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Restorative Broths

Take one pound of scrag of mutton. Break the bone with a chopper, and put it into a saucepan with three pints of water. Add a little salt, a small onion, a small turnip, a stick of celery, and a table-spoonful of pearl barley. Let the liquor boil, then draw the saucepan to the side, and let its contents simmer for two hours. Skim carefully, strain, and the broth will be ready for use. The meat may be served with parsley and butter or caper sauce. Sufficient for one quart of broth. Probable cost, 6d. per pint. Or, split a calf's foot, and put it into a saucepan with two pounds of fresh knuckle of veal broken up. Add a large onion, half a small parsnip, a leek, a little salt, and three quarts of cold water. Bring the broth to the boil, skim it, then simmer it gently for four hours. A quarter of an hour before it is taken up skim it once more, and throw into it a handful of chervil, ten large sorrel-leaves, and a cabbage lettuce finely shredded. Strain the broth, and it is ready for use. Many invalids prefer to take this broth cold in the form of a jelly. Time, four hours. Probable cost, 8d. per pint. Sufficient for nearly two quarts of broth. Or, take half a pound of lean beef, and half a pound of lean mutton or veal. Cut the meat into small pieces, put these into a jar with a closely-fitting lid, pour a quarter of a pint of cold water over them, and place in a moderately-heated oven for half an hour. Take the meat out, pour over it a pint of water, and put it in the oven again for an hour and a half. Strain the broth through muslin, carefully remove every particle of fat, and add salt and pepper to taste. These should be put in sparingly, as an invalid's tastes are often peculiar. Sufficient for nearly three-quarters of a pint. Probable cost, 9d. per pint. Time, two hours. Or, cut up a partridge into small pieces with a pound of the roll of the bladebone of beef. Fry these in a little butter till they are lightly and equally browned, then lift them out, and put them into a dish. Cut two ounces of uncooked ham into dice. Mix with them the red part of a carrot finely scraped, and five or six sticks of celery cut up small. Stir these in a saucepan with a little butter for three or four minutes, add the fried meat, a little salt, a pinch of powdered thyme, and three or four peppercorns, and pour over all three pints of cold spring water. Bring the liquor slowly to the boil, remove the scum as it rises, and throw in a spoonful of cold water now and again to assist it in rising. Let it simmer very gently for an hour and a half, pour it out, and strain for use. Time, two hours. Probable cost, varying with the price of the partridge. Sufficient for a little more than a quart of broth. Or, take a chicken and cut it up into small joints. Put these into a saucepan with two pounds of knuckle of veal broken up into small pieces, an onion stuck with three cloves, six peppercorns, and one pint of cold water. Boil the liquor quickly until it begins to thicken, and be very careful that it does not burn. Pour over this three quarts of cold water, and add two scraped carrots, and five or six sticks of celery, or half a tea-spoonful of bruised celery-seed. Let the broth boil, remove the scum, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and let its contents simmer for two hours. Strain through a sieve, and the broth will be ready for use. Time, two hours and a half. Probable cost, 1s. per pint. Sufficient for a little more than two quarts. Many physicians are of opinion that Bovril dissolved in a little boiling water forms by itself a most excellent and restorative broth. A small quantity is also a valuable addition to broth made from fresh meat.