Exactly as printed, 1880
In convalescence great care is necessary, and the physician's directions should be implicitly obeyed, especially in regard to diet; a failure in obedience often brings on a fatal relapse, A little food at a time and often repeated, is the general rule for the sick. A table-spoon of beef-tea, every half hour, will be digested, when a cupful every three or four hours will be rejected. (In giving a drink or liquid of any kind a moustache-cup will be found a great convenience.) The sick can rarely take solid food before eleven in the morning, and a spoonful of beef-tea, or whatever stimulant the physician has ordered, given every hour or two, relieves exhaustion. Brandy, whisky, or other alcoholic stimulants, however, should never be ordered in cases where there is a hereditary tendency to use them, or where they have been used as a beverage, or where the associations of the patient in the future would be likely to make an acquired taste for them a temptation. In most cases substitutes may readily be found. Untouched food should never be left at the bed-side. Every meal should be a surprise, and the patient should be left alone while eating. Food for the sick must be of the best quality, and neatly and delicately prepared. The cook should do half the patient's digesting. Keep the cup and saucer dry, so that no drops will fall on the bed or clothing.
Beef-tea contains a certain amount of nourishment, and may be given in almost any inflammatory disease. Eggs do not agree with all patients, but are nourishing food when admissible. Tenderloin of beef, cut across the grain, and broiled on live coals, without smoke, and well cooked or rare, as the physician may direct, is always relished; and a tender lambchop, broiled in the same way, with the fat removed before serving, is easily digested and nutritious. Roasted potatoes, very mealy, are preferred to other vegetables. Milk is a representative diet; and, when it agrees with the digestion, is probably better adapted to strengthen the body in sickness than any other one article of food, but it must be fresh and pure. The least taint of sourness is injurious. Butter-milk, however, when fresh, is useful in fevers, bilious diseases and dyspepsia. Cream is even better than milk, and is less apt to turn acid in the stomach. Many patients thrive on Indian-meal mush and cream, and any preparations of Indianmeal are especially good for persons who are suffering from the loss of natural warmth (see Bread-making). Oat-meal, Graham and rye mush, and homemade brown-bread, are important articles of diet, greatly relished by the sick. There are instances of persons recovering from serious illness where a table-spoon of rye mush, and half tea-cup butter-milk, three times a day, were all that could be taken for two or three weeks. A patient's craving for any particular article of food should be communicated to the physician, as it is often a valuable indication of the wants of the system. These cravings should be gratified whenever possible. Melons act on the kidneys, and are good in many cases of fever, bowel complaint, etc. Celery also is good in some diseases of the kidneys, and in nervousness and rheumatism. Fresh, crisp, raw cabbage, sliced fine and eaten with good vinegar, is easily digested, and often highly relished by a patient suffering from a "weak stomach." New cider is also excellent in many cases of nervous dyspepsia, Fruits and berries-raw, ripe and perfect-used in moderation, are admirable remedies in cases of constipation and its attendant diseases. The grape has a wide range of curative qualities. The seeds are excellent for costiveness; the pulp is very nutritious and soothing to irritated bowels, while the skins, if chewed, act as an astringent. Raw beef is excellent in dysentery; it should be minced very fine, and given in doses of a spoonful at a time every four hours, the patient, in the meantime, eating nothing else. Bananas or baked apples are good in chronic diarrhœa. A rind of bacon is good for teething children to chew. Rice-water or rice-jelly are advisable in many cases of convalescence from acute fever, summer complaint and like diseases. Fresh pop-corn, nicely salted, clambroth, the juice of a roasted oyster in the shell, soda-water and peppermint-tea are remedies for sick stomach. Vegetable acid drinks, herb-teas, toast-water, and all such drinks are often much relished. A custard made from a preparation of liquid rennet, as directed on bottle, is a delicate dish. Buttered-toast, either dry or dipped, though so generally given, is rarely a suitable article for the sick, as melted oils are very difficult of digestion. In quinsy, diphtheria, inflammation of lungs, typhus and other putrid fevers, acids are of very great benefit. Take a handful of dried currants, pour over them a pint of boiling water, let them stand half a minute without stirring, then drain off the water, strain it through a cloth, and set it away to cool; when given to the patient, dilute well, so that the acid taste is very slight. Acid fruits should be eaten early in the day. Above all, it should be remembered, that it is not the nourishment which food contains, but that which the stomach can assimilate, that builds up; a sick person will thrive on what would not sustain a well man.
It is of the utmost importance that the food be delicately and carefully administered, and this should never be left to servants. It should be made as attractive as possible, served in the choicest ware, with the cleanest of napkins, and the brightest of silver. If tea is served, it should be freshly drawn, in a dainty cup, with a block of white sugar, and a few drops of sweet cream. Toast should be thin, symmetrical, well yellowed, free from crust, and just from the fire. Steak should be a cut of the best tenderloin, delicately broiled, and served with the nicest of roasted potatoes. The attention given to these simple matters is, in many cases, worth more than the physician's prescriptions.
Buckeye Cookery, 1880. Public domain; transcription unaltered.