Mr. Woodhouse’s gruel is delicious, simple and nourishing, but it uses more decadent ingredients than the basic gruel Oliver Twist ate in the workhouse.

As a notorious hypochondriac, I think Mr. Woodhouse might have preferred Oliver’s very bland version, but with this recipe I wanted to show you an alternative that would have been much more common among the wealthy middle classes back in the day. It has basically all the flavors a rich dude (or dudette, of course) would want in a dish.

These days, however, it’s absolutely perfect for breakfast or a pre-workout snack.

 

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RICH MAN’S GRUEL

Author Eric

Ingredients

For the gruel

  • 90 g oats
  • 160 g white wine
  • 200 g water
  • 20 g dried currants
  • Currant jam for garnish optional

For currant jam

  • 100 g white verjus
  • 100 g water
  • 50 g sugar
  • 300 g currants

Instructions

For currant jam

  1. Bring verjus and water to boil
  2. Incorporate sugar
  3. Simmer 3 hours
  4. Blend until smooth and has a beautiful sheen, appx 30 mins.

For the gruel

  1. Combine oats water and wine and simmer for 1 min.
  2. Add currants, simmer an additional 5 mins.
  3. Season with salt.
  4. Garnish with the currant jam, if you like, and serve hot.