LIQUID FOOD

Under this heading such liquids are given as are actual foods.

Milk. Milk is a complete food and a perfect food for infants, but not a perfect food for adults. It may be used as

Whole or skimmed;
Peptonized; boiled;
Sterilized; pasteurized;
Milk with lime water, Vichy or Apollinaris;
With equal parts of farinaceous liquids;
Albuminized milk with white of egg;
Milk with egg yolk, flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, or nutmeg;
Milk flavored with coffee, cocoa, or meat broth;
Milk punch; milk lemonade;
Kumyss; kefir or whey, with lemon juice, as above.

Milk and Cinnamon. Boil in one pint of new milk sufficient cinnamon to flavor it and sweeten with white sugar.

Egg Preparations. These consist of:

Albumin water (diluted white of egg), flavored with fruit juice;
Egg lemonade; egg orangeade;
Egg with meat broth;
Egg with coffee and milk;
Chocolate eggnog.

Often the white of egg, dissolved in water or milk, is given when the yolk cannot be digested because of the amount of fat which it contains.

When one is inclined to biliousness, the egg is better digested if beaten in wine.

The albuminous or egg drinks are best prepared cold.

Eggnog. To make eggnog, separate the white and the yolk, beat the yolk with three-quarters of a tablespoonful of sugar and a speck of salt until creamy. Add three-quarters of a cup of milk and 1 tablespoonful of brandy. Beat the white until foamy, add to the above mixture, and serve immediately. A little nutmeg may be substituted for the brandy. The eggs and milk should be chilled before using. Eggnog is very nutritious.

Egg Broth. Beat the yolk of 1 egg, add 1 tablespoonful of sugar and a speck of salt. Add 1 cup of hot milk and pour it on gradually. Flavor with nutmeg.

Dried and rolled bread crumbs may be added, or beef, mutton, or chicken broth may be used in place of the milk, and the sugar may be omitted. The whole egg may be used if desired.

This is very delicious made with beef broth, instead of hot milk. Pineapple juice or coffee may be used.

Coffee Eggnog. 1 egg, 1¹/₄ teaspoons of sugar, one-half scant cup of milk or cream, one-half scant cup of coffee.

Egg Malted Milk. Mix 1 tablespoonful of Horlick’s Malted Milk with 1 tablespoonful of crushed fruit and 1 egg; beat for five minutes. Strain and add 20 drops of acid phosphate, 1 tablespoonful of crushed ice, and three-quarters cup of ice water. A grating of nutmeg may be used for flavor.

Grape Yolk. Separate the white and the yolk of an egg, beat the yolk, add the sugar, and let the yolk and sugar stand while the white of the egg is thoroughly whipped. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of grape juice to the yolk and pour this on to the beaten white, blending carefully. Have all ingredients chilled before blending and serve cold.

Albuminized Milk. Beat one-half cup of milk and the white of 1 egg with a few grains of salt. Put into a fruit jar, shake thoroughly until blended. Strain into a glass and serve cold.

White Wine Whey. To half a pint of milk boiling add 1 wineglassful of sherry. Strain through a cheesecloth. Sweeten with powdered sugar to taste. For a child give a tablespoonful every 2 or 3 hours.

Albumin Water. Albumin water is used chiefly for infants in cases of acute stomach and intestinal disorders, in which some nutritious and easily assimilated food is needed. The white of 1 egg is beaten and mixed with a pint of water, which has been boiled and cooled.

Albuminized Grape Juice. Put 2 tablespoonfuls of grape juice into a dainty glass with pure chopped ice. Beat the white of 1 egg, turn into the glass, sprinkle a little sugar over the top, and serve.

Cream of Tartar Water. Dissolve a teaspoonful or a teaspoonful and a half of cream of tartar in a pint of boiling water, flavor with lemon peel and sugar. Strain and drink when cold.

Farinaceous Beverages. These are all made by slowly cooking cereals, such as barley, rice, oatmeal, etc., in a large quantity of boiling water from two to three hours, straining off the liquid, and seasoning to taste. They are particularly valuable when only a small amount of nutriment can be assimilated. Since the chief ingredient is starch, long cooking is necessary to make soluble the starch globules, so that it can be more readily digested. Since these drinks are given only in case of weak digestion, it is important that they be taken slowly and held in the mouth until they are thoroughly mixed with the saliva.

Barley Water (Infant feeding). Mix 1 teaspoonful of barley flour with 2 tablespoonfuls of cold water, until it is a smooth paste. Put in the top of a double boiler and add gradually 1 pint of boiling water. Boil over direct heat five minutes, stirring constantly; then put into a double boiler, over boiling water, and cook fifteen minutes longer. This is used as a milk diluent for normal infants and to check diarrhea.

For children or adults use one-half teaspoonful of barley or rice flour, 1 cup of boiling water, and one-quarter teaspoonful of salt. Cream or milk and salt may be added for adults, or, lemon juice and sugar, according to the condition.

Barley water is an astringent and used to check the bowels when they are too loose.

Barley Water (Bartholow). Wash 2 ounces of pearl barley with cold water. Then boil it for five minutes in some fresh water and throw both waters away. Then pour on 2 quarts of boiling water and boil it down to a quart. Stir and skim occasionally. Flavor with lemon rind. Add sugar to taste but do not strain unless the patient requests it.

Rice Water or Mucilage of Rice. Thoroughly wash 1 ounce of rice with cold water. Then soak for three hours in a quart of water kept at a tepid heat, stirring from time to time, and afterwards boil slowly for an hour and strain. This is useful in dysentery, diarrhea, and irritable states of the alimentary canal. It may be sweetened and flavored in the same way as barley water.

Flaxseed Tea. One-half cupful of flaxseed to 1 quart of boiling water. Boil thirty minutes and let stand near the fire to thicken. Strain, add lemon juice and sugar to taste.

Rice Water. Wash 2 tablespoonfuls of rice, add 3 cups of cold water, and soak thirty minutes. Then heat gradually and cook one hour until the rice is tender. Strain through muslin, reheat, and dilute with boiling water or hot milk to the consistency desired. Season with salt; sugar may be added if desired and cinnamon, if allowed, may be cooked with it as a flavor. One teaspoonful of stoned raisins may be added to the rice, before boiling, if there is no bowel trouble.

Oatmeal Water. Mix 1 tablespoonful of oatmeal with 1 tablespoonful of cold water. Add a speck of salt and stir into it a quart of boiling water. Boil for three hours, replenishing the water as it boils away. Strain though a fine sieve or cheesecloth, season, and serve cold. Sufficient water should be added to keep the drink almost as thin as water.

Toast Water. Toast thin slices of stale bread in the oven; break up into crumbs; add 1 cup of boiling water and let it stand for an hour. Rub through a fine strainer, season with a little salt. Milk, or cream and sugar may be added if desirable. This is valuable in cases of fever or extreme nausea.

Sago Soup. Stew 2 ounces of the best sago in a pint of water until it is quite tender. Mix with half a pint of good boiling cream and the yolks of two fresh eggs. Put into it 1 quart of essence of beef. Mix thoroughly. The beef essence must be heated separately and mixed while both mixtures are hot. This must be served warm.

Crust Coffee. Dry crusts of brown bread in the oven until they are hard and crisp. Pound or roll them and pour boiling water over. Let soak for fifteen minutes, then strain carefully through a fine sieve.

MEAT JUICES

Meat juice may be prepared in three ways:

(1) Broil quickly, or even scorch, a small piece of beef. Squeeze out the juice with a lemon squeezer, previously dipped in boiling water. Catch the juice in a hot cup. Season and serve. If desirable to heat it further, place the cup in hot water.

(2) Broil quickly, cut up and put the small pieces into a glass jar. Set the covered jar in a pan of cold water. Heat gradually for an hour, never allowing the water to come to a boil. Strain and press out the clear, red juice, season, and serve. One pound of beef yields 8 tablespoonfuls of juice.

(3) Grind raw beef and place in a lightly covered jar with 1 gill of cold water to a pound of beef. Stand it on ice overnight and squeeze through a bag. Strain, season, and serve.

Meat Tea. Meat tea is made by using a pound of meat to a pint of water. Grind the meat, place in a jar, and cover with the cold water. Set the jar in an open kettle of water and cook for two hours or more, not allowing the water to boil. Strain by squeezing through a bag, skim off the fat, and season.

Meat Broth. Meat broth is made from meat and bone, with or without vegetables. The proportion is a quart of water to a pound of meat. Cut the meat into small pieces, add the cold water, and simmer until the quantity is reduced one-half. Strain, skim, and season with salt. Chicken, veal, mutton, and beef may be used in this way. It may be seasoned with onions, celery, bay-leaves, cloves, carrots, parsnips, rice, barley, or tapioca. Stale bread crumbs may be added.

Mutton and Chicken Broth. Cut up a chicken or a pound of mutton, because it is free from fat, put into cold water to cover, and let stand on ice two or three hours. Cook over a slow fire until the meat falls from the bone. Strain, cool, skim off the fat, salt to taste, and allow to cool. This may be served hot or cold.

Broth for the Sick. To 1 pound of chopped lean meat of any kind, except pork or veal, add 1 pint of cold water or one pint and a half on ice. Let stand in a covered glass fruit jar for from four to six hours, cook for three hours in a closed jar placed in a kettle of water, strain, cool, skim off the fat, clear with a beaten egg, season to taste. This may be given warm or cold.

Beef Tea and Oatmeal. Two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal and 2 of cold water, mix thoroughly. Add a pint of good beef tea which has been brought to the boiling point. Boil together for five minutes. The oatmeal must have been previously cooked for a long time. It may be taken from that prepared for the morning meal.

Soups. Clear soups are made by cooking raw meat or vegetables, or both together, slowly, for a long time, then straining the liquid. The flavor may be changed by browning the meat or vegetables in butter before adding the water.

Cream soups are made in the proportion of 1 quart of vegetables (such as corn, peas, beans, tomatoes, celery, or asparagus) to 1 pint of water and adding 1 pint of milk. Cook the vegetables thoroughly in water and mash through a colander. To this water and pulp add a cream sauce made in the proportion of 4 tablespoonfuls of flour, 4 tablespoonfuls of butter, and 1 pint of milk, for vegetables poor in starch or protein. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, and a pint of milk for those rich in protein. Season to taste.

Tomato acid should be counteracted by the addition of one-eighth tablespoonful of soda before the milk is added.

Potato soup may be flavored with onion or celery, or both.

SEMI-SOLID FOODS

The following lists of foods are given for ready reference:[17]

Jellies.

(a) Meat jellies and gelatin; veal, beef, chicken, mutton.

(b) Starch jellies, flavored with fruit; cornstarch, arrowroot, sago, tapioca.

Custards.

(a) Junkets of milk, or milk and egg (rennet curdled), flavored with nutmeg, etc.

(b) Egg, milk custard, boiled or baked.

(d) Frozen custard (New York ice cream.)

Gruels. (Farinaceous.)

(a) Milk gruels.

(b) Water gruels.

Jellies.—Meat Jellies are made in two ways:

(1) Cook soup meat (containing gristle and bone) slowly for a long time in just enough water to cover. Strain and set the liquid away in a mold to cool and set. If desired, bits of shredded meat may be added to the liquid before molding.

(2) Use meat broth and gelatin in the proportion of 1 tablespoon gelatin to three-quarters of a cup of hot broth. Pour into mold and set on ice.

Starch Jellies. Starch jellies are made by cooking in a pint of fruit juice or water until clear, 2 tablespoonfuls of tapioca, arrowroot, sago, cornstarch, or flour. Sweeten to taste.

If water is used, fresh fruit may be used either in the jelly or in a sauce poured over the jelly.

Fruit Jellies. These are made:

(1) Of fruit juice and sugar in equal quantities, cooked until it will set when cooled;

(2) Of fruit juice and gelatin in the proportion of 1 tablespoon of gelatin to three-fourths of a cup of fruit juice, or one-half box gelatin to 1¹/₂ pints of juice. Sugar to taste. Made tea or coffee, or cocoa or lemonade may be used in the same proportion.

Custards. These are made with (1) milk, (2) milk and eggs, (3) milk, egg, and some farinaceous substances as rice, cornstarch, tapioca. In the first the coagulum is produced by the addition of rennet, in the other two by the application of heat.

Plain Junket. Dissolve in a cup of lukewarm milk (never warmer), a tablespoon of sugar or caramel syrup. Add a quarter of a junket tablet, previously dissolved in a tablespoon of cold water. Stir a few times, add vanilla, nuts, or nutmeg if desired. Pour into a cup and set aside to cool and solidify. This may be served plain or with whipped cream, or boiled custard.

Egg-Milk Custard. When eggs are used for thickening, not less than four eggs should be used to a quart of milk (more eggs make it richer).

Snowballs. Heat 1 pint of milk with sugar to taste. Beat the whites of 3 eggs stiff, then beat in 1¹/₂ tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Drop by spoonfuls into the hot milk, turn in three minutes, and take out. Beat yolks of the eggs, pour the hot milk over them, and allow to thicken. Do not boil. Arrange snowballs in dish and pour custard over. Serve cool.

Boiled Custard. One pint of milk, 2 eggs, one-half cup of sugar, one-half saltspoon of salt. Scald the milk, add the salt and sugar, and stir until dissolved. Beat the eggs very thick and smooth. Pour the boiling milk on the eggs slowly, stirring all the time. Pour the mixture into a double boiler, set over the fire, and stir for ten minutes. Add flavoring. As soon as a thickening of the mixture is noticed remove from the fire, pour into a dish, and set away to cool. This custard makes cup custard, the sauce for such puddings as snow pudding, and when decorated with spoonfuls of beaten egg-white, makes floating island.

Baked Custard. Proceed as in boiled custard, but instead of pouring into a double boiler pour into a baking dish. Set the dish in a pan of water, place in the oven, and bake until the mixture is set in the middle.

Farinaceous Custards. Make like boiled custard, using one less egg and adding one-quarter cup of farina, tapioca, cornstarch, arrowroot, or cooked rice to the hot milk and egg.

Sago should be soaked overnight before using.

Tapioca should be soaked one hour before using.

Coffee Custard. Scald one tablespoon of ground coffee in milk and strain before proceeding as for boiled custard.

Chocolate Custard. Add one square of grated chocolate to the milk.

Caramel Custard. Melt the dry sugar until golden brown, add the hot milk, and when dissolved proceed as before. Bake.

Milk for Puddings or Stewed Fruit (Ringer). Boil a small piece of lemon rind and 2 cloves in a pint of milk. Mix half a teaspoonful of arrowroot in a little cold milk and add it to the boiled milk. Stir until about the consistency of cream. Beat up the yolks of 3 eggs in a little milk. Beat into the hot milk taken off the fire and as it cools add the eggs and a tablespoonful of orange flower water, stirring it constantly until quite cool. Keep in a very cool place until required for use.

Bread Jelly. Pour boiling water on stale bread and allow it to soak until soft. Pour off the water, add fresh water to cover, and boil until stiff and until it becomes jelly-like when it cools. It may be eaten with milk or cream.

SOLID FOODS

(Suitable for Invalids)

Toasts.

(a) Cream toast.
(b) Milk toast.
(c) Water toast.

Creams.

(a) Plain.
(b) Whipped.
(c) Ice cream.

Oils.

(a) Plain olive, cotton seed, or nut.
(b) Butter.
(c) Emulsion, as mayonnaise.
(d) Cod-liver oil, plain or emulsified.

Cereals.

(a) Porridges and mushes—Oatmeal, corn meal, wheat, rice, etc.

(b) Dry preparations—Shredded wheat biscuit, corn flakes, puffed rice, puffed wheat, triscuit.

Breads.

(a) Plain—White, Graham, nutri-meal, whole wheat, brown, rye, etc.

(b) Toasts—Dry, buttered, zwieback.

(d) Biscuits—Yeast biscuits (twenty-four hours old), baking-powder biscuit, beaten biscuit.

Egg Preparations.

(a) Boiled, poached, scrambled, baked.

(b) Omelets.

Meats.

(a) Beef or mutton—Broiled or roasted.

(b) Chicken, turkey, or game—Broiled or roasted.

(d) Oysters—Canned, stewed, etc.

(e) Clams—Chowder, broiled, or baked.

Vegetables.

(a) Potatoes—Baked, boiled, creamed, or escalloped.

(b) Sweet potatoes, baked or boiled.

(d) Lima beans, plain or creamed; string beans, plain or creamed; cauliflower, plain or creamed; carrots; parsnips.

Fruits.

(a) Fresh—Oranges, grapes, melons, etc.

(b) Stewed—Apples, plums, apricots, pears, berries, etc.

(d) Canned—Peaches, apricots, plums, pears, etc.

(e) Preserved—Peaches, plums, quinces, etc.

Gruels. Gruels are a mixture of grain or flour with either milk or water. They require long cooking and may be flavored with sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, or almond.

Take the meal or flour (oatmeal, 2 tablespoons, or corn meal, 1 tablespoon, or arrowroot, 1¹/₂ tablespoons). Sift it slowly into 1¹/₂ cups boiling water, simmer for an hour or two. Strain off the liquid; add to it 1 teaspoon of sugar, season with salt, and add 1 cup of warm milk.

Water Gruel. If water gruel is desired, let the last cup of liquid added be water instead of milk.

Cream Gruel. A cream gruel may be made by using rich cream instead of milk or water.

Barley Gruel. Barley gruel (usually a water gruel) is prepared as follows: Moisten 4 tablespoons of barley flour in a little cold water and add it slowly to the boiling water. Stir and boil for twenty minutes.

Toasts.—Cream Toast. Toast the bread slowly until brown on both sides. Butter and pour over each slice enough warm cream to moisten (the cream may be thickened slightly and the butter may be omitted).

Milk Toast. One tablespoon of cornstarch or flour; one cup of milk, salt to taste, and boil. Butter the toast and pour over it the above white sauce.

Water Toast. Pour over plain or buttered toast enough boiling water to thoroughly moisten it.

Souffles of Fruit, etc. The distinguished feature of a souffle is a pastry or pulpy foundation mixture, and the addition of stiffly beaten egg-white. A souffle may or may not be baked.

Plain Souffle. Two tablespoons flour; 1 cup of liquid (water, milk, or fruit juice); 3 or 4 eggs; sugar to suit the fruit. If thick fruit pulp is used, omit the thickening. Beat the egg-yolks until thick. Add sugar gradually and continue beating. Add the fruit (if lemon juice add some rind also). Fold in the well-beaten whites. Bake in a buttered dish (set in a pan of hot water) for thirty-five or forty minutes in a slow oven.

Fresh Fruit Souffle. Reduce the fruit to a pulp. Strawberries, peaches, prunes, apples, bananas, etc., may be used. Sweeten the pulp. Beat the egg-white to a stiff froth, add the fruit pulp slowly. Chill and serve with whipped cream or soft custard.

Chocolate Souffle. Two tablespoons flour; 2 tablespoons butter; three-quarters cup of milk; one-third cup of sugar; 2 tablespoons hot water. Melt the butter, add the flour, and stir well. Pour the milk in gradually and cook until well boiled. Add the melted chocolate, to which the sugar and hot water have been added. Beat in the yolks and fold in the whites of the eggs. Bake twenty-five minutes.

Farina Souffle. Cook the farina (4 tablespoons) in a pint of boiling water. Stir this with the egg-yolks, add sugar or salt, and later fold in the egg-whites, flavor, and set away to cool.