The fats for the system are best obtained by using cream, or butter which is next best, rather than fatty meats. Do not have the butter made into a sauce, nor melted and soaked into food. When exposed to heat (as for buttered toast) it is very likely to disagree with dys- peptics and other invalids. All decomposing fats, as a rule, disagree with the stomach. The value of cod liver oil in many diseases con- sists in the fact that it is the most easily digested of fats, not even excepting cream. Eggs are nutritious and easily digested when raw or lightly cook- ed; they are more digestible if beaten to a froth. Do not submit them to a high temperature in cooking, for, as we explain elsewhere, that will make them tough and indigestible. The white is least likely to disagree with a bilious patient. Use only fresh eggs for invalids. Eggs boiled 20 minutes are more digestible than when boiled 10; boiled 10 minutes, they become tough and horny, but become mealy and dry when cooked 20 minutes, and crumble up readily so that they are easily acted on by the gastric juices. Eggs in the tough and horny state are insoluble, and pieces often stay in the digestive tract till they decompose, when they emit ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen which are injurious to the system. Beef Tea is not a nourishing food, although it used to be so con- sidered, and it is now known to have more value as a stimulant than as food, properly speaking, and yet many persons place their main reliance on it, and think the more a patient swallows the sooner he will recover. It should be combined with other foods, or given alter- nately when possible, and when containing farinaceous foods it is 37 578 INVALID COOKERY useful. If well made, it is a pleasant and refreshing beverage. A healthy man would starve on beef tea alone, and so would an invalid. Broth made from chicken is more nutritious than that made from either beef or mutton, and the sick often find it very useful. The meat extracts, (Liebig's and others) are made by boiling lean meat in water, and then taking out the insoluble parts and evaporating it down. As some of the most nutritious parts of the meat are insol- uble in water the extracts contain comparatively little nourishment. Their principal value is as stimulants, and they often imf)rove the appetite so that more nutritious foods are craved and digested. Other food, therefore, should be given with them. A German took 2 dogs and gave one meat extract and the other water, and nothing else. The one given the extract lost flesh faster and died before the one having only water. Jelly, Gelatine and Isinglass have excited much discussion. Alone they are of little value, and it is a mistake to place much reliance on them for nourishment. (See our remarks on this subject under the head of " Gelatine Preparations.") Toast is valuable for invalids because by toasting part of the starch is. turned into dextrin, which is easily digested. Cut the bread thin, hold it a little ways from the fire to dry, then hold it closer till it browns. Serve it dry, or buttered lightly, or with hot water or milk poured on it.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The fats for the system are best obtained by using cream, or butter which is next best, rather than fatty meats. Do not have the butter made into a sauce, nor melted and soaked into food. When exposed to heat (as for buttered toast) it is very likely to disagree with dyspeptics and other invalids. All decomposing fats, as a rule, disagree with the stomach. The value of cod liver oil in many diseases consists in the fact that it is the most easily digested of fats, not even excepting cream. Eggs are nutritious and easily digested when raw or lightly cooked; they are more digestible if beaten to a froth. Do not submit them to a high temperature in cooking, for, as we explain elsewhere, that will make them tough and indigestible. The white is least likely to disagree with a bilious patient. Use only fresh eggs for invalids. Eggs boiled 20 minutes are more digestible than when boiled 10; boiled 10 minutes, they become tough and horny, but become mealy and dry when cooked 20 minutes, and crumble up readily so that they are easily acted on by the gastric juices. Eggs in the tough and horny state are insoluble, and pieces often stay in the digestive tract till they decompose, when they emit ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen which are injurious to the system. Beef Tea is not a nourishing food, although it used to be so considered, and it is now known to have more value as a stimulant than as food, properly speaking, and yet many persons place their main reliance on it, and think the more a patient swallows the sooner he will recover. It should be combined with other foods, or given alternately when possible, and when containing farinaceous foods it is useful. If well made, it is a pleasant and refreshing beverage. A healthy man would starve on beef tea alone, and so would an invalid. Broth made from chicken is more nutritious than that made from either beef or mutton, and the sick often find it very useful. The meat extracts, (Liebig's and others) are made by boiling lean meat in water, and then taking out the insoluble parts and evaporating it down. As some of the most nutritious parts of the meat are insoluble in water the extracts contain comparatively little nourishment. Their principal value is as stimulants, and they often imf)rove the appetite so that more nutritious foods are craved and digested. Other food, therefore, should be given with them. A German took 2 dogs and gave one meat extract and the other water, and nothing else. The one given the extract lost flesh faster and died before the one having only water. Jelly, Gelatine and Isinglass have excited much discussion. Alone they are of little value, and it is a mistake to place much reliance on them for nourishment. (See our remarks on this subject under the head of " Gelatine Preparations.") Toast is valuable for invalids because by toasting part of the starch is. turned into dextrin, which is easily digested. Cut the bread thin, hold it a little ways from the fire to dry, then hold it closer till it browns. Serve it dry, or buttered lightly, or with hot water or milk poured on it.

The household cook book