Panada.
Sprinkle a little salt or sugar between two large Boston, soda, or Graham crackers, or hard pilot-biscuit; put them into a bowl; pour over just enough boiling water to soak them well; put the bowl into a vessel of boiling water, and let it remain fifteen or twenty minutes, until the crackers are quite clear and like a jelly, but not broken. Then lift them carefully, without breaking, into a hot saucer. Sprinkle on more sugar or salt if desired: a few spoonfuls of sweet, thick cream poured over are a good addition for a change. Never make more than enough for the patient at one time, as they are very palatable when freshly made, and quite insipid if served cold.
Toasted bread cut into thin even slices may be served in the same way. This is also a good baby diet.
A panada may be made by adding an ounce of grated bread or rolled crackers to half a pint of boiling water, slightly salted, and allowing it to boil three or four minutes. It may be sweetened, and flavored with wine or nutmeg, or both; or the sugar and nutmeg may be simply sprinkled over.
Ash-cake.
Wet corn-meal, salted to taste, with enough cold water to make a soft dough, and let it stand half an hour or longer; mold it into an oblong cake, about an inch and a half or two inches thick. A clean spot should then be swept on the hot hearth, the bread placed on it, and covered with hot wood-ashes. The bread is thus steamed before it is baked. It should be done in a half to three-quarters of an hour, and brushed and wiped before eaten. There is no better food than this for dyspeptics inclined to acidity of the stomach, on account of the alkaline properties of the ashes left in the crust. In other extreme cases of dyspepsia where acids are required, I have heard of cures being effected by the use of buttermilk.
Milk Punch.
Sweeten a glass of milk to taste, and add one or two table-spoonfuls of best brandy. Grate a little nutmeg over the top.
Egg-and-milk Punch.
Stir well a heaping tea-spoonful of sugar, and the yolk of an egg together in a goblet, then add a table-spoonful of best brandy. Fill the glass with milk until it is three-quarters full, then stir well into the mixture the white of the egg beaten to a stiff froth. The receipt for “Eggnog” among the “Beverages” is similar to this, and better, of course, as whipped cream is substituted for milk.