Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-20
FOOD FOR INVALIDS.

FOOD FOR INvALIDS.
Dainty Dishes and Wholesome Beverages.
New York Tribune.
The epigrammatic remark of Lady Mac
beth, ''the sauce to meat is ceremony" ap-
plies with double force to the food of the
invalid's table. How the meal is served is
often as important to the capricious APP
petite as what is served. With dainty sur
roundings the simplest fare becomes luxu-
rious. 1t is often chance that tempts the
appetite. Coarse, roughly served food may
revolt the delicate stomach SO that it is i'm
possible to eat. Upon accidents the ulti-
mate recovery of a sick person often de-
ponds, and badly cooked food will some
times do more harm than the most skilful
physicians medicine can do good. A
person who has long been an invalid
becomes morbidly sensitive about food.
Sick-roOm food, in the generally accepted
form, is distasteful, and there is no
choice between this and the every day
food of the family which is too often coarse
food coarsely cooked. 1t is the rule in too
many households if any of the family are i'll
to serve toast and tea, as it is the rule for
the American breakfast to be a course of
oatmeal. beefsteak, stewed potatoes and
coffee. There is no objection to toast and
tea it the toast be crisp and brown and the
tea delicious, as there is no objection to the
breakfast fare given if the food is we'll
cooked, except that this fare becomes
monotonous served day after day. Good
housekeepers who enjoy providing va
riety of delicious food for their tables
readily find many wholesome dainties
which will tempt the appetite of delicate
persons without having the uncanny
monotonous flavor Of what is known as siok-
room food. Good homemade bread cut in
wafer-like slices is often more appetizing
than toast. A delicate bird, fresh-kiiled
plover or woodcOck, broiled brown and
served on a bed of parsley or on slices of
brown toast, Is as nOurishing aid whole
some to the ordinary convalescent as bowl
of that nondescript fluid prepared usually
OF unsolicited beef, which is the panacea
with a certain class of nurses for all ills. A
delicious chicken soup may be made, with
the addition Of barley. which is nourish-
ing, and with few sippets Of brown toast
floating in it would tempt the most deli
cate appetite. Select fowl at least
year old and not overfat; be careful that it
is freshly killed and has been hung" after
it is killed so that the bird will be properly
drained Of blood. Simmer the fowl after
cutting it in pieces in half q gallon of water
till it is thoroughly cooked, cook a cup of
pearl barley in pint of this broth till it is
done. Strain the chicken broth through 4
napkin, add the barley and the yolks Of
two eggs, beaten carefully into a little of
the broth and add to the whole, beating
well lest they curdle. Serve with tiny
squares of brown toast. Another excel
lent soup which is not generally added to
the list of sick-room food is ''cream OF
rice" Wash and drain quart of good
Carolina rice, put it into the saucepan
with a little nutmeg, butter and two
quarts of beef or stock. While cooking
add salt, stir carefully, boiling slowly for
one hour. Pound to a pulp, dilute with
boiled milk, put through seive and
make the consistency of Il fine PURGE with
boiled milk. Dish with pat of butter,
teaspo onful of sugar and sippets of brown
toast. This is recipe for family, but
may be divided if necessary to make
enough for only one person.
Be exceedingly careful always in select
ing meat for an invalid. Lamb must be
thoroughly cooked to be wholesome. Nut
ton and beef should be cooked rare.
broiled mutton chop carefully trimmed of
fat, if selected of fine Canada mutton.
will be a welcome change instead of beef
steak, and will possess none of the coarse
flavor that is associated with this meat by
people who have eaten the poor scraggy
mutton which is usually served in Ameri-
can markets. Excellent quail, reed birds,
snipe. plover and Southern sora or rail
birds are now found in market. These birds
will be in prime flavor in few weeks,
and will be found delicious addition to
the table of convalesceht. The most del
icate way of serving any small bird is to
broil it and placing it on a pretty China
game-plate, If you have one, serve it with
a salad Of grape fruit on shaddock. This
salad will not injure the most delicate per-
son, as it is simply the fruit of species
of the orange family served au naturel.
Peel the fruit and separate it into lebes,
like the lobes of an orange,tear off all the
white skin that covers these pieces, and
take out the pulps as unbroken as possible
like an orange, and serve on an old blue
china saucer or any pretty porcelain
dish. An acid orange is excellent served
with game. The greatest care must be
observed in buying poultry in New York,
where there is no protection given by law
against the abuse of undrawn birds.
1t is safer to use good meat and drawn
game than to risk the poison which is too
often bought and served with market
poultry. Sometimes thin slices of cold
jellied chicken or tongue, served always
with a bit of green garnish on fine
crystal dish, will be a welcome change in
monotonous fare. Vegetables are usually
sparingly used in the sick room.
Boiled rice, carefully cooked, baked
tomato or potato, and roast Spanish onions
and other vegetables daintily prepared,
are occasionally allowed on the invalids
table. There is a great variety of dainty
buildings which are nourishing and will be
very appetizing if properly served. Blanc
manages are excellent, and chocolate
blanc-mange is a pleasant variety. If a
person is able to drink cream, it may be
used instead of milk in preparing blanc
mango. The cream should be carefully
beaten when it Is mixed with the gelatine.
A charlotte-russe is a delicate and whole
some dessert. Corn starch is generally
disliked by invalids, but an excellent dish
may be made in which its presence can
scarcely be detected. Boil n pint of milk
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