Part 219 (2/2)

TO MAKE BARLEY-WATER.

1857. INGREDIENTS.--2 oz. of pearl barley, 2 quarts of boiling water, 1 pint of cold water.

_Mode_.--Wash the barley in cold water; put it into a saucepan with the above proportion of cold water, and when it has boiled for about 1/4 hour, strain off the water, and add the 2 quarts of fresh boiling water.

Boil it until the liquid is reduced one half; strain it, and it will be ready for use. It may be flavoured with lemon-peel, after being sweetened, or a small piece may be simmered with the barley. When the invalid may take it, a little lemon-juice gives this pleasant drink in illness a very nice flavour.

_Time_.--To boil until the liquid is reduced one half.

_Sufficient_ to make 1 quart of barley-water.

TO MAKE BEEF TEA.

1858. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of lean gravy-beef, 1 quart of water, 1 saltspoonful of salt.

_Mode_.--Have the meat cut without fat and bone, and choose a nice fleshy piece. Cut it into small pieces about the size of dice, and put it into a clean saucepan. Add the water _cold_ to it; put it on the fire, and bring it to the boiling-point; then skim well. Put in the salt when the water boils, and _simmer_ the beef tea _gently_ from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, removing any more sc.u.m should it appear on the surface. Strain the tea through a hair sieve, and set it by in a cool place. When wanted for use, remove every particle of fat from the top; warm up as much as may be required, adding, if necessary, a little more salt. This preparation is simple beef tea, and is to be administered to those invalids to whom flavourings and seasonings are not allowed. When the patient is very low, use double the quant.i.ty of meat to the same proportion of water.

Should the invalid be able to take the tea prepared in a more palatable manner, it is easy to make it so by following the directions in the next recipe, which is an admirable one for making savoury beef tea. Beef tea is always better when made the day before it is wanted, and then warmed up. It is a good plan to put the tea into a small cup or basin, and to place this basin in a saucepan of boiling water. When the tea is warm, it is ready to serve.

_Time_.--1/4 to 3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 6d. per pint.

_Sufficient_.--Allow 1 lb. of meat for a pint of good beef tea.

MISS NIGHTINGALE says, one of the most common errors among nurses, with respect to sick diet, is the belief that beef tea is the most nutritive of all article. She says, ”Just try and boil down a lb. of beef into beef tea; evaporate your beef tea, and see what is left of your beef: you will find that there is barely a teaspoonful of solid nourishment to 1/4 pint of water in beef tea. Nevertheless, there is a certain reparative quality in it,--we do not know what,--as there is in tea; but it maybe safely given in almost any inflammatory disease, and is as little to be depended upon with the healthy or convalescent, where much nourishment is required.”

SAVOURY BEEF TEA.

(_Soyer's Recipe_.)

1859. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of solid beef, 1 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 1 clove, 2 b.u.t.ton onions or 1/2 a large one, 1 saltspoonful of salt, 1 quart of water.

_Mode_.--Cut the beef into very small dice; put it into a stewpan with the b.u.t.ter, clove, onion, and salt; stir the meat round over the fire for a few minutes, until it produces a thin gravy; then add the water, and let it simmer gently from 1/2 to 3/4 hour, skimming off every particle of fat. When done, strain it through a sieve, and put it by in a cool place until required. The same, if wanted quite plain, is done by merely omitting the vegetables, salt, and clove; the b.u.t.ter cannot be objectionable, as it is taken out in skimming.

_Time_.--1/2 to 3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 8d. per pint.

_Sufficient_.--Allow 1 lb. of beef to make 1 pint of good beef tea.

_Note_.--The meat loft from beef tea may be boiled a little longer, and pounded, with spices, &c., for potting. It makes a very nice breakfast dish.

DR. CHRISTISON says that ”every one will be struck with the readiness with which certain cla.s.ses of patients will often take diluted meat juice, or beef tea repeatedly, when they refuse all other kinds of food.” This is particularly remarkable in case of gastric fever, in which, he says, little or nothing else besides beef tea, or diluted meat juice, has been taken for weeks, or even months; and yet a pint of beef tea contains scarcely 1/4 oz. of anything but water. The result is so striking, that he asks, ”What is its mode of action? Not simple nutriment; 1/4 oz.

of the most nutritive material cannot nearly replace the daily wear and tear of the tissue in any circ.u.mstances.” Possibly, he says, it belongs to a new denomination of remedies.

BAKED BEEF TEA.

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