The cereal, when possible, should be cooked in a double boiler for four hours until it becomes a jelly. In using, thin a little of the jellied cereal, with milk or cream, reheat, season and strain.

Barley Gruel

2 tablespoonfuls pearl barley 1 quart boiling water

1/2 teaspoonful salt

Add the barley to the water, and boil for two hours, or until it is reduced one-half. Strain, rubbing through a fine sieve, sweeten, if desired, and serve hot. A little warm milk or cream may be added, if permissible.

Oatmeal Gruel

1/2 cupful coarse oatmeal or rolled oats

1 pint boiling water 1/2 teaspoonful salt

Add the oatmeal to the boiling water, stirring constantly. Cook over the heat for ten minutes, and then for three hours in a double boiler. Rub through a sieve, and thin with milk, cream or water as desired. Re-heat and serve. If allowed, 1/4 cupful raisins, or 1/2 cupful of cut-up apple, may be cooked in this gruel, adding flavor.

Flour Gruel Or Thickened Milk

2 tablespoonfuls flour 1/2 teaspoonful salt

4 tablespoonfuls cold milk 3 cupfuls milk, scalded

Scald the milk. Mix the flour thoroughly with the cold milk and add it to the hot milk. Cook half an hour in a double boiler, stirring occasionally. Strain and serve hot. This is often used for diarrhea, though it is not so good as a water gruel for extreme cases.

Cornmeal Gruel

1 tablespoonful home-ground cornmeal 1 pint boiling water

1/4 cupful cold water 1/2 teaspoonful salt

Stir the cornmeal mixed in the cold water into the boiling water. Simmer or cook in a double boiler for an hour or longer. Strain and serve. Sugar and milk may be added, if desired, or it may be made wholly of milk, cooking entirely in a double boiler.

Beef Broth

2 pounds round of beef 1/2 teaspoonful salt

1 cupful cold water

Wipe the meat, remove the skin and fat and cut the meat into small pieces. Put in a kettle with the bones, if there are any, add the cold water, and let it stand for half an hour to extract the juices. Heat gradually to boiling point, season with salt and pepper, and simmer two hours, or until the meat is tender. Do not allow it to boil. Remove the fat and strain the broth. Re-heat in a double boiler and serve hot.

Beef Tea

1 pound fresh beef from neck

1 cupful cold water Salt

Wipe the meat, remove all fat and cut the meat in small pieces. Add the cold water and let stand fifteen minutes. Put in a canning jar, cover it loosely, place it on a trivet in a kettle and surround with cold water. Allow the water to heat slowly. Do not let it get above simmering point. Cook two hours. Strain and serve.

Beef tea may be frozen to the consistency of a water ice and is excellent in fever cases.

Egg Broth

3 cupfuls hot beef broth

1/3 teaspoonful salt

Beat the white and yolk of the egg separately. Add the hot broth, gradually, to the yolk, stirring continually. Add the salt and fold into the white. Re-heat over hot water and serve very hot.

Clam Bouillon

Wash and scrub with a brush one quart of clams, changing the water several times. Put in a kettle with I cupful cold water, cover tightly and steam until the shells are well-opened. Strain the liquor before serving.

Oyster Stew

3/4 cupful milk .

6 oysters

1 teaspoonful butter

Salt and pepper 1/4 cupful hot water

Wash the oysters, discard the liquor and steam over hot water until the edges are curled. Scald the milk, add it to the butter, pour in the steamed oysters and liquor, season, and serve with hot toasted crackers.

Rice Milk Soup

1 1/4 tablespoonfuls brown rice 1 cupful milk 3/4 tablespoonful butter 1/4 teaspoonful onion juice

1 stalk celery or

1/4 teaspoonful celery seed

1/4 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

Scald the milk. Add the rice and cook in a double boiler thirty minutes. Melt the butter, add the onion juice, bay leaf and celery stalk cut in bits, and saute slightly. Add to the soup, season and strain through a sieve. If too thick, thin with more milk. Chicken broth may be used in place of the milk. In this case add one tablespoonful of cream before serving.

Chicken Broth

Clean a two- or three-pound chicken and wash thoroughly. Separate at the joints, cover with two and a half quarts of cold water, bring slowly to boiling point, and simmer until the meat is very tender. At the end of three hours strain, season the broth, and let stand over night in a cold place to let the fat come to the top. Remove the fat and re-heat the broth; well-boiled brown or uncoated rice may be added, if desired.


1 cupful milk 1/3 junket tablet

1 teaspoonful cold water

Heat the milk until tepid and add the tablet dissolved in the cold water. Let it set, then break up the curd and strain through two thicknesses of cheesecloth, being careful to remove all the solid portion. Serve cold with or without sweetening, and flavor as desired.