This Winter, Gruel Is So Again

I’m calling it: Gruel is coming again in an enormous method. You possibly can chalk it as much as a collective nostalgia, the rising price of substances, or the recognition of all issues complete and top quality grains. There’s even a stone mill and complete grain bakery slotted to open up proper right here in Brooklyn. Regardless of the purpose, a savory bowl of sentimental and starchy cooked grain is beginning to sound fairly good to me in any respect hours of the day. In truth, I’ve simply printed a recipe for Savory Miso Oatmeal, served with charred kale and a comfortable boiled egg.

As somebody who grew up considerably ambivalent in direction of oatmeal, my first “aha second” with the cereal grain got here once I had a savory model. I used to be working as a baker at a commissary kitchen within the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, not removed from Misplaced Bread Bakery. For lunch on the weekends, I might slink out of labor with my very own steel bowl in tow, as Misplaced Bread admirably didn’t provide to-go containers, and go see what was attention-grabbing on the lunch menu. Someday, I used to be served a sizzling bowl of complete oat groats, cooked in a surprisingly savory broth and served with a marinated egg. It was much like the Ginger Fried Oat Bowl featured in one of many bakery’s stellar grain zines.

That dish served because the inspiration for my very own recipe, which requires steel-cut oats and miso as a taste base. When you’re on the fence, it would simply persuade you to go salty over candy the subsequent time you crack open the oats.