Take two tablespoonfuls of ground rice, and a pinch of salt, and mix it with milk enough for a thin batter. Stir it with a pint of boiling water, or boiling milk, and flavor with sugar and spice.
Oatmeal Gruel.
Four tablespoonfuls of grits (coarse oatmeal) and a pinch of salt, into a pint of boiling water. Strain and flavor it while warm.
Or, take fine oatmeal and make a thin batter with a little cold water, and pour it into a sauce-pan of boiling water.
Simple Barley Water.
Take two ounces and a half of pearl barley, cleanse it, and boil it ten minutes in half a pint of water. Strain out this water and add two quarts of boiling water, and boil it down to one quart. Then strain it, and flavor it with slices of lemon and sugar, or sugar and nutmeg.
This is very acceptable to the sick in fevers.
Compound Barley Water.
Take two pints of simple barley water, a pint of hot water, two and a half ounces of sliced figs, half an ounce of liquorice root sliced and bruised, and two ounces and a half of raisins. Boil all down to two pints, and strain it. This is slightly aperient.