FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK, AND FOR INFANTS.

Beef Tea.

Cut a piece of lean, juicy beef into pieces an inch square, put them into a wide-mouthed bottle and cork it tight. Set the bottle into a kettle of cold water and boil it an hour and a half. This mode of making beef tea concentrates the nourishment more than any other.

Another (furnished by a physician).

Take a piece of beef cut from the round; take off every particle of fat, then cut it into pieces about an inch square and put into cold water, in the proportion of a pint to the pound. After standing half or three quarters of an hour, set it on the fire and boil it slowly several hours. If the water boils away, add more cold water, so that there will be a pint of tea for every pound of beef. Strain it, add salt, and black pepper also if the case allows it.

Another Way.

Choose a lean and juicy piece of beef, the size of your hand; take off all the fat; broil it only three or four minutes, on very hot coals. Lay it in a porringer or bowl, sprinkle it with salt, and pour upon it two or three gills of boiling water; then cut it into small pieces, as it lies in the water. Cover it close, and let it stand where it will keep hot but not boil. It is fit for use in half an hour, and does well where such nourishment is wanted immediately.

This is more agreeable to the taste than tea made by either of the two preceding rules, but it is not as good for a patient who is so sick as to take but very little nourishment at once.

Chicken Broth.

If the weather is warm, use but half a chicken to make broth for one person. If it is cool take a whole one, as the broth will keep several days. Pull off the skin (because there is a good deal of oil in it) and allow two quarts of water for a chicken. Skim it in the neatest manner when it begins to boil. Put in a large spoonful of rice, and a teaspoonful of salt, and boil it slowly two hours. If onion and parsley are to be added, cut them fine; put in the onion when the broth has boiled an hour, and the parsley five minutes before it is served.

It is the best way to boil the chicken the day before it is wanted, and the next day take off the fat, add the rice, &c., and boil it another hour.

Chicken Tea.

Take a leg and thigh of a chicken, lay it into a pint of cold water, and set it on the fire till it boils up long enough for you to skim it. Put in a little salt.

Chicken Panada.

Boil a young chicken half an hour in a quart of water. Then remove the skin, cut off the white meat, and when cold, put it into a mortar with a spoonful or two of the water in which it was boiled, and pound it to a paste. Season it with salt, and a very little nutmeg; add a little more of the water, and boil it up three or four minutes. It should be of such a consistency that it can be drank, though rather thick.

The bones which remain may be returned to the water in which the chicken was boiled; and with the addition of rice, a good broth be made of it.

Calf's foot Broth.

Boil two feet in three quarts of water, until it is wasted to three pints. Strain it, and set it aside in a cool place. When cold, take off the fat. Heat a little at a time as it is wanted, and add salt, nutmeg, and, if approved, a spoonful of good wine.

Wine Whey.

To a pint of milk put two glasses of wine; mix it, and let it stand twelve minutes, then strain it through a muslin bag or a very fine sieve. Sweeten it with loaf sugar.

If it is necessary to have the whey weaker, put a little hot water to the milk.

Barley Water.

Boil an ounce of pearl barley a few minutes to cleanse it, pour off the water, and put a quart of cold water and a little salt to it. Simmer it an hour.

Arrow-root.

The best kinds of arrow-root are the Jamaica and Bermuda.

Wet a large teaspoonful in a little cold water, with half a teaspoonful of salt; pour on it half a pint of boiling water, stirring it very fast. Then set it where it will just boil up for one minute. Sweeten it, and add milk if it is allowed. For a drink, make it very thin, and put in lemon juice and sugar.

Pearl Sago, and Tapioca.

The directions, page 82 are appropriate for the preparation of these articles for invalids.

Milk Porridge.

Put to half a pint of boiling water, two teaspoonfuls of flour wet smooth in cold water, and add salt. Then put in half a pint of milk, stir it well, and let it boil up again. Vary the proportions of milk and water as the case requires. Made wholly with milk it is a very hearty dish.

Oatmeal Gruel.

Put two large spoonfuls of oatmeal, wet in cold water, into three pints of boiling water; boil it gently half an hour, skim it, add a little salt, sugar, and nutmeg. If raisins are also used, a large teacupful stoned, will be enough. But gruel with raisins should be boiled longer than without.

Ground Rice Gruel.

Rub a heaping teaspoonful of ground rice in a small quantity of cold water, and stir it into half a pint of boiling water; add a little salt, and let it boil up half a minute. If milk is allowed, it is an improvement to make the gruel with equal parts of milk and water.

Indian Meal Gruel.

This is made in the same way as the ground rice, but requires much longer boiling. It should never be boiled less than half an hour, and an hour is much better. The white froth that rises upon the top should never be skimmed off, as it is the most nutritious part of the gruel. Nutmeg, sugar, and a spoonful of cream may be added, if approved.

Panada.

Set a saucepan with three gills of water upon the fire, add one glass of white wine, a little loaf sugar, and a very little nutmeg, and grated lemon. Meanwhile, grate some white bread, and the moment the mixture boils, put in the bread, keeping it still on the fire. Let it boil fast, and when of a thickness just to allow of drinking it, set it off.

A Nutritious Jelly.

Take of rice, sago, pearl barley, and hartshorn shavings, each an ounce; add three pints of water, simmer it till reduced to one, and then strain it. When cold, it will be a jelly, to be given dissolved in broth, milk, or wine, as directed by the physician.

Caudle.

Into a pint of thin rice gruel put, while it is boiling hot, a mixture made of the yolk of an egg, beaten well with sugar, a large spoonful of cold water, a glass of wine, and some nutmeg. It should be stirred in by degrees.

Rennet Whey.

Wash a piece of rennet an inch or two square, and lay it into half a gill of warm water for an hour. Warm a pint of milk, but do not make it hot; put it into a shallow dish, and stir the rennet-water into it. Let it stand undisturbed half an hour, then cut it across many times with a knife, and after an hour pour off the whey. Let the dish then remain several hours undisturbed, and more whey will be formed.

In cases of great debility of the stomach, consequent upon inflammation, or attended with it, rennet whey will be retained when every thing else is rejected, and may be given, a teaspoonful at the time, very often, in order to prepare the stomach to receive and retain nourishment.

Apple Tea.

Roast sour apples and pour boiling water upon them. Let them stand till the water is cold.

Another.

Pare and slice thin three or four pleasant sour apples, pour a pint of boiling water on them, and boil them six or eight minutes. Let them stand till they are cold, then pour or strain off the water, and sweeten it a little, unless the invalid prefers it without. It is a refreshing drink.

A Refreshing Draught in a Fever.

Wash a few sprigs of sage, burnet, balm, and sorrel, and put them into a jug with half a sliced lemon. Pour in three pints of boiling water, sweeten it, and stop it close.

Crust Coffee.

Take a large crust of bread; brown is to be preferred, but Graham bread will answer. Dry it in the toaster, and at last almost burn both sides; lay it in a saucepan and pour boiling water on it; boil it up a minute or two, and then strain off the coffee; return it to the saucepan with a little milk or cream, and boil it up again. It should be made strong enough to look like real coffee, of which it is a very good imitation when well made.

Toast Water.

Toast a crust of white bread very brown without burning it, and put it into cold water. After an hour, the water will be a refreshing drink; and it is sometimes grateful to the stomach when no other can be taken.

Herb Drinks.

Herb drinks should be made with boiling water in an earthen pitcher or tea-pot, and be drank after standing a few minutes without boiling. Long steeping makes them insipid and disagreeable.

All food and drink for the sick should be prepared with careful attention and perfect neatness, and should be served in as inviting a manner as possible. The appetite of an invalid is excited or checked by things that escape the observation of a person in health.

Food for a Young Infant.

Pour four spoonfuls of boiling water upon one of sweet cream, and add a very little loaf sugar. This receipt was given by an experienced physician, and has been proved, to be entirely suited to the stomach of the youngest infant. But care must be taken to secure good cream; and this can be done only by providing new milk every day, from one cow. Mixed milk cannot be safely used for a little infant.

For a child just weaned.

There is always danger, especially in warm weather, that the stomach, even of a healthy child, will become disordered by being weaned; and it is important to guard against the evil, by careful attention to the diet, for a little while. Boil every morning new milk enough to last twenty-four hours, and stir into it the best of arrow-root wet in cold water, in the proportion of a large teaspoonful to a quart. Add a very little salt, and boil it up again for one minute, then set it in a cold place.

Flour Gruel (for children sick with teething complaints).

Tie up in a piece of thick cotton cloth a coffee-cup of white flour. Put it into boiling water, and keep it boiling steadily three hours. Then remove the cloth and lay the lump where it will become perfectly dry. To use it, grate it and thicken two gills of boiling milk with a dessert spoonful of it wet in cold water. Put a little salt in the milk. This is excellent food for feeble children.

[The value of the following receipts has been proved in the successful rearing of very feeble infants by the use of them. Several mothers have gratefully testified to their excellence, especially for children reduced to extreme debility by teething complaints. After weighing the articles a few times it will be easy to proportion the ingredients by measure].

Food for an Infant at successive periods.

For the first three months:—5 grains of gelatine; 25 grains of arrow-root; 2 gills of milk; 1 gill of cream; 1½ pints of water.

From three to six months:—gelatine, arrow-root, and water, as above; 3 gills of milk; 1 gill of cream.

From six to nine months:—gelatine, arrow-root, and water, as above; 1 pint of milk; 1½ gills of cream.

From nine to twelve months:—gelatine, arrow-root, and water, as above; 1¼ pints of milk; 1¼ or 2 gills of cream.

If the child is feeble, use in each case one quart of water.

Put the gelatine into 1¼ pints of hot water, and when it boils add the arrow-root dissolved in a gill of cold water. When this has boiled five minutes, add the milk, and when it boils again pour in the cream. Take it from the fire, and sweeten with loaf sugar until it is slightly sweeter than cow's milk. Strain if necessary, through fine muslin, and stir occasionally while cooling. If the child is constipated, use a little more cream, or sweeten with brown sugar. In the opposite case, use a little less cream. This food should be prepared once in twenty-four hours; in warm weather, twice, unless kept in a very cool place.