RECIPES
BEEF-JUICE, BEEF-TEA, AND BROTHS 75
GRUELS 83
MUSH AND PORRIDGE 90
DRINKS 95
JELLIES 120
TOAST 128
SOUPS 134
OYSTERS 145
EGGS 153
POTATOES 161
MEATS 168
STEWS 185
SWEETBREADS 188
FISH 191
CUSTARDS, CREAMS, PUDDINGS, AND BLANC-MANGE 195
SALADS 211
ICE-CREAM, SHERBETS, AND ICES 217
COOKED FRUITS 225
BREAD 232
CAKE 246
DIET LISTS OR MENUS FOR THE SICK 254
LIQUID DIET--FIVE MENUS 254
LIGHT DIET--FIVE MENUS FOR BREAKFAST, DINNER,
SUPPER, AND LUNCH 256
CONVALESCENT'S DIET--EIGHT MENUS FOR SPRING,
SUMMER, AUTUMN, AND WINTER 260
SERVING
IMPORTANCE OF SKILL IN COOKING THE THINGS TO BE
SERVED 267
GOOD SERVING A NECESSITY FOR THE SICK 268
PREPARATION OF THE INVALID'S TRAY 268, 270
IMPORTANCE OF HARMONY OF COLORS IN DISHES, LINEN,
AND FLOWERS 269
CARE OF DISHES AND TRAY IN CONTAGIOUS DISEASES 271
TRAY DECORATION 272
VARIETY, INTERVALS OF FEEDING, AND QUANTITY OF
FOOD TO BE GIVEN 273, 274
A PLAN FOR THE PREPARATION OF AN INVALID'S BREAKFAST 278
THE FEEDING OF CHILDREN
WAYS IN WHICH A CHILD MAY BE SUPPLIED WITH FOOD 280
ARTIFICIAL FEEDING 280
COMPARISON OF THE COMPOSITION OF COW'S AND HUMAN MILK 281
BUYING, CARE, AND STERILIZATION OF COW'S MILK 281, 284
MELLIN'S FOOD AND OTHER ATTENUANTS 283, 290, 291
PREDIGESTION 283, 284
BACTERIAL POISONS IN MILK 285, 286
APPARATUS FOR STERILIZING MILK 287
CARE OF FEEDING-BOTTLES 287
USE OF CONDENSED MILK 288
PRESERVED MILK 289
FARINACEOUS FOODS, MELLIN'S FOOD, MALTED MILK, ETC. 289, 290
AMOUNT OF FOOD FOR EACH MEAL--DILUTION OF--MANNER
OF GIVING 293
TEMPERATURE OF FOOD WHEN GIVEN, AND INTERVALS OF
FEEDING 294
GENERAL RULES FOR FEEDING 294
FOR THE FIRST WEEK 295
AFTER THE FIRST WEEK AND UNTIL THE SIXTH WEEK 295
FROM THE SIXTH WEEK TO THE SIXTH MONTH 296
FROM THE SIXTH TO THE TENTH MONTH 297
FROM THE TENTH TO THE TWELFTH MONTH 298
FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH MONTH 299
AFTER EIGHTEEN MONTHS 299
FOODS TO BE CAREFULLY AVOIDED 300
DISTRICT NURSING
DISTRICT NURSING 301
TO MAKE A FIRE 302
TO WASH DISHES 303
SWEEPING AND DUSTING 303
BILLS OF FARE FOR SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY, AND TUESDAY:
IN MAY 304-308
IN SEPTEMBER 308-310
IN JANUARY 310-313
LITERATURE
A LIST OF BOOKS ON THE CHEMISTRY OF FOODS, BACTERIOLOGY,
NUTRITION, HEALTH, PRACTICAL COOKING, AND ALLIED
SUBJECTS, USEFUL FOR REFERENCE 313
CHARTS OF THE COMPOSITION OF VARIOUS FOODS FOR USE IN A
COOKING-SCHOOL 314
APPARATUS FOR FURNISHING A COOKING-SCHOOL 315
INTRODUCTION
The work of the nurse is to care for her patient, to watch, to
tend, and to nurture him in such a way that he shall gain and
maintain sufficient strength to overcome disease, that he may
finally be restored to a state of health. Her greatest allies in
this work consist in the proper hygienic surroundings of good air,
warmth, cleanliness, and proper nourishment.
The most scrupulous cleanliness in the care and preparation of food
is an important point in her work, and practically to appreciate
this, some knowledge of bacteriology is necessary, for the various
fermentative and putrefactive changes (often unnoticed) which take
place in both cooked and uncooked foods are caused by the growth
of microscopic forms of life. Most of us realize the necessity for
removing all visible impurities, but that is not enough; we should
also combat those unseen agents which are everywhere at work,
in order that we may prevent their action upon food material or
destroy the products of their growth. Often these products are of a
poisonous nature, and cause grave physical disturbances when they
occur in our foods. When such knowledge is more general, we shall
have arrived at a state of progress in the care and preparation of
foods not yet universally reached.
The indications at present are that nothing of importance will
be done to change for the better the existing methods of
housekeeping, until housekeepers are educated in the science of
household affairs. They should comprehend (1) that the atmosphere
is an actual thing; that it has characteristics and properties
like other actual things; that it is a necessity of life, and
may be made a medium for the transmission of disease; and that
it is as necessary that it should be kept clean as the floor,
the table, or the furniture; (2) that food is a subject which
may be studied and mastered like any other subject; that the
changes it undergoes in its care and preparation are governed by
fixed laws; (3) they should have a knowledge of heat in order to
appreciate the effects of temperature on different food materials,
to regulate the ventilation of their houses, and to control fires
wisely and economically; and (4) they should have some knowledge
of bacteriology, that milk and water, flesh, fruit, and vegetables
may be kept, or rendered, absolutely free from disease-giving
properties, and that perfect cleanliness may be exercised in
preparing all materials that enter the body as nutrients.
It is not the intention to imply that all micro-organisms produce
injurious effects wherever they are found; on the contrary, they
are as essential to man's existence as are the higher forms of
life; but often they seriously, even fatally, interfere with that
existence, and in order to discriminate and to combat the evil a
knowledge of their ways and modes of life is essential.
A Harvard professor is credited with saying that no man could be a
gentleman without a knowledge of chemistry; and forthwith all the
students took to chemistry, for all wanted to be gentlemen. Would
that somebody would authoritatively declare that no woman could be
a lady without a knowledge of the chemistry of the household--what
a glorious prospect would there be opened for the future health of
the nation!
We read in history that after a grand medieval repast the bones and
refuse of the feast were thrown under the table and left to decay.
The scourges which have swept over Europe in past centuries we
know, to-day, were not visitations of Providence, but were simply
the result of natural causes, due to ignorance of all hygienic laws
on the part of the people. Compared with the barbarians of old,
in these matters, we are a civilized people; compared with the
possibilities of the future, we are still little more than savages.
The ideal life is one in which there shall be no sickness except
from accident or natural causes. When we have mastered the laws
of hygiene, then will such life be possible. Meanwhile, with
sickness always in our midst, we should keep the ideal ever before
us, and endeavor by all means to restore suffering human beings
to a perfect state of health. A sound body is a material thing,
prosaically nourished by material substances, which produce just
as exact results in its chemical physiology as if those substances
entered into combination in the laboratory of the chemist. The
cooking of food should be governed by exact laws which for the most
part as yet remain undemonstrated. It is a foregone conclusion that
many young women fail in their first attempts at cooking; that they
do so is not surprising, for not only are their friends unable
to teach them, but the majority of books on the subject furnish
no intelligible aid.[1] The science of cookery is still in the
empirical stage.
Even among experienced housekeepers there is not enough knowledge
of the nature of foods and their proper combinations; the result
is a great deal of unwholesome cookery and the consequent injury
and waste which must follow. Dislike for the work is usually due
to want of success, and failure is attributed to ill luck, poor
materials, the fire, or any cause but the true one--which is
ignorance of the subject. Of course good dishes cannot be made out
of poor materials, but too often poor dishes are made out of good
materials.
The systematic teaching of the subject of household affairs cannot
fail of good results. Especially is this true in the case of the
nurse, who will need at all times to exercise care and wisdom in
the choice of food for the sick, to avoid the use of injurious
substances, and to select that which is perfectly wholesome and
suited to the needs and condition of each individual.
It may be said that most women can prepare a fairly satisfactory
meal for those who are well, but very few are able to do the same
for the sick.
Count Rumford says: "I constantly found that the richness or
quality of a soup depended more upon the proper choice of
ingredients than upon the quantity of solid nutrient matter
employed; much more upon the art and skill of the cook than upon
sums laid out in the market." This is equally true of other dishes
than soup. The skill to develop the natural flavors of a food, to
render it perfectly and thoroughly digestible, to convert it into
a delicate viand, cannot be acquired in a haphazard way. Cooking
cannot be done by guesswork. There are right and wrong methods in
the kitchen as well as in the laboratory, and there is no doubt
that the awakening interest in the subject of domestic science
generally is neither an accident nor a whim, but the result of a
necessity for better ways of living. We live different lives from
those of our grandfathers before the days of the steam-engine,
electricity, the telegraph, and the telephone. Now much more energy
is needed to meet each day's demand than was required a hundred
years ago, and so, much more nutriment is needed to sustain that
energy. When the food does not supply the material to meet the
demand, the whole being suffers.
A course of study in cooking taken by the nurses of a hospital,
while they are still pupils, is valuable for their present and
future work. A nurse with the information that such a course should
give, will be able to care for the feeding of her patients more
wisely,[2] will see the necessity for variety, will learn to avoid
suspicious substances, such as fermented meat or fish, canned
foods, etc., and will put forth every effort to secure that which
is appetizing and wholesome, and suited to the needs of those in
her care. She will more easily exercise patience and forbearance
with the idiosyncrasies of the sick in regard to articles of diet,
knowing that these are usually the symptoms of disease. The proper
modes of caring for milk, eggs, oysters, and other perishable
foods, the practice of economy in the use of wines, cocoa, and
like costly substances, and an appreciation of the value of food
materials in general, are some of the points which she will have
learned.
She will not forget that cleanliness in the kitchen in the
preparation of all food, and in the washing of dishes, towels,
waste-pails, sinks, and all receptacles in which easily decomposing
substances are kept, means protection against many evils. The
little knowledge of bacteriology that it is possible to give in a
course in cooking, will enable her to understand that many animal
foods, such as oysters, fish, and lobsters, are extremely prone
to decay, and, although _apparently_ good, may have been the
camping-ground of millions of organisms which have produced such
changes in them as to render them suspicious articles of diet.
She will, therefore, always endeavor to have such food alive if
possible, or at least fresh, and to keep it in such conditions of
temperature as shall preserve it in a wholesome state.
The actual practical knowledge of how a certain number of
dishes should be made has, of course, its value; but it is not
the only consideration which should enter into the teaching of
cookery. Perhaps the most important point in all such work is the
recognition in certain cases of the _necessity_ for particular
dishes, and the reasons for, and the value of, their ingredients.
Why one kind of food is better for one person and a different kind
for another is, without doubt, an essential point in all such study.
A system depleted by disease, exhausted by long-continued illness,
is an exceedingly delicate instrument to handle. It requires
the greatest wisdom and good judgment on the part of physician
and nurse to restore a patient to health without a lingering
convalescence. There is no doubt that the period of convalescence
may be much shortened by the wise administration of food, and that
the subsequent health of the patient may be either made or marred
by the action of the nurse in this respect.