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Invalid Cookery

From British everyday cookery, revised and greatly enlarged (1910).

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A historical recipe

British everyday cookery, revised and greatly enlarged, by University of Leeds. Library (1910).

United Kingdom

Known as a British recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Ingredients 1 ingredient

  1. 1 pint of cold water

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. invalid’s food if perfectly fresh ;
  2. but it is sometimes found to be rather heavy if taken by itself.
  3. Half milk and half soda-water, or milk with about $ part of lime water, may then be recommended.
  4. 2.
  5. Use as little as possible of baking powders, powdered acids, and seasonings for invalid cookery.
  6. Lemon juice may be substituted for acids and flavourings where possible.
  7. 3.
  8. Do not serve warmed-up food to an invalid.
  9. Everything but broths should be freshly cooked.
  10. 4.
  11. Do not leave food of any sort in the sick-room.
  12. Be careful to exercise most scrupulous cleanliness.
  13. Serve everything in as dainty and appetizing a way as possible.
  14. BEEF TEA (No.
  15. 1).
  16. One pound of gravy beef (good skirting will do) to 1 pint of cold water.
  17. Remove the fat and skin, cut the meat up small, put it in a jar with a little salt, and pour the water over it.
  18. Let it stand 3 or 4 hours covered over.
  19. Then simmer slowly in a jar placed in a pot of boiling water for 4 or 5 hours ;
  20. or it may be steamed or cooked in the oven.
  21. Strain, remove all fat with blotting paper, or let it grow cold and then remove the fat.
  22. Serve hot with sippets of toast.
  23. BEEF TEA (No.
  24. 2), quickly made.
  25. If wanted quickly, chop the beef finely.
  26. Soak it for 15 minutes in 1 pint of cold water to the pound of beef.
  27. Place it in a saucepan and bring it gradually to the boiling-point.
  28. Then let it simmer for 10 minutes.
  29. Serve with a little salt.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Large pot
  • Saucepan
  • Steamer
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
  • Sieve
Source not stated by archive.org
Credit

From British everyday cookery, revised and greatly enlarged (1910), printed page 312, digitised by the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/b2152922x

What was changed: Read by machine from the book's scanned text into ingredients and method. The title's capitals were tidied; spelling and scanning errors are left as they are.