# Milk in cereal: Sauce or Broth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475 "2019-01-09T16:54:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/21 "2019-01-09T20:12:12Z")
I said gravy because I pour it over the top and adjust the amount I’m pouring relative its effect on the thing I’m pouring it on. And I pour it on in order to make the thing I’m pouring it on better to eat. If I started with the milk and added the cereal, I might call it a broth. But I think of broths as things that are boiled out of other things, and milk doesn’t fit that. I’m not sure why I don’t feel as strong an objection when thinking of gravy. Maybe it’s because I often put milk into gravy, making milk just an extremely dilute gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/22 "2019-01-09T20:17:53Z")
Moo-juice. I didn’t vote on any. They don’t fit. I think of all 3 as heated up. Milk is cold. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/23 "2019-01-09T20:19:21Z")
And I add water to gravy sometimes, making water a dilute gravy. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/24 "2019-01-09T21:44:08Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Moo-juice. I didn’t vote on any. They don’t fit. I think of all 3 as heated up. Milk is cold. Milk can be heated up. Eating cereal with warm milk used to be perfectly normal. I’m pretty sure it even used to be part of the advertising, if you look at cereal ads from the 1940s and 50s. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/25 "2019-01-09T22:13:52Z")
It’s an ingredient. It isn’t a _necessary_ ingredient, because you can eat cereal dry, just like you can eat cookies without chocolate chips. But it’s an ingredient of “cereal with milk.” Justification: I have, directly from my pantry, a box of Quaker Oatmeal Squares crunchy oat cereal. The nutritional information panel on the side of the box lists two sets of numbers. One is marked “Cereal Alone” while the other is “With 1/2 Cup Vitamin A&D Fortified Skim Milk.” Ergo, milk on cereal is an optional ingredient. ETA: What **naita** said, just with more words. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/26 "2019-01-09T22:27:03Z")
Lubricant. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/27 "2019-01-09T22:29:38Z")
None of the above. It’s a salad dressing. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/28 "2019-01-09T22:40:30Z")
I’m reminded of a time where I was at some place that had a plum sauce on their oatmeal. It must have been left cooking for years slowly killing any flavor other than saccharine and sadness. It was called a sauce but it was really just a sugary paste, only kept moist by the wet oatmeal it was surrounded by. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/29 "2019-01-09T22:54:01Z")
A broth is a smooth liquid used as the basis of many soups. For instance, onion soup can be made by mixing beef broth with onions, butter and wine; chicken noodle soup is made by taking chicken broth and adding noodles. By that logic, milk is to cereal as broth is to soup. Therefore, milk is a broth. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/30 "2019-01-09T23:18:28Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Lubricant. If that had been in the poll, I’d have voted for it. Would also have voted for Moistener. > [@CarnalK](#): > > And I add water to gravy sometimes, making water a dilute gravy. True. I’ve also tasted broths that were pretty much water. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/31 "2019-01-09T23:26:14Z")
Broth and gravy are always savory; cereal milk is sweet, so neither of those are appropriate. Sauce can be sweet, so I’ll go with that, even though sauce is more viscous than cereal milk. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/32 "2019-01-09T23:35:28Z")
Cereal sauce would be the ‘cute, I forgot what that white liquid from cows boobies is called’, term. But it’s nothing beyond that. Something the listener would need to translate to real terms to make sense of it. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/33 "2019-01-10T00:01:44Z")
Interesting. I took this question to mean if we use milk _like a sauce_ (a little bit of milk, to moisten the cereal) or _like a broth_ (a lot of milk, so the cereal is swimming in it.) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/34 "2019-01-10T00:08:46Z")
I didn’t vote because “None of the Above” wasn’t an option. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/35 "2019-01-10T00:09:22Z")
It’s none of those. Milk and cereal is essentially a type of instant, cold porridge. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/36 "2019-01-10T01:07:17Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > None of the above. It’s a salad dressing. According to this you might be right — [http://cuberule.com/](http://cuberule.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/37 "2019-01-10T01:14:40Z")
Too bad “revolting” wasn’t a choice. But I’m a weirdo who doesn’t like cereal and milk. 🙂 I think it’s important to consider that different people prefer different milk/cereal ratios. Some use just enough milk to moisten the cereal, while others like their cereal swimming in the milk. But assuming that our hypothetical cereal eater uses a more typical ratio: It’s definitely not a broth. Even if you make a soup by combining a pre-made broth with other ingredients, one would normally simmer the ingredients in the broth for a bit, thereby infusing the ingredients with the flavor of a sauce and vice versa. It’s not a sauce, at least by the standards of most sauces. Sauces are generally more flavorful than whatever they are put on, and one would not eat a portion of sauce by itself. People do drink glasses of milk, however. This applies even more strongly to the suggestion of “condiment” above. There are some bland sauces that are used as moisteners, however, and in that case would be roughly equivalent to the function of the milk for people who prefer to add just a little. Gravy is just a type of sauce. I vote “component.” Both cereal and milk are components of “cereal and milk,” just like tomatoes and lettuce are components of a typical garden salad. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/38 "2019-01-10T01:23:11Z")
I think of “sauce” as something that sticks to what it’s added to- milk doesn’t really do that to cereal. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/39 "2019-01-10T01:27:41Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Milk can be heated up. Eating cereal with warm milk used to be perfectly normal. I’m pretty sure it even used to be part of the advertising, if you look at cereal ads from the 1940s and 50s. Nah. That’s just wrong, yuk! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475/40 "2019-01-10T01:47:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > No, the milk is not ON TOP OF the cereal. The cereal is IN the milk. > > What do you call the part of stew that isn’t the chunks of meat or vegetables? That’s the closest analogy I can think of right now. Maybe when YOU eat pancakes. When I eat them, they’re definitely IN the syrup. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milk-in-cereal-sauce-or-broth/827475.md?page=3)