Beat an egg with a heaped tea-spoonful of sugar; stir it into a tea-cupful of boiling milk, and stir till it is thick; pour it in a bowl on a slice of toast cut up, and grate a little nutmeg over.
Panada.
Put some crackers, crusts of dry bread or dried rusk, in a sauce-pan with cold water, and a few raisins; after it has boiled half an hour, put in sugar, nutmeg, and half a gla.s.s of wine, if the patient has no fever.
If you have dried rusk, it is a quicker way to put the rusk in a bowl with some sugar, and pour boiling water on it out of the tea-kettle.
If the patient can take nothing but liquids, this makes a good drink when strained.
Egg Panada.
Boil a handful of good raisins in a quart of water; toast a slice of bread and cut it up; beat two eggs with a spoonful of sugar, and mix it with the bread; when the raisins are done, pour them on the toast and eggs, stirring all the time; season to your taste with wine, nutmeg and b.u.t.ter.
Oat-meal Gruel.
Mix two spoonsful of oat-meal, with as much water as will mix it easily, and stir it in a pint of boiling water in a sauce-pan until perfectly smooth; let it boil a few minutes; season it with sugar and nutmeg, and pour it out on a slice of bread toasted and cut up, or some dried rusk.
If the patient should like them, you can put in a few raisins, stoned and cut up. This will keep good a day, and if nicely warmed over, is as good as when fresh.
Corn Gruel.
Mix two spoonsful of sifted corn-meal in some water; have a clean skillet with a pint of boiling water in it; stir it in, and when done, season it with salt to your taste, or sugar, if you prefer it;
Arrow-root.
Moisten two tea-spoonsful of powdered arrow-root with water, and rub it smooth with a spoon; then pour on half a pint of boiling water; season it with lemon juice, or wine and nutmeg. In cooking arrow-root for children, it is a very good way to make it very thick, and thin it afterwards with milk.
Sago.
Wash, the sago, (allowing two table-spoonsful to a quart of water,) and soak it an hour; boil it slowly till it thickens; sweeten it with loaf-sugar, and season it with wine or lemon juice.
Tapioca Jelly.
Wash the tapioca well, and let it soak for several hours in cold water; put it in a sauce-pan with the same water, and let it boil slowly till it is clear and thick; then season it with wine and loaf-sugar. The pearl tapioca will require less time to soak, and no washing. Allow three table-spoonsful of tapioca to a quart of water.
Milk Porridge.
Put half a pint of milk, and the same of water, in a sauce-pan to boil; mix two spoonsful of wheat flour in milk till very smooth, and stir in when it boils; keep stirring it five minutes, when pour it in a bowl and season with salt.
Barley Water.
Boil two table-spoonsful of barley in a quart of water; it is a cooling drink in fevers. If the weather is cold, you can make a larger quant.i.ty.
Some boil whole raisins with barley; take it with or without seasoning.
To Poach Eggs.
Put a pint of water in a clean skillet, with a little b.u.t.ter and salt; when it boils, break two eggs in a plate, and put them in; in about a minute, take them up on a plate, in which there is a slice of bread toasted and b.u.t.tered. This is a very delicate way of cooking eggs.
Barley Panada.
Boil a small tea-cup of barley in water till it is soft, with a tea-cup of raisins; put in nutmeg and sugar, and break in it toast or dried rusk.
Calf"s Foot Blancmange.
Put a set of nicely cleaned feet in four quarts of water, and let it boil more than half away; strain through a colander, and when it is cold, sc.r.a.pe off all the fat, and take out that which settles at the bottom; put it in a sauce-pan, with a quart of new milk, sugar to your taste, lemon peel and juice, and cinnamon or mace; let it boil ten minutes and strain it; wet your moulds, and when it is nearly cold put it in them; when it is cold and stiff it can be turned out on a plate, and eaten with or without cream. This is very nice for a sick person, and is easily made.
Cream Toast.
Cut a slice of stale bread, and wet it with cream; toast it slowly and b.u.t.ter it; this is very nice for an invalid, and an agreeable change.
Milk Toast &c.
Boil a tea-cup of milk, and put in a spoonful of b.u.t.ter; toast a slice of bread and moisten it with water, then pour on the boiling milk. This is very good for sick persons, and can be eaten without much exertion.
In making water-toast, the b.u.t.ter should be melted in boiling water, and put on while hot.
To Stew Dried Beef.
Chip some beef very thin, pour hot water on it, and let it stand a minute or two, then drain it off, and stew it in a skillet with a little cream and b.u.t.ter. If it is preferred dry, it may be fried in b.u.t.ter alone.
To Stew Ham, &c.
Cut a slice of ham into small pieces, and pour boiling water on it; let it soak a few minutes to extract the salt, and stew it in a little water; just before it is done, put in some cream and parsley.
If you broil ham that is uncooked, it should always be soaked in water a few minutes.
To Stew Chickens or Birds.
When sick persons are tired of broiled chickens, or birds, it is well to stew them for a change; the wing, with part of the breast of a chicken, will make a meal; stew it in a little water, and put in parsley, cream, pepper and salt, just as it is done.
Chicken Water.
If you have a small chicken, it will take half of it to make a pint of chicken water. Cut it up and put it to boil in a covered skillet with a quart of water; when it has boiled down to a pint, take it up, and put in a little salt and slice of toasted bread. This is valuable in cases of dysentery and cholera morbus, particularly when made of old fowls.