookery
But keep in mind that gruel was for invalids, the old and the young. These individuals had weak enough constitution that they need to be fed bland food. And Oliver wanted more because anything is better than starving to death.
vox8ight at 6:17PM on 01/14/09
My mom would make me okayu (Japanese rice gruel) when I was really ill and when I had all of my wisdom teeth taken out at the same time. I eat it for dinner, esp. during the winter, when I have cravings for it. I mince up fried salmon, shiitake, and mustard cabbage, flavoring my gruel with miso.
Korean rice gruel is yummy too, along with kimchi, dried fishies, and other sides.
It's nothing like what's linked above. :P
Cassaendra at 7:29PM on 01/14/09
Korean rice gruel is awesome. It's like they scraped the bottom of the pan.
As a reenactor, I am really, really glad to see this article! It'll be very useful!
driftingfocus at 7:40PM on 01/14/09
Sounds a bit like congee, a sort of Chinese rice gruel with meats and vegetables in it. I've made it a few times, because it intrigued me - I have several Chinese cookbooks, and they made it sound so good, I just had to try it - and it was good. I used a crockpot, so it could cook at night and be ready in the morning. Don't know why you couldn't do the same with oats - I think scrapple is somewhat similar, although it is more solid - you make it from cream of wheat or cornmeal, and cooked bulk sausage. My dad used to make it - poured it into loaf pans, refrigerated it overnight, and would slice and fry it for breakfast in the morning. As little children, we thought this was about the best breakfast there was.
renewbee at 2:34AM on 01/15/09
I associate "gruel" with a particular Simpsons episode when the kids at Camp Krusty were forced to eat "Krusty Brand Imitation Gruel", whose slogan was "9 out of 10 orphans can't tell the difference".
CafePhine at 1:17AM on 01/16/09
In another classic, "Mary Poppins", the children, Jane and Michael Banks, come up with criteria for hiring a nanny. Among the requirements were: "Never be cross or cruel. Never feed us castor oil or gruel." And the word "gruelling", which means difficult or hard, comes from the word gruel! It was first used in the book "Walsingham" by Mary Robinson in the late 1700s. She used the phrase "give him his gruel" to mean "to punish him". So even 300 years ago, eating gruel was seen as a punishment! To give someone their gruel is in the same category as cooking one's goose, settling one's hash, taking one's cake, and so on! Nice article.
jaywarner at 6:04PM on 01/16/09