RENNET WHEY.
Wash a small bit of rennet about two inches square, in cold water, to get off the salt. Put it into a tea-cup and pour on it sufficient lukewarm water to cover it. Let it stand all night, and in the morning stir the rennet water into a quart pitcher of warm milk. Cover it, and set it near the fire till a firm curd is formed. Pour off the whey from it, and it will be found an excellent and cooling drink. The curd may be eaten (though not by a sick person) with wine, sugar, and nutmeg.
CALF"S FEET BROTH.
Boil two calf"s feet in two quarts of water, till the liquid is reduced one half, and the meat has dropped to pieces. Then strain it into a deep dish or pan, and set it by to get cold. When it has congealed, take all the fat carefully off; put a tea-cupful of the jelly into a sauce-pan, and set it on hot coals. When it has nearly boiled, stir in by degrees the beaten yolk of an egg, and then take it off immediately. You may add to it a little sugar, and some grated lemon-peel and nutmeg.
CHICKEN BROTH AND PANADA.
Cut up a chicken, season it with a very little salt, and put it into three quarts of water. Let it simmer slowly till the flesh drops to pieces. You may make chicken panada or gruel of the same fowl, by taking out the white meat as soon as it is tender, mincing it fine, and then pounding it in a mortar, adding as you pound it, sufficient of the chicken water to moisten the paste.
You may thin it with water till it becomes liquid enough to drink.
Then put it into a sauce-pan and boil it gently a few minutes.
Taken in small quant.i.ties, it will be found very nutritious. You may add to it a little grated lemon-peel and nutmeg.
VEGETABLE SOUP.
Take a white onion, a turnip, a pared potato, and a head of celery, or a large tea-spoonful of celery seed. Put the vegetables whole into a quart of water, (adding a little salt,) and boil it slowly till reduced to a pint. Make a slice of nice toast; lay it in the bottom of a bowl, and strain the soup over it.
ONION SOUP.
Put half a pound of the best fresh b.u.t.ter into a stew-pan on the fire, and let it boil till it has done making a noise; then have ready twelve large onions peeled and cut small; throw them into the b.u.t.ter, add a little salt, and stew them a quarter of an hour.
Then dredge in a little flour, and stir the whole very hard; and in five minutes pour in a quart of boiling water, and some of the upper crust of bread, cut small. Let the soup boil ten minutes longer, stirring it often; and after you take it from the fire, stir in the yolks of two beaten eggs, and serve it up immediately,
In France this soup is considered a fine restorative after any unusual fatigue. Instead of b.u.t.ter, the onions may be boiled in veal or chicken broth.
TOAST AND WATER.
Toast some slices of bread very nicely, without allowing them to burn or blacken. Then put them into a pitcher, and fill it up with boiling water. Let it stand till it is quite cold; then strain it, and put it into a decanter. Another way of preparing toast and water is to put the toasted bread into a mug and pour cold water on it. Cover it closely, and let it infuse for at least an hour.
Drink it cold.
APPLE WATER.
Pare and slice a fine juicy apple; pour boiling water over it, cover it, and let it stand till cold.
TAMARIND WATER.
Put tamarinds into a pitcher or tumbler till it is one-third full; then fill it up with cold water, cover it, and let it infuse for a quarter of an hour or more.
Currant jelly or cranberry juice mixed with water makes a pleasant drink for an invalid.
MOLa.s.sES POSSETS.
Put into a sauce-pan a pint of the best West India mola.s.ses; a tea-spoonful of powdered white ginger; and a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter. Set it on hot coals, and simmer it slowly for half an hour; stirring it frequently. Do not let it come to a boil.
Then stir in the juice of two lemons, or two table-spoonfuls of vinegar; cover the pan, and let it stand by the fire five minutes longer. This is good for a cold. Some of it may be taken warm at once, and the remainder kept at hand for occasional use.
It is the preparation absurdly called by the common people a stewed quaker.
Half a pint of strained honey mixed cold with the juice of a lemon, and a table-spoonful of sweet oil, is another remedy for a cold; a tea-spoonful or two to be taken whenever the cough is troublesome.
FLAX-SEED LEMONADE.
To a large table-spoonful of flax-seed allow a tumbler and a half of cold water. Boil them together till the liquid becomes very sticky. Then strain it hot over a quarter of a pound of pulverized sugar candy, and an ounce of pulverized gum arabic. Stir it till quite dissolved, and squeeze into it the juice of a lemon.
This mixture has frequently been found an efficacious remedy for a cold; taking a wine-gla.s.s of it as often as the cough is troublesome.
COCOA.
Put into a sauce-pan two ounces of good cocoa (the chocolate nut before it is ground) and one quart of water. Cover it, and as soon as it has come to a boil, set it on coals by the side of the fire, to simmer for an hour or more. Take it hot with dry toast.
COCOA Sh.e.l.lS.
These can be procured at the princ.i.p.al grocers and confectioners, or at a chocolate manufactory. They are the thin sh.e.l.ls that envelope the chocolate kernel, and are sold at a low price; a pound contains a very large quant.i.ty. Soak them in water for five or six hours or more, (it will be better to soak them all night,) and then boil them in the same water. They should boil two hours.
Strain the liquid when done, and let it be taken warm.
RAW EGG.
Break a fresh egg into a saucer, and mix a little sugar with it; also, if approved, a small quant.i.ty of wine. Beat the whole to a strong froth. It is considered a restorative.
SODA WATER.
To forty grains of carbonate of soda, add thirty grains of tartaric acid in small crystals. Fill a soda bottle with spring water, put in the mixture, and cork it instantly with a well-fitting cork.
SEIDLITZ POWDERS.
Fold in a white paper one drachm of Roch.e.l.le salts. In a blue paper a mixture of twenty grains of tartaric acid, and twenty-five grains of carbonate of soda. They should all be pulverized very fine. Put the contents of the white paper into a tumbler not quite half full of cold water, and stir it till dissolved. Then put the mixture from the blue paper into another tumbler with the same quant.i.ty of water, and stir that also. When the powders are dissolved in both tumblers, pour the first into the other, and it will effervesce immediately. Drink it quickly while foaming.
BITTERS.
Take two ounces of gentian root, an ounce of Virginia snake root, an ounce of the yellow paring of orange peel, and half a drachm of cochineal. Steep these ingredients, for a week or more, in a quart of Madeira or sherry wine, or brandy. When they are thoroughly infused, strain and filter the liquor, and bottle it for use. This is considered a good tonic, taken in a small cordial gla.s.s about noon.
ESSENCE OF PEPPERMINT.