Having once had the experience of being very sick in one of the most elegant of city hotels, where meal seemed to succeed meal with hardly any intermission the whole day through, and every imaginable dainty that could tempt the healthy appetite was obtainable, there was positively nothing at all found suited to the simple tastes of the sick. We would not have it so in our menage. For, if at- tention to the preparation of food where the well are con- cerned is a duty, how much more imperative does it be- come in case of those upon whom disease has laid its hand. We will not, then, close our cookery book without append- ing a few recipes meant especially to meet the wants of a sick-room, although we may not hope, within the limits of one brief chapter, to cover the ground so completely as we could desire. 806 VIRQINIA COOKERY-BOOK. Beef Essence. Chop up as fine as possible one and a half to two pounds of the fleshy part of beef; wash it, and put it immediately into a wide-mouthed vessel of glass or stone, adding no water but what adheres from the process of washing; cork tightly, and put over the fire in a stewpan of cold water, that must be brought gradually to a boil and kept boiling for three or four hours steadily. The above quan- tity of meat will furnish nutriment for an ill person for twenty-four hours. A little salt may be added in almost every case, and sometimes a little flavoring of celery✪ Beef Essence is admissible. Chicken Essence, ob Tea. For a very sick person choose a full-grown fowl, the juice being more nutritious ; chop it up fine with a meat- axe, bones and all, and put it into a wide-mouthed bottle closely stopped, with no water but what has adhered after washing ; set the bottle into a pan of cold water, and let it boil around it for several hours. In some cases this is preferable to beef tea ; but when to use one or the other it is the part of the physician to decide. Beef Tea, No. 1. (ProfesBor Marshall.) Take one pound of beef, free from fat; cut it into small pieces, and then submit it for three hours, each time in succession, to half its weight in water — half a pint of cold^ of warm, and of hoiliiig water. The fluids strained off from the first and second infusions are to be mixed with that strained off hot from the third, or boiling process, and the mixture should be just brought to a boiling heat to cook VIRGINIA COOKMRT-BOOK. 807 it ; the fat should be skimmed off ; a few drops of some acid (when admissible), with a very little salt, will improve the flavor. ^ ,« ^^ Bbsf Tba, No. 2. Two pounds of beef, without fat or bone ; half a breakfast- cup of cold water; place it in a jar, close covered, within a saucepan of water; place it where it may simmer gently for at least four hours. Chicken Soup. For an invalid who needs plain, nourishing diet, but at the same time is not very sick, take a half -grown fowl, or spring chicken, and cut it up into eight pieces ; put this meat into a stewpan of suitable size, and cover with cold water — about a quart will sufl5.ce; set it on the back part of the stove and let it simmer, but not boil, for two hours. Half an hour before it is needed add a gill of rice and put in salt to the taste ; thicken with a very little flour made into a paste with cold water before putting it into the soup, and add a flavoring of parsley chopped up, or celery, whichever is preferred ; skim off the grease very carefully. For a richer soup, the yolk of an eg^ beaten may be added to the thickening. Half this quantity will be enough to serve at one time. Panada, No. 1.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Having once had the experience of being very sick in one of the most elegant of city hotels, where meal seemed to succeed meal with hardly any intermission the whole day through, and every imaginable dainty that could tempt the healthy appetite was obtainable, there was positively nothing at all found suited to the simple tastes of the sick. We would not have it so in our menage. For, if attention to the preparation of food where the well are concerned is a duty, how much more imperative does it become in case of those upon whom disease has laid its hand. We will not, then, close our cookery book without appending a few recipes meant especially to meet the wants of a sick-room, although we may not hope, within the limits of one brief chapter, to cover the ground so completely as we could desire. Beef Essence. Chop up as fine as possible one and a half to two pounds of the fleshy part of beef; wash it, and put it immediately into a wide-mouthed vessel of glass or stone, adding no water but what adheres from the process of washing; cork tightly, and put over the fire in a stewpan of cold water, that must be brought gradually to a boil and kept boiling for three or four hours steadily. The above quantity of meat will furnish nutriment for an ill person for twenty-four hours. A little salt may be added in almost every case, and sometimes a little flavoring of celery is admissible. Chicken Essence, ob Tea. For a very sick person choose a full-grown fowl, the juice being more nutritious ; chop it up fine with a meataxe, bones and all, and put it into a wide-mouthed bottle closely stopped, with no water but what has adhered after washing ; set the bottle into a pan of cold water, and let it boil around it for several hours. In some cases this is preferable to beef tea ; but when to use one or the other it is the part of the physician to decide. Beef Tea, No. 1. (ProfesBor Marshall.) Take one pound of beef, free from fat; cut it into small pieces, and then submit it for three hours, each time in succession, to half its weight in water — half a pint of cold, of warm, and of boiling water. The fluids strained off from the first and second infusions are to be mixed with that strained off hot from the third, or boiling process, and the mixture should be just brought to a boiling heat to cook it ; the fat should be skimmed off ; a few drops of some acid (when admissible), with a very little salt, will improve the flavor. ^ ,« ^^ Bbsf Tba, No. 2. Two pounds of beef, without fat or bone ; half a breakfastcup of cold water; place it in a jar, close covered, within a saucepan of water; place it where it may simmer gently for at least four hours. Chicken Soup. For an invalid who needs plain, nourishing diet, but at the same time is not very sick, take a half -grown fowl, or spring chicken, and cut it up into eight pieces ; put this meat into a stewpan of suitable size, and cover with cold water — about a quart will sufl5.ce; set it on the back part of the stove and let it simmer, but not boil, for two hours. Half an hour before it is needed add a gill of rice and put in salt to the taste ; thicken with a very little flour made into a paste with cold water before putting it into the soup, and add a flavoring of parsley chopped up, or celery, whichever is preferred ; skim off the grease very carefully. For a richer soup, the yolk of an eg^ beaten may be added to the thickening. Half this quantity will be enough to serve at one time. Panada, No. 1.

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Beef EssenceChicken Essence or TeaBeef Tea, No. 1Chicken SoupPanada, No. 1Panada, No. 2Rusk Panada

Virginia Cookery-book