Celebrity chef Bobby Flay has been cooking up intricate dishes for decades. One of his Las Vegas restaurants even earned a Michelin star at one point, but that doesn’t mean everything he makes is complicated. While we know peanut butter and jelly as a timeless sandwich, Flay has a trick for turning Cream of wheat, a classic breakfast dish, into a sweet and savory meal by building a peanut butter and jelly-inspired dish.
Cream of Wheat was invented by the Diamond Milling Company and is made of wheat middlings, which are byproducts of grains that are usually thrown away as flour is made. The dish became popular in the late 1800s due to economic hardship, and it was so loved by the public that the company even started calling itself the Cream of Wheat Company. Basic Cream of Wheat is made from heating the wheat middlings with milk or water to form a thick, stew-like consistency, similar to a finer oatmeal. But Flay takes it to new heights by enhancing the hot liquid mixture with peanut butter, adding the sweetness of grape jelly, then building texture by adding roasted grapes and chopped peanuts on top.
How Bobby Flay builds his sweet and savory Cream of Wheat
Cream of Wheat has a mild flavor that can be easily overshadowed by additional ingredients, which is why it’s the perfect breakfast dish to give your own spin. Bobby Flay creates a liquid mixture of milk and water, then adds 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. The peanut butter melts into the liquid mixture as it heats, infusing it with flavor. Then, when the Cream of Wheat is added and thickens, it immediately takes on that peanut butter flavor. In a Food Network video, Flay advises adding the Cream of Wheat slowly to the water while whisking, “kind of like as if you were making polenta.” If you can’t find Cream of Wheat, Flay says you can use cornmeal, but note that it will take “a lot longer” to cook.
For texture, Flay roasts black grapes in the oven, but his flavor trick is to add some grape jelly before popping them back in the oven. The jelly “adds flavor,” he says, “but also the pectin in the jelly will actually help thicken it [the grape syrup] up a little bit.”
There is technique to building the dish, too. Flay plates the Cream of Wheat, followed by the roasted grapes and chopped peanuts to improve the PB&J’s flavor and texture. For an added flavor burst, he spoons some of the syrup in the grape pan directly onto the Cream of Wheat, which offers just enough balance to the savory peanut butter undertones.
