The home cook book

fire, and slowly bring the water in the pot to boil. Move the jar now and then so that all the meat in it will have the same exposure to heat. Cook gently for two or three hours. Strain, season with salt, and serve in a hot bowl with toast or breadsticks. QUICK BEEF TEA Cut the steak into small pieces. Heat it thoroughly in a hot saucepan. Squeeze the little pieces one by one in a hot Meat Press meat press or lemon squeezer, and let the juice flow into a bowl which is standing in hot water. Salt to taste. CAUDLE Beat a fresh egg till it is a froth and stir it with a cup of hot gruel. Sweeten to taste, and serve with a dash of nutmeg over the top. CHICKEN BROTH Wash and cut up a full-grown fowl. If you wish a small quantity of broth for a sick person, use only the dark meat, reserving the white meat of the breast and wings for some other small dish. Put the dark meat and broken bones in a pot with a quart of water and bring it slowly to boil, and boil slowly till cooked to rags. Strain, put back and thicken with a tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot stirred smooth in a little cold water. Let the flour cook for a few minutes, and serve hot, slightly salted. GRUELS, BROTHS, CORDIALS 395 MUTTON BARLEY BROTH Take two pounds of the scrag or neck of mutton — using that part because it is lean and gives the sweetness of the bone to the cooking. Wash it, cut it in bits, put it in the pot with two quarts of cold water and bring it slowly to boil. When it boils, skim, drop in four ounces of washed pearl barley, cover tight, and cook slowly two or three hours. Strain, add salt to taste, and serve hot. BLACKBERRY CORDIAL Heat the blackberries and press through a sieve. Strain the juice through a piece of cheesecloth. Take three pints of blackberry juice (it should not be too sweet) and add one pound of loaf sugar. Tie up a small bag of whole cinnamon, allspice, and a smaller quantity of cloves. Boil together the spices and juice twenty minutes slowly. Take off the stove, and flavor with California brandy enough to give a strong flavor. Bottle and cork tight. FLAXSEED TEA OR LEMONADE Blanch two tablespoons of flaxseed and then boil two hours in a quart of water. Keep close covered while boiling. Strain, and add lemon- juice and sugar to taste. HOARHOUND COUGH SYRUP Make one pint of strong hoarhound tea and strain. Dissolve one ounce of gum arable in hot water, add to the tea. Add also one pound of white sugar. Boil to a syrup, skim when you take it from the fire, and add one teaspoon of the tincture of lobelia. JELLY WATER Stir a tablespoon of currant jelly in a tumbler of fresh, cold water. Drop in a small bit of ice and serve. Other jellies may be used — as tart apple jelly, grape jelly, barberry jelly. SLIPPERY ELM BARK TEA Break the bark in small pieces, rinse quickly, and then cover with, fresh, boiling water. Set the bowl in a warm place, put a cover upon it, and let the bark steep or infuse for half an hour. Then set where it will cool. Sweeten to taste, and drop bits of cracked ice in the cup from which it is drunk. XXXVII