<h2>FOOD FOR THE SICK.</h2>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Remarks on Preparing Food for the Sick.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Few young persons understand cooking for the sick. It is very
important
to know how to prepare their food in an inviting manner; every thing
should be perfectly clean and nice. Avoid giving an invalid any thing
out of a cup that has been used before; even if it is medicine, it will
not be so hard to take out of a clean cup. It is well to have a stand
or
small table by the bed-side, that you can set any thing on. A small
silver strainer that will just fit over a tumbler or tea-cup, is very
useful to strain lemonade, panada or herb tea.</p>
<p>If you want any thing to use through the night, you should prepare
it,
if possible, beforehand; as a person that is sick, can sometimes fall
asleep without knowing it, if the room is <i>kept perfectly still.</i></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Boiled Custard.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Panada.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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 glass of wine, if the patient
has no fever.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Egg Panada.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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 butter.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Oat-meal Gruel.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Corn Gruel.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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;</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Arrow-root.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Sago.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Tapioca Jelly.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Milk Porridge.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Barley Water.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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
quantity.
Some boil whole raisins with barley; take it with or without seasoning.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Poach Eggs.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Put a pint of water in a clean skillet, with a little butter 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 buttered. This is a very delicate way of cooking eggs.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Barley Panada.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Calf's Foot Blancmange.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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, scrape 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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Cream Toast.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Cut a slice of stale bread, and wet it with cream; toast it slowly
and
butter it; this is very nice for an invalid, and an agreeable change.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Milk Toast &c.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Boil a tea-cup of milk, and put in a spoonful of butter; 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 butter should be melted in boiling water,
and
put on while hot.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Stew Dried Beef.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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 butter. If it is preferred dry, it may be fried in
butter alone.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Stew Ham, &c.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>If you broil ham that is uncooked, it should always be soaked in
water a
few minutes.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>To Stew Chickens or Birds.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Chicken Water.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Beef Feet.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Soak the feet and have them nicely cleaned; boil them slowly, and
take
off the scum as it rises; when they are soft and tender, take them up,
and separate the bones from the glutinous part, which is very nice for
a
sick person, and conveys nutriment in a form that will hardly disagree
with the most delicate stomach, and has been, taken when nearly all
other food was rejected; a few drops of vinegar, and a little salt,
renders it more palatable.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Beef Tea, &c.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Take a piece of juicy beef, without any fat, cut it in small pieces,
bruise it till tender, put it in a wide-mouthed bottle, and cork it
tight; put this in a pot of cold water, set it over the fire, and let
it
boil an hour or more.</p>
<p>When a person can take but a small quantity of nourishment, this is
very
good. Mutton may be done in the same way.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Mutton and Veal Broth.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Boil a piece of mutton till it comes to pieces; then strain the
broth,
and let it get cold, so that the fat will rise, which must be taken
off;
then warm it, and put in a little salt. Veal broth may be made in the
same way, and is more delicate for sick persons.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Wine Whey.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Boil a pint of milk, and put to it a glass of white wine; set it
over
the fire till it just boils again, then set it off till the curd has
settled, when strain it, and sweeten to your taste.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Rennet Whey.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Warm a pint of milk, but do not let it get too hot, or it will spoil
the
taste of the whey. Wash the salt from a piece of rennet the size of a
dollar, and put it in the milk; when it turns, take out the rennet;
wash
and put it in a cup of water, and it will do to use again to make whey.
If you have rennet in a bottle of wine, two tea-spoonsful of it will
make a quart of whey; but if the person has fever, it is best to make
it
without wine.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Mulled Jelly.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Take a table-spoonful of currant or grape jelly, and beat with it
the
white of an egg, and a little loaf-sugar; pour on it half a pint of
boiling water, and break in a slice of dry toast, or two crackers.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Mulled Wine.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Beat together an egg, a glass of wine, and a spoonful of sugar; pour
on
it half a pint of hot water; stir all the time to keep it from
curdling,
and when you pour it in a tumbler, grate a little nutmeg over it.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Toast Water.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Cut slices of bread very thin, and toast dry, but do not let it
burn;
put it in a pitcher, and pour boiling water on it. Toast water will
allay thirst better than almost any thing else. If it is wanted to
drink
through the night, it should always be made early in the evening.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Apple Water, &c.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Roast two apples, mash them and pour a pint of water on them; or
slice
raw apples, and pour boiling water on them.</p>
<p>Tamarinds, currant or grape jelly, cranberries, or dried fruit of
any
kind, make a good drink.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Coffee.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Sick persons should have their coffee made separate from the family,
as
standing in the tin pot spoils the flavor. Put two tea-spoonsful of
ground coffee in a small mug, and pour boiling water on it; let it set
by the fire to settle, and pour it off in a cup, with sugar and cream.
Care should be taken that there are no burnt grains.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Chocolate.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>To make a cup of chocolate, grate a large tea-spoonful in a mug, and
pour a tea-cup of boiling water on it; let it stand covered by the fire
a few minutes, when you can put in sugar and cream.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Black Tea.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>Black tea is much more suitable than green for sick persons, as it
does
not affect the nerves. Pat a tea-spoonful in a pot that will hold about
two cups, and pour boiling water on it. Let it set by the fire to draw
five or ten minutes.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>Rye Mush.</h3>
<p></p>
<p>This is a nourishing and light diet for the sick, and is by some
preferred to mush made of Indian meal. Four large spoonsful of rye
flour
mixed smooth in a little water, and stirred in a pint of boiling water;
let it boil twenty minutes, stirring frequently. Nervous persons who
sleep badly, rest much better after a supper of corn, or rye mush, than
if they take tea or coffee.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<hr>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.