Boil three pints of water and one quart of loaf-sugar until reduced to nearly one quart of liquid, skimming it when necessary. When cold, add the juice of seven lemons, and the thin-sliced yellow part of the rind of four of them. Let it infuse an hour. Strain it into the freezer without pressing. When beginning to set in the freezer, stir in lightly and well the beaten whites of four eggs. Put into a mold, and return it to a fresh relay of salt and ice. Or it may be frozen and served in the lemon-skins. A neat slice is taken off the top of the lemon. The juice, etc., is carefully removed. When the preparation is set in the freezer, the skins are filled, the tops fitted over, and all imbedded in the ice. I once saw at one of Delmonico’s dinners a course of these lemons (one for each person) filled with Roman punch.
Currant Ice.
Boil one quart of water and a pound of sugar until reduced about a pint—i. e., until a pint of water has boiled away; skim it, take it off the fire, and add a pint of currant-juice; when partly frozen, stir in the beaten whites of four eggs. Mold, and freeze again. A good ice for fever patients.
COOKERY FOR THE SICK.
I believe it is the general practice now to give a patient, in almost every kind of illness, food that is very nourishing, yet very digestible, that the system may become strengthened to throw off its disease.
I devote a chapter to “cookery for the sick,” as it is such a useful and delightful accomplishment to know just how to prepare the few available dishes for invalids, so that while they may be most suitable food for the recovery of the patient, they may at the same time be most agreeable to the taste and pleasing to the eye.
The three events of the day to the sufferer are the three meals. How gratefully is it remembered if they have been delicately and carefully administered! Let the mother or the wife prepare them with her own hands; let her never ask an invalid what he will have to eat, but with thought and ingenuity strive to vary the bill of fare each day, always providing proper nourishment. This is an art in itself which can be delegated to no one. It is worth as much to the suffering and beloved patient as is the medical prescription of the physician.
Never leave an article of diet in the sick-room: it is a good means of destroying the appetite, which should be encouraged and not weakened.
Whatever is served, let great attention be paid to giving the dish, after it is properly cooked, a dainty appearance. Place it on the choicest of ware in the house, with the cleanest of napkins, and the brightest of silver, even if that consists only of a tea-spoon.