Part 49 (2/2)

JUNKET, OR MILK CURD.--Heat a cup of fresh milk to 85, add one teaspoonful of the essence of pepsin, and stir just enough to mix thoroughly. Let it stand until firmly curded, and serve.

KOUMISS.--Dissolve one fourth of a two-cent cake of compressed yeast, and two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, in three tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water. Pour this into a quart bottle and add sufficient fresh, sweet milk to nearly fill. Shake well, and place in a room of the temperature of 70 to 80 F., and allow it to ferment about six hours.

Cork tightly and tie the cork in. Put in a cool place, act above 60 and let it remain a week, when it will be ready for use. In making koumiss be sure that the milk is pure, the bottle sound, and the yeast fresh.

Open the bottle with a champagne tap. If there is any curd or thickening resembling cheese, the fermentation has been prolonged beyond the proper point, and the koumiss should not be used.

MILK AND LIME WATER.--In cases where milk forms large curds, or sours in the stomach, lime water prepared in the following manner may be added to the milk before using:--

Into a gallon jar of water, put a piece of lime the size of one's fist.

Cover the jar and let the lime settle over night. In the morning, draw the water off the top with a syphon, being careful not to move the jar so as to mix again the particles of lime with the water.

Two tablespoonfuls of the lime water is usually sufficient for a pint of milk.

PEPTONIZED MILK FOR INFANTS.--One gill of cows' milk, fresh and unskimmed; one gill of pure water; two tablespoonfuls of rich, sweet cream; two hundred grains of milk sugar, one and one fourth grains of _extractum pancreatis_; four grains of sodium bicarbonate. Put the above in a clean nursing bottle, and place the bottle in water so warm that the whole hand cannot be held in it longer for one minute without pain.

Keep the milk at this temperature for exactly twenty minutes. Prepare fresh just before using.

BEEF-TEA, BROTHS, ETC.

Beef tea and meat broths are by no means so useful as foods for the sick as is generally supposed. The late Dr. Austin Flint used to say of these foods, that ”the valuation by most persons outside of the medical profession, and by many within it, of beef tea or its a.n.a.logues, the various solutions, most of the extracts, and the expressed juice of meat, is a delusion and a snare which has led to the loss of many lives by starvation.

”The quant.i.ty of nutritive material in these preparations is insignificant or nil, and it is vastly important that they should be reckoned as of little or no value, except as indirectly conducive to nutrition by acting as stimulants for the secretion of the digestive fluids, or as vehicles for the introduction of the nutritive substances.

Furthermore, it is to be considered that water and pressure not only fail to extract the alimentary principles of meat, but that the excrement.i.tious principles, or the products of destructive a.s.similation, _are_ thereby extracted.”

Vegetable broths prepared from grains and legumes possess a much higher nutritive value, while they lack the objectionable features of meat broths.

_RECIPES._

BEEF EXTRACT.--Take a pound of lean beef, cut it up into small dice, and put into a gla.s.s fruit jar. Screw on the cover tightly, put the jar into a vessel filled with cold water to a depth sufficient to come to the top of contents of the jar, and set over a slow fire. As soon as the water boils, set where it will keep just boiling, but no more; and cook for an hour or an hour and a quarter. Then strain, season, and serve. If preferred, a double boiler may be used for the preparation of the extract.

BEEF JUICE.--Cut a thick slice of round steak, trim off every particle of fat, and broil it over a clear fire just long enough to heat it throughout. Next gash it in many places with a sharp knife, and with the aid of a beef-juice press or lemon squeezer, press out all the juice into a bowl set in hot water, salt but very slightly, remove all globules of fat, and serve. This may also be frozen and given the patient in small lumps, if so ordered.

BEEF TEA.--Take a pound of fresh, lean, juicy beef of good flavor,--the top of the round and the back and middle of the rump are the best portions for the purpose,--from which all fat, bones, and sinews have been carefully removed; cut into pieces a quarter of an inch square, or grind in a sausage-cutter. Add a quart of cold water, and put into a clean double boiler. Place over the fire, and heat very slowly, carefully removing all sc.u.m as it rises. Allow it to cook gently for two or three hours, or until the water has been reduced one half. Strain, and put away to cool. Before using, remove all fat from the surface, and season. In reheating, a good way is to place a quant.i.ty in a cup, and set the cup into hot water until the tea is sufficiently hot. This prevents waste, and if the patient is not ready for the tea, it can be easily kept hot.

BEEF TEA AND EGGS.--Beat the yolk of an egg thoroughly in a teacup and fill the cup with boiling beef tea, stirring all the while. Season with a little salt if desired.

BEEF BROTH AND OATMEAL.--Rub two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal smooth in an equal quant.i.ty of cold water, and stir into a quart of boiling beef broth. Cook in a double broiler for two hours, strain, and season with salt and a little cream if allowed. Or, thin well-cooked oatmeal mush with beef-tea; strain, reheat, season, and serve.

BOTTLED BEEF TEA.--Cut two pounds of round steak into small dice, rejecting all skin and fat. Put it into a gla.s.s fruit jar with one cup of cold water. Cover the can sufficiently tight to prevent any water from boiling in, and place it on a wisp of straw or a m.u.f.fin ring in a kettle of cold water. Heat very gradually, and keep it just below the boiling point for two or more hours; or, place the can in a deep dish of hot water, and cook in a moderate oven for three hours. Allow the meat to cook thus four or five hours, or until it appears white, by which time it will have discharged all its juice. Turn the liquor off, strain through a piece of muslin or cheese cloth laid in a colander, and cool; then if any fat has been left, it will harden on the top, and can be removed. When needed for use, reheat, season, and serve.

CHICKEN BROTH.--Take a well dressed, plump spring chicken, cut it into half-inch pieces, cracking well all the bones; add cold water,--a quart to the pound of meat and bones,--and cook the same as beef-tea.

Allow the broth to cool before using, and carefully skim off all particles of fat before reheating. If allowed, a tablespoonful of steamed rice may be added to the broth, or a well-beaten egg may be stirred in while hot just before serving. Heat until the whole becomes thickened, but do not boil.

If preferred, the broth may be prepared by using only the white portion of the chicken in connection with lean beef. This is liked better by some to whom the strong flavor of the chicken is not pleasant. Or, prepare equal quant.i.ty of rich milk, season with salt, reheat, and serve. The broth may be flavored with celery if allowed.

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