Tokology

by Alice B. Stockham

DRINKS FOR THE SICK.

LEMONADE.

Juice of half a lemon, one tea-spoon white sugar, one goblet water. Grate into it a little peel if desired.

HOT LEMONADE.

Is made the same way, only using hot water. Is good for colds and biliousness.

ORANGE WHEY.

The juice of one orange to one pint sweet milk. Heat slowly until curds form, strain and cool. Good drink after confinement.

RENNET WHEY.

One quart milk, almost boiling; two table-spoons prepared rennet or a piece of rennet which has been soaked in water. Sugar to taste. Stir the rennet into the milk; let it stand until cool, then strain.

EGG LEMONADE.

White of one egg, one table-spoon pulverized sugar. Juice of one lemon, one goblet water. Beat together. Very grateful in inflammation of lungs, stomach or bowels.

GUM ARABIC WATER.

One tea-spoon gum arabic, one goblet cold water, stand until it dissolves. Flavor with juice of lemon, orange, or any other fruit.

JELLY WATER.

Sour jellies dissolved in water make a pleasant drink for fever patients.

OATMEAL TEA.

Two table-spoons raw oatmeal to one quart cold water, stand two hours in a cool place, then drain off as it is wanted. Nourishing in convalescence, and an unequalled drink for harvesters or moulders.

TOAST WATER.

Toast slowly a thin piece of bread till it is extremely brown and hard, but not black. Put it in a bowl of cold water, and cover tightly. Let it stand an hour before using.

SAGO MILK.

Three table-spoons sago, soaked in a cup of cold water one hour; add three cups boiling milk, sweeten, and flavor to taste. Simmer slowly half hour, eat warm. Tapioca milk is made in the same way.

FLAXSEED LEMONADE.

Two table-spoons of whole flaxseed to a pint of boiling water; let it stand until cool, then strain and add the juice of two lemons and two table-spoons honey. Invaluable for coughs and suppression of urine.

TAMARIND WATER.

One tumbler of tamarinds, one pint cold water. Turn water over tamarinds and let it stand an hour; strain before using. Currant jelly or cranberry jelly can be used similarly.—Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book.

BEEF TEA.

One pound lean beef cut into small pieces, put into a bottle without a drop of water, cover tightly and set in a pot of cold water; heat gradually to a boil, and continue boiling steadily for three or four hours, until the meat is like rags, and the juice all out. Salt to taste.

Beef tea does not afford as much nutrition as people have been taught. It is readily taken up by absorption, and is desirable where a mild stimulant is required. In fevers and inflammations bran or oatmeal gruel furnish much more desirable nutrition.

BEEF TEA A STIMULANT, AND NOT A FOOD.

Notwithstanding it has been repeatedly shown that beef tea is not a food, the laity, and to a considerable extent the profession, are slow to be convinced. That patients fed on beef tea slowly starve is a fact, which the analysis only too conclusively supports, and which is sustained by accurate clinical observation. In the Lancet for October, 1880, p. 562, Mr. G. F. Masterman publishes an analysis, which shows that beef tea has a chemical composition similar to urine. Beef tea, most carefully prepared, says Dr. Neale in the Practitioner (November, 1881), does not contain, including alkaline salts, more than from 1.5 to 2.25 per cent. solid matters, and such matter is mainly composed of urea, kreatin, kreatinin, isolin and decomposed hematin. As a stimulant, beef tea may be, and often is, highly serviceable, but as a means of support during the exhausting drain of a long illness, it does not compare in nutritive value to milk. Dr. Lauder Brunton raises the question whether beef tea, a product of muscular waste, may not under some circumstances be actually poisonous!—Medical News.

RICE GRUEL.

Two table-spoons rice, one quart cold water; steep slowly one hour; strain through a gravy strainer; add a little cream and salt.

GRUEL FROM RICE FLOUR.

Wet one table-spoon flour, stir into boiling water, cook five minutes.

CORN TEA.

Parch common corn until browned through, grind, and pour on boiling water. Drink with or without cream. Excellent for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

WHEAT, OAT OR BARLEY COFFEE.

Brown the grain thoroughly, and grind. Can be mixed if desirable. Take three table-spoonfuls. Mix with the white of an egg, pour over it one quart of boiling water. When it comes to a boil, set it on the back part of the stove and steep slowly fifteen minutes. A nourishing drink and a good substitute for tea and coffee. When made right is very palatable.

BRAN GRUEL.

Boil for half an hour one pint of bran of white wheat, in three pints of water. Strain through a gravy strainer and add a little salt. This is a good gruel for fevers and inflammations. Makes a good drink by thinning and adding lemon juice.

CORN MEAL GRUEL.

One table-spoon finely sifted corn meal wet in cold water. Have one quart boiling water in a gruel pan, dip a spoonful of this thin cold batter into the water, stir, let it boil up, and then add another spoonful, and so on until the gruel is of the right consistence. Let it boil briskly twenty minutes or more. Salt to taste.

GRAHAM GRUEL.

Make like cornmeal gruel. Can be strained or not, as desired.

OATMEAL GRUEL.

Stir two table-spoons of oatmeal in one quart boiling water. If the meal is coarse, boil one hour and strain through a gravy strainer. Wheatlet gruel prepared in same manner.

MILK PORRIDGE.

One and a half table-spoons flour, wet to a paste, stirred in a quart of boiling milk; add a pinch of salt; can substitute rice flour, oatmeal, arrowroot, corn starch, or the Lockport entire wheat flour.

BAKED MILK.

Put half a gallon of milk in a jar and tie over it writing paper. Let it stand in a moderate oven eight or ten hours. It will be like cream, and is good for consumptives and invalids generally.—Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book.

HOT MILK.

Take nine parts of milk and one part of water, and heat to 110° F. in a milk boiler. Sipping this slowly, the saliva combines with the milk, and this with the added water will prevent coagulation in the stomach; hence will be taken up at once by the absorbents. This is valuable food in morning sickness of pregnancy and for nursing women. It is also good in low fevers and nervous dyspepsia.

The Medical Record, speaking of hot milk as a beverage, says: “Milk heated to much above 100° F. loses for the time a degree of its sweetness and its density. No one who, fatigued by over-exertion of body or mind, has ever experienced the reviving influence of a tumbler of this beverage, heated as hot as it can be sipped, will willingly forego a resort to it because of its having been rendered somewhat less acceptable to the palate. The promptness with which its cordial influence is felt is indeed surprising. Some portion of it seems to be digested and appropriated almost immediately; and many who now fancy they need alcoholic stimulants when exhausted by fatigue, will find in this simple draught an equivalent that shall be abundantly satisfying, and far more enduring in its effects.”

BUTTERMILK.

Buttermilk, when sweet and fresh from the churn, is nutritious and wholesome. It contains about 88 per cent. of water, 4 of nitrogenous food, 3 of sugar, only a trifle of fat, and considerable mineral matter, by some estimated at over 5 per cent. There is also a small amount of lactic acid. As a heat producing food, it is poor. There are many forms of dyspepsia in which it “will set on the stomach” when hardly anything else will. Often in fevers this organ becomes rebellious from the effects of large amounts of medicine, and it is then a serious question how to nourish the patient. In such cases buttermilk is sometimes found to be the best food that can be given.

In diabetes it may be employed as a chief article of diet to great advantage. Corpulent people who will not adopt the bread and fruit regimen and take much exercise, may use buttermilk in preference to milk. It may be put in clean bottles and canned or sealed, as in preserving fruit, and kept for a long time. After a little, one becomes fond of the taste and relishes it. It ought not be allowed to stand till it is bitter before using.—Dr. Holbrook.

BUTTERMILK POP.

Put one quart of buttermilk in the milk boiler. When nearly boiling, add two table-spoons flour which has been rubbed with one tea-spoon of milk. Stir until boiling. Good in nausea and heartburn of pregnancy. Also for nervous dyspepsia. I knew one man that lived on buttermilk pop alone for six months, and cured himself of dyspepsia.

CHICKEN BROTH.

In one quart of water boil the dark meat of half a chicken with a table-spoon of rice or barley; skim off the fat; use as soon as the rice is well done. When taken up, add a few narrow strips of bread toasted—not too brown.

MACARONI SOUP.

Into a quart of boiling water put a handful of macaroni broken into inch pieces. Let it boil an hour, then add two cups of strained stewed tomato, and just before serving pour in half a cup of cream. A delicious soup.

FARINA SOUP.

Add to any kind of soup stock one half cup of farina, the same of cream, or an egg well beaten, and let it cook gently half an hour before serving.

TOMATO SOUP.

Put one pint of canned or fresh tomatoes and one quart of water, in a granite stew pan. When boiling, thicken with three table-spoons of graham flour mixed with cold water. Add one quart milk and stir until it boils, this prevents curdling. Season to taste. Can be made in ten minutes.

PUREE OF SPLIT PEAS.

One cup of split peas. Soak over night. Put on in cold water. Boil two hours slowly. Put through the colander. Heat in the kettle a cup of sweet cream, into which has been stirred two large spoonfuls graham flour, or that of entire wheat, and a pinch of salt. When it thickens, return the peas to the kettle and stir. Then set back.

LEMON JELLY.

Moisten two table-spoons corn starch, stir into one pint boiling water; add the juice of two lemons and one-third cup of sugar. Grate in a little of the rind. Put in moulds to cool.

LEMON GELATINE.

Soak one ounce of gelatine in a quart of water. When dissolved, pour it in a saucepan and let it come to a boil. Add the juice of three lemons, a little grated rind, and one cup of sugar. Strain through a thin cloth, put into moulds, and set on ice to cool.

SAGO JELLY.

Soak five table-spoons sago in half a pint cold water thirty minutes, then add one cup sugar and two table-spoons lemon juice. Pour over three cups boiling water; boil the whole in a farina boiler one hour; pour into moulds; when cold turn out and serve with fruit juice.

SAGO CURRANT JELLY.

Soak in cold water five table-spoons sago one hour; strain off the water, add half pint currant juice (strained); boil slowly fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally, then add half a cup sugar. Pour into moulds; serve the following day without sauce. Cranberries or other acid fruits can be used. Makes a very tempting dish for an invalid.

NUTRINA OR BRAN JELLY.

1st. Go to the mill yourself, and watch the miller while he gives you clean wheat bran.

2d. Have a kettle of boiling soft water on the stove. Sift with one hand, stirring briskly all the while with a paddle or wooden spoon, held in the other, until the mass is about the consistency of a thick gruel. Let this boil slowly two hours. Place a sieve over the top of a pan and pour this gruel in it to drain. When well drained place the pan on the stove and allow it to come to a boil. Mix with cold water a spoonful or so of sifted graham flour, enough to bring the boiling gruel to about the consistency of a smooth gravy, or thick gruel.

Dip into moulds—coffee cups are nice for this—and allow to become cold, when, if right, it will be a trembling, delicate jelly. Perhaps it will be necessary to experiment a little, as the first trial may not be entirely successful, but depend upon it, the outcome is well worth painstaking.

Nutrina accompanied with various sauces makes a welcome dessert. People who use milk or cream would like nutrina with a cream sauce. Nutrina can not be too highly recommended, for it suits so wide a range of conditions.—Dr. M. Augusta Fairchild.

Nutrina contains the phosphates of the grain, hence it is a valuable nerve nutritive. Is especially excellent for nursing mothers and children when first weaned.

CEREALS.

Every table should be abundantly supplied with well-cooked cereals. Cook in a farina or milk boiler. No housekeeper should be without this important utensil. Do not soak cereals in cold water over night. All of them, even rice, are far better to be put to cook in boiling water. This bursts the starch cells at once, and prevents the raw taste and stringy, dark look these preparations frequently have. Should not be stirred while cooking, as it breaks the grains and makes them pasty.

CRACKED OR ROLLED WHEAT.

In two quarts boiling water stir one pint cracked wheat. Half tea-spoon salt. Use a farina boiler or double kettle, and cook three hours without stirring. When done, mould in dishes. Eat hot or cold with fruit sauce or cream and sugar. Excellent in constipation or biliousness. The rolled wheat is preferable. Not being able to procure it ready prepared, one can crack wheat in an ordinary coffee mill.

OATMEAL MUSH.

Coarse oatmeal should be cooked like rolled wheat. If desired warm for breakfast, can be left in a granite or porcelain farina boiler over night, and heated in a few minutes. Do not soak oatmeal over night, nor try to cook it sufficiently in the morning. It must never be stirred while cooking. Fine oatmeal can be made in a mush, like Indian meal, and be ready for the table in twenty minutes.

INDIAN MEAL MUSH.

Take fine meal of northern corn, a little salt; stir slowly in boiling water until as thick as can be stirred easily. Stand it on back of the stove and cook slowly one hour. Is better cooked in a milk boiler.

GRAHAM MUSH.

Stir graham flour in boiling water slowly, until it makes a thick batter. Set on the back part of the stove ten minutes, then beat two minutes and turn into the dish. To be eaten with fruit juice or cream and sugar.

FARINA MUSH.

Stir a half cup of farina slowly into a quart of boiling water; cook fifteen minutes in a milk boiler without stirring; add one-half cup of cream just before removing from the fire. Served with stewed fruit or fruit sauce.

HOMINY.

Mix one cup of hominy with three and a half cups boiling water, a little salt. Cook in farina boiler four hours. Delicious eaten with milk with or without sugar.—Hygienic Cookery.

WHEATLET MUSH.

Use water, or equal parts of milk and water. Salt to taste. Have boiling, foaming, scalding hot, then sprinkle into it from the hand sufficient wheatlet to make a thin pudding.

Keep it boiling hard for five minutes. Then set it back to cook slowly ten minutes longer.

WHEATLET BLANC MANGE.

Pour wheatlet mush into forms and serve cold.

WHEATLET PUDDING.

Break up cooked wheatlet with a fork, add milk enough to make a thin pudding; two eggs, currants and raisins to suit. Brown in a moderate oven.

WHEATLET AND APPLE PUDDING.

Make as cracked wheat pudding, ([page 311]).

GRANULA.

Take equal parts of graham flour, fine oatmeal and cornmeal, mix to a batter thick enough to cling to the spoon. Bake in thin cakes in a quick oven. When baked, break into pieces and dry out thoroughly in a slow oven until crisp. Then roll with the rolling pin into fine crumbs. Delicious eaten in milk. Many families prepare it from their cold gems, bread and corn bread, thus finding an economical use for “dry bread.”

RICE AND APPLE PUDDING.

One quart boiled rice, three pints tart chopped apples, half cup sugar, put in layers in earthen baking dish, add half cup water, and bake two hours slowly. Raisins, plums or prunelles can be used to flavor if desired. Serve warm or cold, with cream.

RICE AND RAISINS.

Three cups boiling water, one cup sweet milk, one cup rice, half cup raisins. Mix well together. Cook in steamer or farina boiler. Mould and eat warm or cold, with cream or fruit sauce.

RICE SNOW.

One quart sweet milk, five tablespoonfuls rice flour or corn starch, one-half cup sugar, whites of four eggs. Boil the milk, stir in the rice flour moistened, and add the sugar. When cold whip a little at a time into the eggs, after they are well beaten. Mould and serve with cream or fruit sauce.

RICE SNOW BALLS.

Two quarts boiling water, one pint boiling milk, two cups rice; cook two hours in farina boiler without stirring. Mould in small cups, and serve with boiled custard or fruit sauce.

RICE GRIDDLE CAKES.

Two cups boiled rice, one cup sweet milk, two eggs, one cup sifted flour. Bake slowly.

RICE OMELET.

Two cups boiled rice, one cup sweet milk, two eggs. Stir together with egg beater, and put into a hot buttered skillet. Cook slowly ten minutes, stirring frequently.

RICE AND BERRY PUDDING.

Two cups sweet milk, two cups cold rice, samp or barley; two cups blueberries, currants, strawberries, seeded cherries or chopped apples; one-third cup sugar, two eggs—yolks and whites separate. Time, one hour; slow oven. Soften the cold rice (or other grain) with the milk, working out all the lumps; then stir in the yolks and sugar beaten together, and also the well whipped whites. Add the fruit, mixing it in lightly; pour the batter into a dish, set in a dripping pan of boiling water, and bake slowly one hour. Serve cold or lukewarm, with or without a dressing of cream.—Health in the Household.

BROWNED RICE.

Parch or brown rice slowly; steep in milk for two hours. The rice or the milk only is excellent in summer complaint.

RICE CREAM.

Thicken a pint of scalding milk with rice flour to the consistency of cream; sweeten and flavor to taste. Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth, put a half ounce of gelatine to half pint of cold water; when well soaked, place over the fire until the gelatine is dissolved; when cool, beat to a froth with an egg-beater; mix with the egg and milk.

BOILED RICE.

Put two cups of rice to three pints of boiling water, half teaspoon salt. Cook in a farina boiler four hours.

RICE.—JAPANESE METHOD.

Only enough water is poured on the rice to prevent burning. Cover tightly and set over a moderate fire until nearly done. Remove cover to allow moisture to escape. The rice turns out a mass of snow-white separate kernels, each burst open like a mealy potato.—Hygienic Cookery.

It is far less trouble to cover the dish tightly and cook it in a steamer.

BREAD.

Bread is the representative of human food, because wheat, of which it is made, embraces all the elements of nutrition necessary to build up and sustain every part of the system, keeping it in good working condition and preserving it unimpaired to ripe old age. It is the only single article of food upon which man can live after he is weaned, without danger of impoverishing his system.

Bread to serve the best purposes of nutrition should contain all the elements of the grain. White bread that holds a popular place as an article of diet, is greatly deficient in the nitrates or muscle-feeding elements. The gluten of the grain, in which these are found, is removed in the bran. Besides, fermentation of flour is at the expense of the gluten. Consequently to obtain bread that contains all the elements of nutrition in the right proportion, it must be made from the popular graham or Lockport entire wheat flour, and not raised with yeast or chemicals. If raised with yeast, the less number of times it is mixed the better. The most popular unleavened breads are gems, muffins and rolls.

GRAHAM GEMS.

Take three cups of entire wheat flour or graham made from white wheat, two cups of cold water, half cup of milk. A little more wetting may be needed for graham. Omit salt. Heat gem pans very hot on the top of the stove, fill them even full with the batter, place on the grate of a very hot oven. Let them remain ten minutes, then bake thirty minutes on the bottom of the oven. The “acorn” gem pans are essential. These are small, round, deep iron pans. Notice, three things are necessary for good gems: The best white wheat flour, very hot pans and oven, and the “acorn” gem pans. No beating is required. These conditions observed, the gems will be as light as sponge cake. They can be eaten warm or cold, but are best heated over in a quick oven. They make excellent toast and pudding. I was many years in learning to make good gems without yeast or soda. This receipt never fails, even with a “green” cook.

GRAHAM MUFFINS.

Take one pint of new milk, one pint graham or entire wheat flour. Stir together and add one beaten egg. Can be baked in any kind of gem pans or muffin rings. Salt must not be used with any bread that is made light with egg.

UNLEAVENED BREAD.

Mix entire wheat flour with ice cold water, to a stiff dough; knead for four or five minutes; cut in small pieces and roll into cakes size of clothes-pins. Bake on wire pan or toaster in hot oven, leaving room to rise. Very light and sweet. An addition of raisins and hickory nut meats is much enjoyed.—Mrs. Purdy.

OATMEAL AND GRAHAM GEMS.

Mix equal parts of graham and fine Irish oatmeal into a thick batter, with equal parts of milk and water, fill hot gem pans, and bake with a brisk heat. Very sweet and tender.—Dr. Holbrook.

WHITE FLOUR GEMS.

Stir briskly into new milk, or milk and water, sufficient flour to make a batter not too stiff to drop from a spoon—much depends on the consistency; experiment only will decide. Add the whites of two eggs whipped to a stiff froth and beat all together thoroughly. A little cream put in at the last makes the gems more tender. Bake in hot gem pans in a quick oven.

BROWN GEMS.

Mix with water equal quantities of rye and Indian meal, beat it to a cream, perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, bake in thin cakes in flat gem pans.

BEST GRAHAM BISCUITS.

Make as thick a graham mush by stirring the flour into boiling water, as is possible, then take it from the stove to the moulding board, knead into it more graham flour, roll about an inch thick, cut into biscuits, and bake in a hot oven.

LIGHT GRAHAM BISCUITS.

Make the dough of graham yeast bread a trifle stiffer, roll and cut into biscuits. When light, bake thirty minutes.

DELICIOUS CORN BREAD.

One quart corn meal, partly scalded with one pint boiling water. Add to this one pint sweet milk, stir to a smooth batter, dip a large cooking spoonful at a time on your hot griddle in separate cakes, let it stand to get the lower crust well started, then place the griddle in the hot oven, on the top grate, and allow the baking to be finished there. The cake should be a nice brown. About half an hour’s time will be required for baking.—Dr. M. A. Fairchild.

OATMEAL CAKE.

Take one pint of fine oatmeal, and warm water enough to stir up a batter, like griddle cakes. Pour it into a shallow baking pan or griddle, and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. Or bake in small cakes on the griddle, first putting in a handful of wheat flour and a little more water.

BOSTON BROWN BREAD.

Three cups graham flour, one cup Indian meal, one cup molasses, two cups sweet milk, one cup sour milk, one teaspoon soda. Steam three hours and bake two hours.

GRAHAM BREAD.

Soak half a cake of compressed yeast, stir it into one quart warm water and two quarts graham flour. Put into a deep sheet iron bread pan which has been well greased. When light bake one hour or more. If compressed yeast cannot be obtained, use home-made or baker’s yeast. The dough should be as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon. Make bread from fine flour of the entire wheat the same way, only a trifle stiffer.

YEAST BREAD FROM WHITE FLOUR.

Make a sponge by boiling one pound of potatoes in two quarts of water; stir up a pint of sifted flour as for starch, and pour the boiling water over it, adding the potatoes when well mashed; when cool, add a cup of yeast, or two ounces dried yeast soaked, and a table-spoon of salt. Make this the day previous to baking; it will save labor to do it at the same time you boil potatoes for dinner.

To make the bread, take three quarts sifted flour warmed, and wet with the sponge, adding no more liquid or salt; knead at least half an hour, keeping the dough soft and warm; put it in the baking pans, which are well greased, and when it is light it is ready for the oven. Bake forty minutes. The dough must be soft and thoroughly kneaded.

This method preserves the gluten.

OATMEAL SNAPS.

Mix one cup sweet cream and three table-spoonfuls sugar; add fine oatmeal till stiff; knead slightly; roll to the thickness of an eighth of an inch; cut in shapes; bake crisp in moderate oven.—Hygienic Cookery.

GRAHAM FRUIT CRACKERS.

Two-thirds cup sweet cream; one cup dried currants picked and washed, one-fourth tea-spoonful soda, one-half tea-spoonful cream tartar. Use equal parts graham and white flour to make a very stiff dough. Roll out less than an eighth of an inch in thickness. Cover thickly with the fruit. Lay on another sheet of the dough, pass the rolling pin over it. Cut in shapes; prick deeply; bake in a moderate oven thoroughly.—Hygienic Cookery.

GRAHAM WAFERS.

Take graham flour. Mix with pure cold water. No salt. Knead thoroughly fifteen minutes; roll very thin, about half as thick as soda crackers; cut in two inch squares and bake quickly. These will keep for months in a dry place. It makes them crisp to place them in the oven a few minutes before bringing them to the table. Better if made by a baker, using the cracker machine. These are the best dyspeptic bread made, and are soon relished by all who eat them.

GRAHAM CRACKERS.

Take one part cream to four parts milk, mix with flour, as soft as can be handled; knead twenty minutes; roll very thin; cut square or round, and bake quickly twenty minutes. Handle carefully while hot; pack away when cool in a stone jar.

RICE MUFFINS.

One cup of boiled rice, two eggs, two cups of sweet milk, two cups of flour. Beat well. Bake in gem pans or muffin rings.

BUCKWHEAT CAKES.

One quart of warm water, one quart of buckwheat flour, a cup of bread sponge, one tea-spoon salt. Make over night, or will rise in three or four hours in the daytime. Some batter being left will raise cakes the following day.

Buckwheat contains a large proportion of gluten, and is very desirable for batter cakes. It has been brought into disrepute for two reasons: First, sufficient pains has not been taken to cleanse out the smut of the grain, which is poisonous, producing eruptions, etc. Second, too much butter and syrup are consumed with the cakes, supplying to the system a superabundance of carbon. Substitute honey or fruit sauce to make the cakes relish.

WHEATLET CAKES.

Make like buckwheat cakes. These are delicious, and are destined to become very popular.

GRIDDLE CAKES FROM “SHORTS.”

Shorts, or middlings, are obtained in grinding wheat, between the fine flour and bran. These are rich in gluten, and, prepared in the same way, make cakes equal to buckwheat. Not being able to procure “shorts,” use graham, wheatlet, or entire wheat flour.

RICE GRIDDLE CAKES.

One cup boiled rice, one egg, one cup sweet milk, one cup water, two cups of white flour, entire wheat flour or “shorts.”

CORN GRIDDLE CAKES.

Pour boiling water on a pint of corn meal to make a stiff batter; let it stand over night. In the morning add one cup of graham flour and one cup of sweet milk. If not light, add a tea-spoon of baking powder; except in cold weather, the corn will ferment sufficiently to make it light. Can be baked in gem pans if preferred.

BREAKFAST PATTIES.

Make a thick gruel of equal parts of graham and corn meal. Let it stand over night. Add sifted graham flour, or flour of the entire wheat, until the batter is thicker than for batter cakes. Bake as griddle cakes, giving them plenty of time. If just right, most delicious breakfast cakes.

MILK TOAST.

Heat six slices of graham or entire wheat bread in the oven; toast an even brown over coals. Boil one pint of milk and half a cup of cream. Thicken with one tea-spoon corn-starch; half a tea-spoon salt. Pour over the toast and serve hot.

GEM TOAST.

Split graham gems, toast the same as the bread, and cover with the same dressing. This is the best toast made. Is not harmed by standing.

OYSTER TOAST.

Pour stewed oysters over graham gems or bread toasted. An excellent breakfast dish.

CODFISH TOAST.

Toast graham bread or gems; lay upon a platter and cover with codfish prepared in milk.

TOMATO TOAST.

Stew one quart tomatoes; season with one tablespoon sugar and half a teaspoon salt; pour over graham bread or gems toasted.

EGGS ON TOAST.

Soften brown bread toast with hot water, put on a platter and cover with poached or scrambled eggs.

ASPARAGUS ON TOAST.

Cut the green of one pound of asparagus in one pint hot water. Stew thirty minutes; add half a cup of cream, a little salt, turn over graham toast.

RHUBARB TOAST.

Take one pint water, half a cup of sugar; when boiling, put in two pounds rhubarb cut in small pieces. Stew until done; when cold, pour over a platter of hot toasted graham bread, having a little butter upon it. This is an excellent breakfast dish, and as the toast absorbs the peculiar rhubarb flavor, can be eaten by those who usually dislike it.

Gooseberries, tart apples, peaches and other acid fruits can be prepared in the same way.

Note.—Never use white bread for toast when bread of the unbolted or entire wheat flour can be had. The latter never becomes doughy, and is much better flavored, besides being more nutritious.

EGGS AS FOOD.

Eggs, at average prices, are among the cheapest and most nutritious articles of diet. Like milk, an egg is a complete food in itself, as is manifested from the fact that from it a chick draws all the nourishment needed in its development. This is one of the mysteries of nature that the yolk and white of an egg can contain elements capable of producing so many and such varied parts as constitute a living fowl. An egg is easily digested if not damaged in cooking. Indeed, there is no more concentrated and nourishing food than eggs. The albumen, oil and saline matter are, as in milk, in the right proportion for sustaining animal life. Two or three boiled eggs, with the addition of a slice or two of toast, will make a breakfast sufficient for a man and good enough for a king.

BOILED EGGS.

An egg should never be boiled. Immersed in boiling water for a few moments the white part coagulates and becomes hard, and more or less indigestible. If cooked at a temperature of 165° for fifteen or twenty minutes the white part coagulates into a tender, delicate, jelly-like substance, which is not only very digestible but delicious, while at the same time the yolk becomes sufficiently hard. If placed in boiling water and set back for ten minutes it will cook to perfection. A little experience will enable any one to do it successfully.

POACHED EGGS.

In a skillet of salted boiling water, place muffin rings. Drop the egg in them and let them stand ten minutes without boiling. Remove the rings, and the eggs will be nicely moulded and evenly cooked.

EGGS POACHED IN MILK.

Take one cup of milk, half a cup of water, when boiling break in six eggs. Cook slowly and serve on toast. A lady told me she cured herself of nervous headaches by eating an egg every morning cooked in this way. The milk prevents the poisonous effect of the sulphur in the egg, and the nerves get decided nutriment.

SCRAMBLED EGGS.

Beat six eggs and one cup of milk together. Cook in a buttered skillet, stirring occasionally. Take up before it is quite thickened.

STEAMED EGGS.

Break into egg cups and steam ten minutes.

BAKED EGGS.

Put unbroken eggs in one dripping pan and cover with another the same size; bake in a quick oven twenty minutes.

EGG OMELET.

Beat the whites of six eggs separately. Beat the yolks with three table-spoons of milk and one table-spoon of flour; stir the whites in lightly. Cook in a hot buttered skillet. When the edge is cooked, turn over carefully. In two minutes more, double together on a hot platter. Use no salt.

ESCALLOPED EGGS.

Cut light bread in pieces about three inches square and one and a half inches thick; dip in milk, then scoop out about two-thirds of the center. Fill with egg prepared as for omelet, and bake in a quick oven.

RAW OYSTERS.

It is an old theory that a raw oyster digests itself. This is owing to the diastase or glycogen in the liver. A fat oyster is half liver. Cooking destroys this diastase. So also much vinegar and condiments make it slow to assimilate. Alcohol also destroys the diastase. Valuable in nervous dyspepsia, and consequently useful in the early months of pregnancy.

STEWED OYSTERS.

Take one pint of milk, one cup of water, a tea-spoon of salt; when boiling, put in one pint of bulk oysters. Stir occasionally and remove from the stove before it boils. An oyster should not be shriveled in cooking.

BROILED OYSTERS.

Put large oysters on a wire toaster. Hold over hot coals until heated through. Serve on toast moistened with cream. Very grateful in convalescence.

GRAHAM GEM PUDDING.

Take six cold gems, baked the day before, break into small pieces and pour over them a pint of hot water and half cup of sugar; stir in six large tart apples, cut in thin slices. Bake two hours. Other fruits are sometimes used.

CRACKED WHEAT PUDDING.

In a deep two-quart pudding dish put layers of cold, cooked cracked wheat, and tart apples sliced thin, with four table-spoons sugar. Raisins can be added if preferred. Fill the dish, having the wheat last, add cup of cold water. Bake two hours.

FARINA BLANC-MANGE.

Stir into a quart of boiling milk farina enough to make a thin pudding, then set away to cool. Before the farina is quite cold, stir in the yolk of one egg and a little sugar, then add the whites of two eggs whipped to a stiff froth and beat thoroughly. It is more creamy if not made too thick with farina. Serve cold with fruit or jelly.

RICE PUDDING.

One quart new milk, two table-spoons rice, two table-spoons sugar, pinch of salt, one tea-spoon lemon extract, or if preferable, half cup of raisins. Bake three hours in a moderate oven.

For summer it is delicious cold. Better made in a large quantity.

APPLE TAPIOCA PUDDING.

Soak a tea-cup of tapioca in a quart of warm water three hours. Cut in thin slices six tart apples, stir them lightly with the tapioca, add half cup sugar. Bake three hours. To be eaten with whipped cream. Good either warm or cold.

INDIAN FRUIT PUDDING.

One pint cornmeal mush made with water. Add one pint stewed dried apples, peaches or prunes, one half pint water, one cup sugar. Stir ingredients well together. Bake five hours.

ORANGE PUDDING.

Pare and slice five large oranges, removing seeds. Lay in a deep dish and sprinkle with half cup sugar; let them stand two hours. Make a custard of one pint milk, yolks of three eggs, two table-spoons corn-starch. When cool, pour over oranges. Beat the whites with two table-spoons of powdered sugar and place on the top; brown quickly in the oven.

CORN MUSH PUDDING.

One quart milk, one pint corn mush ([page 296]), two-thirds cup molasses, one tea-spoon cinnamon. Bake four hours.

BAKED INDIAN PUDDING.

Boil one quart of milk, stir in seven table-spoons meal. Take from the stove, add one quart cold milk, one cup molasses, one tea-spoon ground mace. Bake in an earthen pudding dish five hours. Double the recipe makes a better pudding, and it is good cold.

MOTHER’S APPLE PUDDING.

One pint rolled bread crumbs; two pints of tart apples, chopped; one cup seedless raisins, half a cup sugar. Place in layers in an earthen pudding dish; add one cup water; bake slowly two hours. Requires no sauce. Peaches, cherries, plums, etc., can be used in place of apples, and also stewed dried fruits.

HUCKLEBERRY BREAD PUDDING.

Heat one quart milk and pour it over one pint dry graham bread crumbs; cool; add two beaten yolks, three table-spoons sugar, two well-whipped whites. Stir in one pint huckleberries, dredged with flour, bake in a pudding dish, set in a pan of boiling water forty or fifty minutes.—Hygienic Cookery.

PLUM PUDDING.

One cup seedless raisins, one cup currants, one quart chopped apples, one cup sugar, one cup graham flour mixed in a pint of water. Mix all together, and bake five or six hours.

STRAWBERRY DESSERT.

Place alternate layers of hot cooked cracked wheat and strawberries in a deep dish; when cold, turn out on platter; cut in slices and serve with cream and sugar, or strawberry juice. Wet the moulds with cold water before using. This, moulded in small cups, makes a dainty dish for the sick. Wheatlet can be used in the same way.

PIES.

A very palatable pie crust can be made of sweet cream and graham or entire wheat flour. Should be worked soft, made thin, and baked in a hot oven. Eaten the day it is baked. In a dietetic point of view there is little objection to this crust. Any acid fruit can be used for the filling. A crust of fine flour and lard does not make suitable nutriment for sick or well.

PIE FOR DYSPEPTICS.

Four table-spoons of oatmeal, one pint of water; let stand for a few hours, or till the meal is swelled. Then add two large apples, pared and sliced, a little salt, one cup of sugar, one table-spoon flour. Mix all well together and bake in a buttered dish; makes a most delicious pie, which can be eaten with safety by the sick or well.—Dr. Holbrook.

STRAWBERRY PIE.

Place the under crust upon a deep plate, and the upper one—cut just the right size—on a flat tin or sheet iron; prick to prevent blistering, and bake. Fill the deep crust while hot with strawberries, and cover with the flat crust. If the fruit is rather hard, replace in the oven till heated; if quite ripe, the crust will steam sufficiently.

Raspberry and blackberry pie can be made in the same way. The flavor of these delicious berries, when quite ripe, is greatly impaired by cooking; they are also changed to a mass of little else than seeds and juice.—Mrs. Cox’s Hygiene Cook Book.

APPLE PIE CAKE.

Of flour of the entire wheat and cold water, make a batter soft enough to level itself. If shortening is desired, use sweet cream. Fill a deep pie-platter a third full of the batter, sprinkle over a little sugar. Wash, quarter and core tart apples and place as many in the batter (skin side up) as it will hold. Press down and level with a spoon. Over the top sprinkle sugar and bake till brown.—Dr. Holbrook.

CAKE.

Cake is hardly considered a dietetic food. A few recipes, however, are given that experience has proved good, and may be eaten by convalescents or invalids at the seaside or in the mountains.

STRAWBERRY SHORT-CAKE.

Bake a short-cake in three thin layers. Then put strawberries between, having them mashed and sweetened, and on the top layer and all about the side of a dish, put your finest large berries. This needs no sauce.

We also make a simple pudding, which is well cooked cracked wheat, with the whole berries stirred in when done, and put in moulds. To be eaten cold. Rice and corn mushes may be treated in the same way.

But best of all, is strawberries and plain unleavened bread. This exceeds in wholesomeness, and really in gustatory delight, all the ways that man has invented to punish strawberries.—Dr. Fairchild.

The short-cake should be made of cream and graham or entire wheat flour.

GRAHAM CAKE.

One cup sugar, two eggs, half a cup sweet cream, one cup of flour, one tea-spoon of baking powder. Bake in a deep tin. Adding currants and chopped raisins and baking in small cake tins makes a nice children’s cake.

EUREKA SPONGE CAKE.

Four eggs beaten with one and a half cups of sugar, two cups of sifted flour, baking powder and lemon extract, each one tea-spoon. Beat thoroughly together, and add three-fourths cup of boiling water. Is very thin, but makes a delicious and wholesome cake. It is good made from white or graham flour. Makes a nice layer cake by baking it in jelly tins.

CORALINE CAKE.

Half a cup of sweet milk, half a cup of rich cream, one cup of sugar, one egg, two cups graham or entire wheat flour, one tea-spoon baking powder. Bake in two pie tins. When done split open with a sharp knife, and fill in with raspberry or strawberry juice that has been thickened with corn starch or gelatine. By using boiled custard for filling, it will make what cooks call a French pie.

GRAHAM FRUIT ROLL.

To two and a half cups sifted graham flour add three cups sifted white flour. Mix with two cups sweet cream, one teaspoon soda and two of cream tartar. Roll the dough into two oblong sheets about a quarter of an inch thick. Put layers of fruit between and on them, using one cup each of chopped raisins and dried currants. Roll closely, pinching the ends firmly together to secure the fruit. Bake in a moderate oven one hour.—Hygienic Cookery.

HUCKLEBERRY CAKE.

Beat together one-half cup butter and two of sugar. Then add one cup of sweet milk, three of flour and four eggs. One tea-spoon of soda dissolved in a little hot water. Add last one quart ripe berries.

FRUIT SAUCE.

Boil the juice of any acid fruit, adding an equal part of water. To one pint put one table-spoon of sugar and one tea-spoon corn starch. This makes a clear juice about the consistence of syrup, and is very desirable to eat with wheat, mush, gems, griddle cakes and plain puddings. Jellies and jams can be made into fruit sauce by adding four parts of water, and thickening. Will not require sugar. These are valuable sauces for invalids and children. Once learning how delicious they are, persons in health will demand them. In many of the small fruits the seeds are very objectionable. This method of using the fruits obviates that.

PEACHES A LA STRAWBERRY.

Ripe peaches cut in small pieces, with soft, mild eating apples in the proportion of three peaches to one apple, mixed with sugar, and left to stand two or three hours, makes excellent mock strawberries. Kansas Home Cook Book.

BAKED APPLES.

Pare tart apples; core with a corer or small knife. Place them in pans and fill cavities with sugar. Bake in a slow oven until tender. If sweet apples are used, it is better not to pare; sugar not needed.

APPLE SNOW.

Take apples, not very sweet ones, and bake till soft and brown. Then remove the skins and cores; when cool, beat them smooth and fine; add half cup of granulated sugar and the white of one egg. Beat till the mixture will hold on your spoon. Serve with soft custard.—V. Mills.

BAKED PEARS.

Take a stone jar, and fill it with alternate layers of pears (without paring) and a little sugar, until the jar is full, then pour in as much water as the jar will hold. Bake in a moderate oven three hours.—Kansas Home Cook Book.

BAKED PIE-PLANT.

Cut two pounds of pie-plant into a pudding dish, sprinkle over it half a cup of sugar and half a cup of rolled bread crumbs or granula. Add water until the pie-plant is two-thirds covered. Bake in a quick oven, thirty or forty minutes. This method of preparing pie-plant removes the medicinal taste, and makes an acceptable spring dish.

FRUIT BLANC-MANGE.

One quart of juice of strawberries, cherries, grapes or other juicy fruit; one cup water. When boiling, add two table-spoonfuls sugar, and four table-spoonfuls corn-starch wet in cold water; let boil five or six minutes, then mould in small cups. Serve without sauce, or with cream or boiled custard. Lemon juice can be used the same, only requiring more water. This is a very valuable dish for convalescents and pregnant women, where the stomach rejects solid food.

FRUIT ICE.

Apples, pears, quinces, or any fruit grated fine, sweetened to taste, and frozen is delicious. May be taken where there is fever or inflammation.

GRAVY FOR CHILDREN.

Stir a heaping table-spoon of whole wheat flour smoothly in half cup cold milk. When a pint of milk boils, stir the above in slowly; add a half tea-spoon salt. To prevent burning, melt a little butter in the spider before pouring in the milk. It is more nutritious and wholesome than meat gravy.

MACARONI, STEWED.

Cover half pound of macaroni with plenty of boiling water and stew slowly two hours, without stirring. Before taking up, season with salt and cream.

MACARONI, BAKED.

Break in small pieces half a pound of macaroni; mix with a half cup shavings of cheese and a half tea-spoon salt. Put into a baking dish, cover with boiling milk or water, and bake two hours in a moderate oven. If cheese is not relished, use bread-crumbs and cream instead.

CRACKER OMELET.

Break one quart of oyster crackers in small pieces; pour over them one pint of hot milk, with half tea-spoon salt. Stir in three eggs well beaten and put into a hot buttered skillet. Cook slowly ten minutes, stirring frequently.

TOMATOES WITH CORN.

Cook the tomatoes half an hour; then add one-third as much green corn, cut from the ear. Stew slowly for half an hour, stirring occasionally.—Hygienic Cookery.

SCALLOPED TOMATOES.

Place in a pudding dish alternate layers of tomatoes and bread crumbs, or thin slices of toast, letting the topmost layer be tomatoes. Add a little salt. Bake slowly, covered an hour or more; uncover and brown ten minutes.

A FAMILIAR LETTER
TO THE READER FROM THE AUTHOR.

In presenting a revised edition of Tokology, the author takes the liberty of responding to inquiries upon different subjects of vital importance.

“Can a law be given for regulating the sex of offspring?” This is a subject which has elicited much study and discussion among physiologists. Various theories have received the support of investigators.

Dr. Sixt, a German physician, asserts that the right testicle and the right ovary secrete the male principle, and the left the female, and that in coition the sperm is injected from one testicle only. He claims that experiments upon animals prove his theory; that whenever the left testicle is removed, the animal begets males only, and when the right one is wanting, females.

Mrs. Duffey, in mentioning this theory, very shrewdly adds: “He does not, however, tell us what would be the result if the germ and the sperm should proceed, the one from the right ovary and the other from the left testicle.”

The fact also remains that a man who has been deprived of one testicle has become the father of children of both sexes. Also, that a woman having lost one ovary has conceived and brought forth both sons and daughters.

Prof. Thury, of Geneva, gives the following theory: That if impregnation takes place immediately or very soon after menstruation, the child will be a female; but if not till some days later, the child will be a male.

This theory is pretty generally depended upon by stock breeders, who claim that early union after heat produces females, while the late produces males. Yet Darwin affirms that the results of experiments have gone far to disprove Thury’s theory.

Girou, a French scientist, as well as some French and German physiologists, claims that experiments show that if the male is older and stronger than the female, the offspring will be more largely males, and vice versa.

Samuel Hough Terry gives as a tested and proved theory that if the wife is in a higher state of sexual vigor and excitement at the time of conception, boys will be conceived; but if the reverse is true, girls will be the result.

A study of these various theories confirms our doubts as to whether the true law has as yet been discovered. If, as I believe, sex is in the soul, then the sex of offspring must be determined by a law of the soul. So far human knowledge has not arrived in its investigations at sufficient data for understanding that law.

The probabilities are that it will eventually be proven that the parent whose mental forces previous to, and at the time of conception, are most active and vigorous, controls the sex of the child.

Facts proving any of the above theories are solicited.

The desirability and practicability of limiting offspring are the subject of frequent inquiry. Fewer and better children are desired by right minded parents. Many men and women, wise in other things of the world, permit generation as a chance result of copulation, without thought of physical or mental conditions to be transmitted to the child. Coition, the one important act of all others, carrying with it the most vital results, is usually committed for selfish gratification. Many a drunkard owes his life-long appetite for alcohol to the fact that the inception of his life could be traced to a night of dissipation on the part of his father. Physical degeneracy and mental derangements are too often caused by the parents producing offspring while laboring under great mental strain or bodily fatigue. Drunkenness and licentiousness are frequently the heritage of posterity.

Future generations demand that such results be averted by better pre-natal influences. The world is groaning under the curse of chance parenthood. It is due to posterity that procreation be brought under the control of reason and conscience.

It has been feared that a knowledge of means to prevent conception would, if generally diffused, be abused by women; that they would to so great an extent escape motherhood, as to bring about social disaster.

This fear is not well founded. The maternal instinct is inherent and sovereign in woman. Even the pre-natal influences of a murderous intent on the part of parents scarcely ever eradicate it.

With this natural desire for children, we believe few women would abuse the knowledge or privilege of controlling conception. Although women shrink from forced maternity, and from the bearing of children under the great burden of suffering, as well as other adverse conditions, it is rare to find a woman who is not greatly disappointed if she does not, some time in her life, wear the crown of motherhood.

An eminent lady teacher, in talking to her pupils, once said: “The greatest calamity that can befall a woman is never to have a child. The next greatest calamity is to have one only.” From my professional experience I am happy to testify that more women seek to overcome causes of sterility than to obtain knowledge of limiting the size of the family, or means to destroy the embryo. Also, if consultation for the latter purpose is sought, it is usually at the instigation of the husband.

Believing in the rights of unborn children, and in the maternal instinct, I am consequently convinced that no knowledge should be withheld that will secure proper conditions for the best parenthood.

Many of our advanced physiologists and philanthropists teach that the law of continence should be the law to govern married people in the sexual relation. (See [page 157].) However, if a woman is not convinced of the truth of this theory, or is practically unable to accord her life to it, we would suggest to her the study of the physiological laws of ovulation.

Conception can take place any time after ovulation until the ovum passes from the uterus. The time of viability is from two to fourteen days. The balance of the month conception cannot ordinarily take place.

Sterile women desiring offspring should seek sexual union soon after the appearance of the menses. Those not desiring offspring should avoid copulation until the ovum has passed the generative tract.

Married people, in normal health, temperate in the sexual relation, desirous of controlling the size of their family, can usually depend upon this law.

Can conception possibly take place after sufficient time has elapsed for the ovum to have left the uterus? Dr. Cowan says: “Sexual excitement hastens the premature ripening and meeting of the germ-cell with the sperm-cell, and impregnation may result, although intercourse occurs only in the specified two weeks’ absence of the egg from the uterus.”

Possibly this may be the case under some circumstances, such as diseased conditions, or after long separation of husband and wife. It is, however, of rare occurrence, where one’s life is governed by moderation, and the act is mutual.

Many of the means used to prevent conception are injurious, and often lay the foundation for a train of physical ailments. Probably no one means is more serious in its results than the practice of withdrawal, or the discharge of the semen externally to the vagina.

The act is incomplete and unnatural, and is followed by results similar to and as disastrous as those consequent upon masturbation. In the male it may result in impotence, in the female in sterility. In both sexes many nervous symptoms are produced, such as headache, defective vision, dyspepsia, insomnia, loss of memory, etc. Very many cases of uterine diseases can be attributed solely to this practice.

The objection to the use of the syringe is that if the sperm has passed into the uterus the fluid cannot reach it. A cold fluid may in some instances produce contractions to throw it off, but cannot be relied upon. Drugs that are used to destroy the germ are usually injurious, and cannot accomplish the purpose beyond the vagina.

A theory has been advanced that conception is under the control of the woman’s will; that by avoiding the last thrill of passion herself, during coition, she can prevent the ovules being displaced to meet the male germs. This is, however, inconsistent with the teaching that ovulation is coincident with menstruation.

By some also a theory called sedular absorption is advanced. In this, intercourse is had without culmination. No discharge is allowed. People practicing this method claim the highest possible enjoyment, no loss of vitality, and perfect control of the fecundating power.

When men and women learn that the procreative function is the highest function of their nature, and consequently that passion instead of dominating their lives should be under the reign of reason, then may we hope for a wiser, happier and purer race of beings. Wiser parenthood and intelligent generation is the surest regeneration.

In answer to inquiries for knowledge upon pre-natal culture, we refer to A. E. Newton’s estimable work upon this subject. At first we were jealous that such a needed work was not written by a woman, but we have become thankful that that man lives whose heart is in sympathy with the needs of the race, and was inspired to give us such words of wisdom. He teaches us that we may take the crude metal, fashion and burnish it into a thing of beauty.

He directs the attention especially to the truth that the father’s responsibility to the child is equal to the mother’s. That his life must be pure, his appetites subservient, and his soul filled with high aspirations. To attain to such a life he must avoid stimulating food and drink, as well as tobacco.

Few realize the ill effects of the latter, especially upon the pregnant woman, the fetus and the infant. In the mother the sick headaches, nausea, and many nervous ailments of pregnancy are directly attributable to the effect of tobacco smoke which she must inhale.

The child in utero and in the cradle, is also poisoned by it. Chorea, paralysis, heart disease, convulsions, and many other maladies are the result of the father’s tobacco habit.