DELICATE PREPARATIONS FOR THE SICK AND CONVALESCENT
BARLEY WATER
Take four large tablespoonfuls of picked and washed pearl barley, and put it into a porcelain-lined kettle with two quarts of boiling water; let it boil slowly until the water is reduced one half, then strain it and season with salt, lemon, or sugar as may be agreeable to the sick.
TOAST WATER
Cut two or three slices from a loaf of wheat bread, toast them very brown; while hot, put them in a small pitcher, and pour over them a pint and a half of water. Sugar may be added if liked, but when the stomach is affected it is better without it.
TO MAKE WATER GRUEL OF CORN MEAL OR OAT MEAL
Put a quart of water on to boil in a stew-pan. Take a tablespoonful of sweet corn meal, or oatmeal, make it into a batter with milk and salt, stir it in the boiling water and let it boil gently for half an hour. When served it may be sweetened and nutmeg grated over it. If wanted for a strengthening nourishment, a bit of butter and a glass of wine or brandy may be added. This is generally given after a dose of castor oil, or an emetic. Use very little salt.
BEEF TEA FOR INVALIDS
Cut tender lean beef into small pieces, free it from fat and strings, fill a junk bottle with it, cork it tight and put it in a kettle of boiling water; let it boil three hours. In that way you obtain the juices of the meat undiluted. This is especially nourishing and good when the stomach can bear but little liquid.
MILK PUNCH AS A RESTORATIVE
Take a large tumbler (it should hold a pint), half fill it with chopped ice, add to it a large tablespoonful of white sugar, beat it a little with the ice, then pour on it a wineglass of gin, rum or brandy, and fill up with fresh milk. It is generally very acceptable to an invalid who refuses other stimulants.
APPLE TEA, OR WATER, FOR INVALIDS
Cut some ripe apples into thin pieces, add the peel of a fresh lemon; pour boiling water over them and let it stand till cold, then sweeten with loaf sugar. This is a grateful and cooling drink.
BAKED APPLES
Bake them in a tin roaster, as iron discolors them; pour molasses over them and bake until soft. This is good for opening the bowels of patients who are a little constipated.
ARROW-ROOT BLANC MANGE FOR THE SICK
Put a pint of new milk to boil; make a smooth batter with an ounce of Bermuda arrow-root and cold milk; add a little salt, and when the milk is boiling stir in the batter; let the fire be gentle or it will scorch; sweeten this with fine white sugar, and let it boil a few minutes; flavor with lemon, or orange water, or if lemon is objected to, boil a vanilla bean in the milk before the arrow-root is put in. Take it off the fire, pour it in a mould and set it on ice; serve jelly or jam with the blanc mange, or eat it with cream if it agrees with the invalid.
ARROW-ROOT BLANC MANGE
Mix in a little cold water, two tablespoonfuls of arrow-root; sweeten a pint of milk with white sugar and put the arrow-root in the milk. Let it boil a few minutes, stirring it constantly; take it off, and if desired, you can let it cool and mould it in a bowl or jelly form; or it is nice to be eaten warm. Colored jelly over it is an improvement when moulded.
ARROW-ROOT GRUEL
Mix a tablespoonful of arrow-root, or for an infant, half as much; when mixed with cold water, stir in it half a pint of boiling water. Season with salt, sugar or nutmeg.
MILK PORRIDGE
Make a quart of milk boiling hot; make a tablespoonful of flour into a batter with cold milk, add a little salt and stir it in the boiling milk, stirring it constantly for five minutes while it boils; flavor with anything agreeable. Sweetened with loaf sugar, and nutmeg grated plentifully over it, it will make a most excellent remedy for looseness or dysentery.
TAPIOCA MILK
Wash and soak a large tablespoonful of tapioca, put it to a quart of sweet milk, add a little salt, cover it, and set it over a gentle fire for an hour. Take it up, add sugar and nutmeg, or cinnamon to taste.
TAPIOCA PUDDING
Put a coffee-cup of tapioca (soak it well first) into a pint and a half of milk, set it where it will get hot slowly, take it off when it boils, and when cool add four well-beaten eggs; flavor with lemon and peach, sweeten it to taste, and bake for an hour in a hot oven. If this is wanted for one person, take half the quantity of tapioca and milk.
WHITE WINE SYLLABUB
Season a pint of milk with sugar and wine, but not enough wine to curdle the milk. Fill your glasses nearly full, and crown them with sweetened whipped cream. Season the cream with extract of lemon.
SYLLABUB
Take the juice of a large lemon, and the yellow rind pared thin; one glass of brandy, two glasses of white wine, and a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar. Put these ingredients into a pan, and let them remain one night; the next day add a pint of thick cream, and the whites of two eggs beaten together; beat them all together to a fine froth, and serve in jelly glasses.
WINE SANGAREE OF PORT OR MADEIRA
Take half a glass of water, sweeten it with a tablespoonful of white powdered sugar, and stir well until dissolved; add a gill of Madeira or Port, some nutmeg grated and pounded ice. Serve with lady-cake or pound-cake, cut small.
STEWED PRUNES FOR SICKNESS
Wash the prunes, put them in a stew pan, cover them with water, and to each pound of prunes put a cupful of clear brown sugar. Cover the stew-pan and let them boil slowly, until the syrup is thick and rich.
WINE JELLY FOR THE SICK
Take one pint of Madeira wine, one pint of water, and one ounce of isinglass dissolved in a teacupful of water. Let the wine and water be boiling hot, then stir into it the dissolved isinglass, and sugar to taste; make it quite sweet; let it come to a boil, try it by taking a little in a saucer, and if not a good jelly when cold, boil it until it is so; if lemon is allowed, use the juice of two to flavor this jelly.
JAUNE MANGE
Break up and boil an ounce of isinglass in rather more than half a pint of water until it is melted; strain it; then add the juice of two large oranges, a gill of white wine, and the yolks of four eggs beaten and strained; sweeten to taste, and stir it over a gentle fire till it boils up; dip a mould into cold water and pour the preparation into it.
CARRIGEEN MOSS FOR INVALIDS
Wash and pick a tablespoonful of Irish moss and put it into a tin cup; pour on it half a pint of boiling water, and set it on the coals for a short time; when it is all dissolved add sugar and nutmeg to taste. This may be made with milk, to resemble custard, and is very nourishing. Delicate infants may be fed on it when they will take no other nourishment.
TARTARIC ACID AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEMONS
If lemons cannot be obtained to make either a lemonade or jellies for the sick, tartaric acid is a good substitute, and if used in conjunction with the extract of lemon, is a very agreeable one.
LEMON JELLY WITHOUT LEMONS
Take a box of Cox’s gelatine, pour over it one quart of boiling water, and stir until it is dissolved. Add a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, and four cups of sugar; let it dissolve and bring it to a boil; while boiling, stir in the beaten whites of three eggs; let this boil up once again and take it off the fire; when nearly cool, add to it a tablespoonful of good extract of lemon. Strain the mixture into moulds or cups, and set it in a cool place, or on ice, to become firm. It must be cool, or it will not jelly.
ORANGE SHERBET
Squeeze the juice from a dozen oranges; pour boiling water on the peel, and cover it closely. Boil water and sugar (a pint to a pound) to a syrup; skim it clear; when all are cold, mix the syrup, juice and peel with as much water as may be necessary to make a rich orangeade; strain it, and set the vessel containing it on ice. Or it may be made the same as lemonade, using one lemon with half a dozen oranges.
STRAWBERRY SHERBET
Take fifteen ounces of picked strawberries, crush them in a mortar, then add to them a quart of water; pour this into a basin, with a sliced lemon, and a teaspoonful of orange-flower water; let it remain for two or three hours. Put eighteen ounces of sugar into another basin, cover it with a cloth, through which pour the strawberry juice; after as much has run through as will, gather up the cloth, and squeeze out as much juice as possible from it; when the sugar is all dissolved, strain it again. Set the vessel containing it on ice, until ready to serve.
ALMOND CUSTARD
Blanch and beat four ounces of almonds fine, with a spoonful of water; beat a pint of cream with two spoonfuls of rose water, add them to the yolks of four eggs and as much sugar as will make it pretty sweet; stir it over a slow fire till it is of a proper thickness, but do not boil. Pour it into custard glasses.
SPONGE CAKE PUDDING
Stale sponge or other plain cake may be made into a nice pudding by crumbling it into a little more than a pint of milk and two or three beaten eggs, and baking it. Sauce—sugar and butter beaten together.
GERMAN LADIES’ FINGERS
Beat one hour the yolks of five eggs with half a pound of sugar; add half a pound of blanched almonds pounded fine, the yellow part of one lemon grated. Mix well; add half a pound of flour very gradually. Roll out the paste, and cut it into strips the length and size of the forefinger; beat lightly the whites of two eggs, and wet the fingers.
DIMPLES
Beat the whites of three eggs very stiff, add gradually three quarters of a pound of sugar, and beat till it is well mixed. Blanch almonds, and cut them into pieces—as small as peas, and stir them into the egg and sugar—three quarters of a pound of almonds for three eggs. Drop the mixture in spots as large as a half penny on white paper upon a tin, and bake in a cool oven.
DELICATE RUSKS FOR CONVALESCENTS
Half a pint of new milk, and one cup of hop yeast; add flour to make a batter, and set the sponge at night. In the morning add half a pint of milk, one cup of sugar, one of butter, one egg, one nutmeg, and flour to make it sufficiently stiff. Let it rise, then roll it, and cut it out; let it rise again, and then bake.
CHOCOLATE CARAMELS
Half a pound of chocolate, three pounds of dark brown sugar, one-eighth pound of butter, a small teacup of milk; season with vanilla, or grated lemon or orange-peel. Boil it very quickly over a hot fire, stirring constantly. When it becomes hard on being dropped into water, take it off the fire and stir for a few moments before pouring into buttered dishes. Before it is quite cool, cut into little squares. Those who like the caramel very hard need not stir it, as this makes it “sugary.” The grated peel should not be put in till the caramel is taken from the fire.