With a small table at the side of the invalid’s bed, it is a decidedly pleasant little diversion to make tea in this manner, being sure at the same time that it is perfectly fresh. However it is made though, do not present a cupful of tea to a sufferer with a part of the tea spilled into the saucer.
To avoid having fat left in the soups, it is safer to allow them to get entirely cold, when the fat can be easily skimmed off. Just enough can be heated each time the soup is served.
Beef Tea, or Essence of Beef.
Cut, say, a pound of perfectly lean beef into small pieces, put them into a wide-mouthed bottle (a pickle-bottle answers the purpose), cork it tightly, and place it in a pot of cold water in which there is a saucer at the bottom. Heat it gradually, then let it boil slowly for two or three hours, when all the juice will be drawn out of the meat.
Now pour off the juice, season it with salt carefully, as it requires very little. When it is cold, skim off all the globules of fat.
This is an invaluable aliment for invalids who are very ill, or for weak infants, when they need much nourishment in small compass. This beef tea can then be given by the tea-spoonful at regular intervals, administering it as medicine.
Another Beef Tea (for Convalescents).
Soak three-quarters of a pound of small-cut pieces of lean steak (say a cut from a round steak) in a pint of cold rain-water for half an hour, squeezing the beef occasionally; then put it on the fire, cover it, and boil it slowly for ten minutes, removing the scum. Season with salt, and serve hot. Serve Albert biscuit, or thin wafers ([see page 72]), with it. The addition of a little boiled rice makes a pleasant change.