Cookery for every household

Time to bake, 5 minutes. Probable cost, 2 d. to 3d. 2638. Prairie Oyster Put into a small cup or glass \ a tea-spoonful of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Then break into it a very fresh egg, and let it be swallowed whole. This is considered one of the lightest ways of serving an egg. If preferred, the yolk only of the egg may be used. 2639. Peptonised Milk | pt. fresh milk. | pt. water. 2 tea-sps. of Liquor pancreaticus. £ a level tea-sp. bicarbonate of soda. Mix the milk with the water, and warm in a saucepan to a temperature of about 140° Fahrenheit, or as hot as can be tasted without burning the mouth, or half the milk may be brought to the boil, and then added to the other half cold. Pour into a jug or basin,and stir in the soda and Liquor pancreaticus (Benger’s). Cover over to keep out any dust, and keep in a warm place or under a tea-cosy. In most cases it is best to allow the digestive process to go on from 10 to 20 minutes, according to the degree of peptonisation or predigestion desired. Partially peptonised milk is scarcely distinguishable from ordinary new milk, and it is very much more easily digested. As the process of peptonisation goes on, a slight bitterness is developed which is unobjectionable to many palates. A few trials will indicate the limit most acceptable to the individual patient. As soon as this is reached, the milk, if not required by the patient at once, must be boiled up to prevent the further action of the Liquor pancreaticus. It will then keep like ordinary milk. If peptonised milk is consumed as soon as the process is carried far enough, it need not undergo any final boiling. In fact, it is better to use it without boiling, because then the halffinished process of digestion will go on for a time in the stomach. Note.— The practical rule for guidance in peptonising milk, or any milk food, is to allow the process to go on until a perceptible bitterness is developed, and not until it is unpleasantly pronounced. In peptonising these it is important not to carry the process so far as to render them unpalatable. The extent of the peptonising process can be regulated either by increasing or diminishing the quantity of the Liquor pancreaticus, or by increasing or diminishing the time during which it is allowed to act upon the food. 2640. Peptonised Gruel, Arrowroot, &c. 1 pt. gruel. I 2 tea-sps. Benger’s | Liquor pancreaticus. The gruel should be well boiled, and made very thick in the same way as Water Gruel. Pour into a jug, and let it cool down to a lukewarm temperature, not exceeding 140° Fahrenheit (60° Centigrade). Add to it the Liquor pancreaticus, and mix it well in ; cover the jug, and keep it warm as before. Stand from £ hour to 1 hour, then bring to the boiling point, and strain. The action of the Liquor pancreaticus on gruel is twofold : the starch of the meal is converted into sugar, and the albuminoid matters are peptonised. The conversion of the starch into sugar causes the gruel, however thick it may have been at starting, to become quite thin. Note. — The gruel need not necessarily be made of - oatmeal ; it may be prepared from any of the numerous farinaceous articles in common use — such as wheaten flour, arrowroot, sago, pearl barley, tapioca, pea or lentil flour, &c. Whichever is used, it must be thoroughly cooked, and then cooled down before the extract is added to it.