The American Pictorial Home Book
or Housekeeper's Encyclopedia - online book

A reference manual of household management in Victorian times.

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COOKING FOR INVALIDS.                               371
poor like it, and are nourished by it the fat should not be taken off the broth or soup. There is not a better occasion for charita­ble commiseration than when a person is sick ; a bit of meat or pudding sent unexpectedly has often been the means of recalling long-lost appetite.
Nor are the indigent alone the grateful receivers; for in the highest houses a real good, sick cook is rarely met with, and many who possess all the goods of fortune have attributed the the first return of health to an appetite excited by " kitchen physic."
It rarely happens that servants do not second the kindness of their superiors to the poor; but should the cook in any family think the adoption of this plan too troublesome, a gratuity at the end of the winter might repay her, if the love of her fellow creatures fail of doing it a hundred-fold. Did she readily enter into it, she would never wash away as useless the peas or grits of which soup or gruel had been made ; broken potatoes, the green heads of celery, the necks, heads and feet of fowls, the shanks of mutton, and various other articles, which, in preparing dinner for the family, are thrown aside.
An Excellent Soup for the Weakly.—Put 2 cowheels and a breast of mutton into a large pan with 4 ounces of rice, 1 onion, 20 very small red or green peppers, and 20 black ; a turnip, a carrot and 4 gallons of water; cover with brown paper and bake 6 hours. Caudle for the Sick and Lying-in.—Set 3 quarts of water on the fire, mix smooth as much oat meal as will thicken the whole with a pint of cold water; when boiling pour the latter in and 20 very small Jamaica peppers in fine powder; boil to a middling thickness, then add sugar, a cupful of well fermented table beer and a glass of gin ; boil all. This mess of broth taken once or twice will be of incalculable service.
Scotch Brewis.—A strengthening dish.-Pour the desired quantity of boiling milk into the proper quantity of oatmeal in a bowl and stir it till it somewhat cools, add a pinch of salt, and without further preparation eat it. It is very sustaining.
Presents of bed-clothing, cast-off garments, such as old flannels, stockings, socks, body linen, shoes, bonnets, &c, are often very ac­ceptable to the poor, particularly in winter, when a warm wrapping of any kind, or some fuel would augment their comfort immeasura­bly.
Milk Porridge.—Great care should be bestowed on the quality of the milk used for invalids and infants. First, especially, that the milk be fresh and sweet, for a smaller proportion of fresh, new milk diluted with water is greatly prefirable to a larger quantity of that from which the cream has been removed. Second, that it is by all