Common-sense papers on cookery

To make nice mince for an invalid, the meat must be minced raw. It must then be sprinkled with a little salt, moistened with a little good broth, and warmed slowly with the greatest care, as, should the broth boil for one second, the mince will be rendered tough and indigestible. It is obvious that mince made this way differs enormously from the ordinary Common-sense Cookery. mince. A very few minutes is sufficient, if the meat has been minced fine, to cook it — in fact, as soon as it is hot it is done. Mince made in this manner is exceedingly nutritious, and it will often be found that weak digestions can take this when they can take nothing else. Our two next preparations will be barley-water and toast-and-water. Two very simple things, it will probably be thought, and very unnecessary to describe. I will describe them, however, first as they generally are, and next as they ought to be. How very often do you find the barley-water dirty ! For instance, when you drink it out of a tumbler, you come to some black-looking stuff at the bottom. Again, how often do you find the toast-and-water thick, instead of bright ! and far less appetising is it when it is so. Now both these defects arise from thoughtlessness or want of care. First, then, barley-water. Take a couple of ounces of pearl barley and wash it thoroughly, and then place it in some boiling water, and boil it for about ten minutes. This has the effect of dissolving the outside of the barley. Strain it off, and put it into a couple of quarts of fresh boiling water, and let it boil gently till it has nearly half boiled away. Then strain it off, and flavour it with a little sugar and lemon-juice, putting in a small piece of peel. Barley-water is often made Food for Invalids. 249 too thick. Patients, especially feverish ones, want something to drink. By adding water to it, it can, of course, be made as thin as wished. Barley-water should be kept in a jug, with a spoon in it, and stirred up each time before it is poured out, and only the quantity required poured out, as it settles and does not look nice — milky at the bottom and watery at the top. Next, toast-and-water. First, “how not to do it.” You will find a servant generally cut off a knobby piece of crust, stick a toasting-fork in it, and toast it very black, put this in a jug, and pour boiling water over it, and this great hunk of bread will be floating at the top. This toast-and-water will be poor, muddy-looking, and have a slightly floury taste. The proper method is to cut the bread thin, and toast both sides thoroughly, and also have plenty of it. Let the bread be toasted through — i.e., let the bread be toasted so as to be thoroughly dried up. Then pour the boiling water on it, and, if liked, add a small piece of lemonpeel. Let this be carefully drained off, so that no crumbs remain in the fluid after it has got cold ; and this toast-and-water, which will look bright like sherry, will be a welcome draught to the feverish invalid. To make bread-and-milk, you must cut the bread up into small square pieces, and pour boiling milk on Common-sense Cookery. them. There are a good many persons who don’t fancy bread-and-milk, who yet will take toast-and-milk. For this purpose you must pour the boiling milk over small pieces of toast similar to those that would be handed round with pea-soup.