Buckeye cookery

Bran Biscuits.—Take cup bran (as prepared by Davis & Taylor, 24 Canal Street, Boston), five cups sifted flour; scald the bran at tea-time with half pint boiling water; when cool, pour it into the middle of the flour, add onehalf cup good yeast (or part of a yeast-cake, soaked till light), one tea-spoon — salt, and two table-spoons sugar; wet with new milk into soft dough, much thicker than batter. Let it stand, covered closely, in a warm place to rise. In the morning, spoon into hot gem or patty-pans, and bake in a quick oven to a brown crust. Part of the dough may be baked in a small loaf to be eaten warm. (It can be made with water by using a little butter, but is not so good.) Any remaining may be split for dinner or toasted for tea. Oat-Meal Wafers.—Use equal parts water and oat-meal, make as thin as you can shake it out on the bottom of pan, so that when done it will not be thicker than a knife-blade anywhere, and in most places you can see daylight through it. Bake very slowly until quite dry, watching that it may not scorch. In taking out it will probably break into many fragments, but they will be delicious ones—not shapely for the table, but so temptingly savored that any delicate person who can eat at all will find them satisfying, nourishing, and easily digested—far better than the standard sick dish called gruel. As for the well folks, put your wafers out of the way if you expect to find any of them for the invalid’s next meal. Blackberry Cordial.—Put a half bushel of blackberries in a preserving-kettle and cook until scalded through well; strain and press out all the juice; put juice in kettle with the following spices well broken up and put into a bag; one-quarter pound allspice, two ounces cinnamon-bark, two ounces cloves, and two nutmegs; add loaf-sugar, about one pound to every quart of juice or more if preferred, and cook slowly ten or fifteen minutes, remove from the fire, let cool a little, and add good pure brandy in the proportion of one pint to every three pints of juice. A smaller quantity may be made, using the same proportions. This is an excellent remedy for diarrhoea and other diseases of the bowels. Good Toast.—Toast slices of bread, scrape off any blackened, charred portion; lay on a soup-plate, pour on cold milk enough to wet through, and leave half an inch or so in depth of milk in the plate. Good milk, with a a Abt Sp ete eee Po ahs he { i aie tots Brad “tN te ae TF M4 9 *- 482 FOOD FOR THE SIOK. (2) 1) ( oe ae little extra cream in it, is all the better, and a very trifle of salt improves it. Put over the toast thus prepared, an inverted large earthen bowl, or tin basin, large enough to cover it and set down upon the plate all round. Put this ina warm, not very hot, stove oven, two, three, or more hours in advance. The milk will cook and evaporate and its substance be condensed in the toast, while the cover will keep the toast moist. Itis then very good without butter, though a little may be used if desired. Beef Broth.—Cut in small pieces one pound of good lean beef; put on in two quarts of cold water and boil slowly, keeping it well covered, one and one-half hours; then add half a tea-cup tapioca, which has been soaked three-quarters of an hour in water enough to cover, and boil half an hour longer. Some add, with the tapioca, a small bit of parsley, and a slice or two of onion. Strain before serving, seasoning slightly with pepper and salt. It is more strengthening to add, just before serving, a soft poached egg. Rice may be used instead of tapioca, straining the broth, and adding one or two table-spoons rice (soaked for a short time), and then boiling half an hour.