IT may not be out of place to give a few well-tried recipes for the
benefit of invalids.
_Beef-tea._—Procure beef which has been freshly killed. Take one pound
of beef free from the least particle of fat, gristle, sinew, or skin.
Mince it with a knife, not with a machine. Put the beef into one pint
of cold water, and stir for ten minutes. Bring it to the boil, and boil
it for half an hour, never ceasing to stir it. Strain, and add a dust
of salt only. Serve with strips of dry toast, and salt in a salt-cellar.
_Cold Beef-tea._—This can be digested by persons who cannot take the
usual beef-tea. Mince one pound of raw beef as finely as possible. Pour
upon it one quart of boiling water. Plunge the jar in a deep saucepan
ready filled with boiling water. Set it near the fire, but not so close
as to make it simmer. Draw the saucepan gradually away from the fire,
and let the beef-tea get nearly cold. Then strain it through muslin,
and after that filter it through clean white blotting-paper. Serve cold.
_Chicken Broth._—Roast a chicken for fifteen minutes, not longer. Cut
it into slices, and put it into a saucepan with three pints of cold
water. Season very lightly with pepper and salt. Bring it gradually to
the boil, and let it simmer very gently. An old fowl will take from
four to six hours, a young one will need three hours. Strain, and take
off every particle of fat. The previous roasting of the chicken is a
great improvement. If the broth is liked thick, simmer in it two ounces
of crushed tapioca or sago.
_Nourishing Broth._—Make the chicken broth as in the foregoing recipe,
but when the chicken is put into the saucepan to simmer, add to it two
pounds of fresh shin of beef, without fat, and cook the chicken and
beef together. Or, if the chicken cannot be had, use a knuckle of veal.
Put the beef and veal into five quarts of cold water. Add a little
salt, bring the broth to the boil, and simmer slowly. The beef and veal
must be simmered in five quarts of water till this is gradually reduced
to three pints of broth. Strain, and remove any fat.
_Chicken Food for an Invalid._—Take a good chicken and remove all the
white meat. Cut up the remainder into small pieces, and stew it in a
quart of water till it is reduced one-third. Let it cool. Then remove
every particle of fat or grease. Put in the white meat of the chicken,
and simmer gently for fifteen minutes. Then pound it to a paste in
a mortar. Return the pounded meat to the broth, and again simmer as
gently as possible for fifteen minutes more. Season with just a dust of
pepper and salt, and serve cold in a small mould.
_Mutton Cutlet for an Invalid._—Take three of the nicest cutlets from
the best part of a neck of mutton. Trim one cutlet very neatly, and
trim the other two so that when placed together the outer cutlets
will project beyond the middle one. Tie the three together, the cutlet
intended for the invalid being in the centre. Turn all three with
cutlet-tongs over and over till they are done. All the gravy will
be concentrated in the middle cutlet. Send this to the invalid on a
hot-water plate, and use the other cutlets in the dining-room.
_Savoury Custard for an Invalid._—Take two eggs, using both whites and
both yolks, and the yolks only of two more eggs. Beat them well with
one gill of clear beef-tea, but do not add any salt. Put the custard
into a well-buttered basin, cover the top with a buttered paper, set
the basin in a pan of boiling water, and let it steam slowly. It will
take about fifteen minutes. Let the custard get quite cold, then turn
it out and cut it into diamonds with a cutter. Serve salt and pepper
with the custard.
_The Invalid’s Yorkshire Pudding._—Mix the yolks of two eggs into two
good table-spoonfuls of flour. Beat the whites of the eggs lightly, and
stir all together. Bake for ten minutes in rather a quick oven.
_Restorative Jelly._—Take two ounces of isinglass [in these days
gelatine must be used], two ounces of white sugar candy, and half an
ounce of gum arabic, grated. Steep these ingredients in a pint of
port wine poured over them in an earthenware jar. Let it stand twelve
hours. Put the jar in a saucepan of cold water, and let the water
get gradually warm. Then simmer as slowly as possible, and continue
simmering till the isinglass or gelatine is quite melted. The jelly
will be thick. Do not strain it, but break up a table-spoonful at a
time for use.
_Rice Jelly._—Well wash half a pound of Carolina rice and boil it with
a strip of lemon-peel for one hour in two quarts of water. Pass it
through a sieve, and let it cool. When cold it will be a firm jelly.
Add one pint of milk to the rice jelly, and boil all together till the
rice resembles thickened milk. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon.
Strain it, sweeten it a little, and serve warm.
_Calves’-foot Jelly._—This is much better when the “set” of feet is
prepared at home and not sent in ready for use by the butcher. First
wash each foot separately and very thoroughly, then scald each in
boiling water, and scrape off all the hair. Remove any fat from the
clefts of the hoof. Put the feet into a stone jar, cover them with one
gallon of cold water, bring it to the boil, and then either let it
simmer for six hours or tie stout brown paper over the jar, and put it
into the oven for three hours. Then strain the jelly through a sieve
into an earthenware bowl. Let it get cold, then take off the fat at the
top. Break up the jelly, being careful not to touch the sediment at
the bottom of the bowl. The four feet ought to yield about two quarts
of jelly. Do not clear the jelly, but add a little lemon juice as
flavouring. Some invalids like a little of this jelly warmed as broth;
in this case omit the lemon-peel, and use as flavouring a tea-spoonful
of thyme leaves finely minced and sewn up in a bit of muslin, removing
the muslin before the jelly is strained.
_Clear Barley Water._—Wash one pound of pearl barley very thoroughly,
using fresh water two or three times. Put the barley into a quart jug
with one lump of sugar. Fill the jug with boiling water, and let it
stand to get cold. The barley will settle at the bottom, and the liquid
will be clear. Pare the rind of a lemon as thinly as possible, put it
into a breakfast-cup, pour boiling water upon it, and let it stand half
an hour. Strain the liquid, put it into a glass jug, pour the barley
water upon it, and set the jug on ice before serving.
_Toast and Water._—This refreshing and nutritious drink must be freshly
made, as it soon turns sour. Toast a thin slice of bread very slowly
and carefully till it becomes very hard and brown, but not scorched or
blackened. Put it into a jug, and pour upon it one quart of freshly
drawn cold water. Cover the jug, and let the toast soak for one hour.
Then take out the toast, and pour the water into the jug it is to be
served in. Toast and water does not generally need straining, but it
must be served quite cold.
_American Crust Coffee._—Cut some thin slices of stale bread, and bake
them in the oven till they are quite dark brown. Pound the slices in a
mortar. Boil one ounce of bread-crumbs in half a pint of water, using a
small saucepan. Take it off the fire, let it stand for a few minutes,
and then strain the liquid through a fine tin strainer into a tumbler
or breakfast-cup. Serve it hot. This is quite as nutritious as toast
and water.