Oatmeal Gruel (1906)
Reader ratingsOatmeal gruel, the first item at Titanic third-class supper on April 14, 1912: fine oatmeal simmered in milk and water, then strained, from the 1906 Beeton.
- Recipe makes
- 2 cups
- Prep
- Cook
- Total
Beeton gives 35 minutes in all: a few minutes to bring the liquid to a boil, then half an hour’s gentle simmering before it is strained.
Two cups of thin, strained oatmeal gruel beside a small sieve.
The story behind the recipe
A single tablespoon of fine oatmeal to a pint of liquid is the whole strength of oatmeal gruel in the 1906 edition of Mrs. Beeton, and it is strained before it is served. In that book, gruel was meant to be thin. On the Titanic’s third-class card for April 14, 1912, it is the first word of supper, followed by cabin biscuits and cheese.
What was gruel?
The card gives a single word, “Gruel,” and no grain. The recipe here is no. 3268 in Ward, Lock’s new edition of Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1906), and its oatmeal is our choice for the ship’s unnamed gruel.
In this book gruel and porridge are two different preparations, filed in two different chapters. Porridge is in vegetarian cookery and is cooked thick. Gruel is in the chapter headed “Recipes for Invalid Cookery,” between egg nogs and lemonade, and its neighbors on the page show the range: a barley gruel with an optional small glass of port, a sago gruel with a glass of port, and a second oatmeal gruel soaked for three hours. Under them the book adds a shortcut: “A very nutritious gruel can also be made with Patent Groats. Directions are given with each packet.”
Its place among the invalid recipes doesn’t make the ship’s supper a sickroom meal. The card gives no reason for serving gruel, and the book itself suggests nutmeg, ginger, butter or cream only “when the gruel is intended as a remedy for a cold.” Beeton’s editors costed it at 2½d. when made with milk, about £1.10 today by UK consumer prices (Bank of England).
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
The book allows water alone or “milk and water mixed”; we use roughly half and half, which keeps the full pint of liquid. Its sugar is “to taste,” and our two teaspoons are a starting point. The spices and cream for a cold are left out.
This is the end of the day in What Did Third-Class Passengers Eat on the Titanic? For the same oatmeal cooked thick, start at breakfast with Oatmeal Porridge (1906).
3268.—GRUEL, OATMEAL.
Ingredients.—1 tablespoonful of fine oatmeal, 1 pint of water, or milk and water mixed, sugar to taste, a pinch of salt. ...
Recipe makes: 2 cups
Ingredients
For 2 cups. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 2 cups.
- Fine oatmeal1 tbsp
- Water300 ml
- Whole milk270 ml
- Sugar2 tsp
- Salt1 pinch
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 1 tbsp fine oatmeal
- 300 ml water
- 270 ml whole milk
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Equipment
- Small bowl
Saucepan
Wooden spoon
Fine sieve- Warm jug
Instructions
In the small bowl, mix the fine oatmeal to a smooth paste with a little of the water.
Put the rest of the water and the milk in the saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, watching that the milk doesn’t boil over.
Pour in the oatmeal paste and stir until the pan boils again.
Lower the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring often so the milk doesn’t catch on the bottom.
Pour the gruel through the fine sieve into the warm jug, pressing lightly, and discard what stays in the sieve.
Stir in the sugar and salt, taste, and serve hot in cups.
Nutrition
120calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 2 cups
- Servings
- 2
Estimated per cup (2) from USDA FoodData Central values for whole oats, whole milk and sugar, counting all the oatmeal; some of it stays in the sieve.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
Beeton’s tablespoon of oatmeal to a pint of liquid makes two cups.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the servings.
Fine oatmeal is sold in Britain under that name. Elsewhere, grind steel-cut oats finely in a spice grinder. Our changes from no. 3268: a set mix of milk and water, a set amount of sugar, and a warm jug for straining into. The gruel can be made ahead, chilled within 2 hours and warmed through the next day, with a splash of milk if it has thickened.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; pan sizes and cooking times need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
After Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, new edition (London: Ward, Lock, 1906), Gruel, Oatmeal, no. 3268; dish as printed on the Titanic’s third-class bill of fare of April 14, 1912
See the original pages (scan at Internet Archive) (opens in a new tab)
Recipe details
- Course
- Soup
- Dish family
- Soups & Broths
- Region
- British
- Era
- Edwardian
- Source decade
- 1900s
- Event
- Titanic, 1912
- Main ingredient
- Grains & riceMilk & cream
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Occasion
- Everyday meal