Foods and home making

Season a gruel carefully. Not much seasoning should be used for a sick person, but some is necessary to make it taste good. For variety, whole spices are sometimes cooked with the cereal. The spice, of course, is removed when the gruel is strained. 5. Make beef tea as follows : Soak i pound of lean chopped beef in water for at least i hour. (Put the mixture in a cool place while it is soaking.) Cook the meat in the top of a double boiler. Stir constantly while cooking. Cook it only a short time. Strain through a coarse strainer. Season slightly ; serve at once. Beef juice is prepared by cutting meat into pieces and heating them slightly. Then the juice is pressed from the meat with a potato masher or a meat press. Usually no water is added to it. 6. Fruit juices. Usually a sick person does not care for sweet foods. Fruit juices, however, are generally acceptable because they contain acid along with sugar. Orange juice is an especially valuable sick-room food because it is rich in vitamin C and in mineral matter. What is a soft diet? A soft or semisolid diet offers a greater variety than a liquid diet. The usual food for a soft diet furnishes about 2000 calories. A soft diet includes : 1 . Softened toast. Toasted bread is softened with hot milk, hot water, or hot meat broth. The toast is usually buttered before the liquid is poured over it. It may also be cut into cubes so the patient can eat it conveniently. A few grains of salt added to the milk or water poured over toast make it taste better. 2. Eggs. Soft-cooked eggs and omelets (see page 96) are usually included in a soft diet. 3. Thick cereal gruels or strained cereals. These foods served with top milk or cream are usually more appetizing than the thinner gruels. 4. Strained cooked vegetables. Because spinach is such a valuable vegetable, it is often served to a sick person. For a soft diet, the spinach should be pressed through a strainer after it is cooked. It may be served with butter, seasoning, and a few drops of lemon juice, or it may be made into cream soup. (See page 247.) 5. Desserts. A variety of desserts may be used in a soft diet. Suit- able desserts are custards (see page 316), blancmange (see page 3 14), plain gelatin dishes (see page 439), and frozen desserts containing no 484 Health and Child Care solid foods. (See page 569.) None of the desserts prepared for a sick person should be very sweet. A simple dessert may be made by adding a rennet tablet to milk. (You will remember that you experimented with rennet and milk when you were learning about cheese making. See page 254, Experiment 18.) The dessert is prepared as follows : Quarter a rennet tablet. Add it to the cold water. Stir to dissolve the rennet. Heat slowly until lukewarm (not hot) the milk, sugar, and vanilla in a double boiler, stirring constantly. (Test the temperature frequently by dropping the milk on your wrist. See page 500 and Figure 145, page 501. If the milk is overheated and then cooled to lukewarm tem- perature before adding the rennet, the custard will not be as firm as it should be.) At once pour the mixture into a sherbet glass or other serv- ing dish. Do not move until firm — about 10 minutes. After the milk clots, put it in a cold place to chill. Serve with plain or whipped cream.