Original White House Cookbook

Take one tablespoonful of currant or grape jelly, beat with it the white of one egg and a teaspoonful of sugar; pour on it a teacupful of boiling water, and break in a slice of dry toast or two crackers. CUP CUSTARD. Break into a coffeecup an egg, put in two teaspoonfuls of sugar, beat it up thoroughly, a pinch of salt and a pinch of grated nutmeg ; fill up the cup with good sweet milk, turn it into another cup, well buttered, and set it in a pan of boiling water, reaching nearly to the top of the cup. Set in the oven, and when the custard is set, it is done. Eat cold. CLAM BROTH. Select twelve small, hardshell clams, drain them and chop them fine ; add half a pint of clam juice or hot water, a pinch of cayenne, and a walnut of butter ; simmer thirty minutes, add a gill of boiled milk, strain, and serve. This is an excellent broth for weak stomachs. MILK OR CREAM CODFISH. This dish will often relish when a person is recovering from sickness, when nothing else would. Pick up a large tablespoonful of salt codfish very fine, freshen it considerably by placing it over the fire in a basin, covering it with cold water as it comes to a boil; turn off the water and freshen again if very salt, then turn off the water until dry, and pour over half a cupful of milk or thin cream, add a bit of butter, a sprinkle of pepper, and a thickening made of one teaspoonful of fiour or cornstarch, wet up with a little milk ; when this boils up, turn over a slice of dipped toast. CRACKER PANADA. Break in pieces three or four hard crackers that are baked quite brown, and let them boil fifteen minutes in one quart of water ; then remove from the fire, let them stand three or four minutes, strain off the liquor through a fine wire sieve, and season it with sugar. This is a nourishing beverage for infants that are teething, and with the addition of a little lyine and nutmeg, is often prescribed for invalids recovering from a fever. BREAD PANADA. Put three gills of water and one tablespoonful of white sugar on the fire, and just before it boils add two tablespoonfuls of the crumbs of stale white bread, stir it well, and let it boil three or four minutes, then add one glass of white wine, a grated lemon and a little nutmeg; let it boil up once, then remove it from the fire, and keep it closely covered until it is wanted for use. SLIPPERY-ELM TEA. Put a teaspoonful of powdered slippery-elm into a tumbler, pour cold water upon it, and season with lemon and sugar. TOAST WATER, OR CRUST COFFEE. Take stale pieces of crusts of bread, the end pieces of the loaf, toast them a nice, dark brown, care to be taken that they do not burn in the least, as that affects the flavor. Put the browned crusts into a large milk pitcher, and pour enough boiling water over to cover them; cover the pitcher closely, and let steep until cold. Strain, and sweeten to taste ; put a piece of ice in each glass. This is also good, drank warm with cream and sugar, similar to coffee. PLAIN MILK TOAST. Cut a thin slice from a loaf of stale bread, toast it very quickly, sprinkle a little salt over it, and pour upon it three tablespoonfuls of boiling milk or cream. Crackers split and toasted in this manner, are often very grateful to an invalid. LINSEED TEA.