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Some Kitchen Kinks: Gruel

Oatmeal Gruel.-1 cupful of oatmeal; 1 quart of cold water; 1 teaspoonful of salt. Cook in a double boiler two hours.

Press through a strainer, dilute with cream, reheat, and serve. The wellbeaten white of 1 egg or a few tablespoonfuls of thick cream stirred into the gruel adds nutrition.

Cornmeal Gruel.-2 tablespoonfuls of cornmeal; 1 tablespoonful of flour; 1 teaspoonful of salt; 1 cupful of cold water; 3 cupfuls of boiling hot water or milk.

Mix meal, flour, and salt; stir into the mixture enough cold milk or water to make a thin paste, and pour this into the hot milk or water. If water is used, cook one hour in a saucepan; if milk, three hours in a double boiler. Serve hot, diluted with cream.

Egg Gruel.-1 egg; 1 teaspoonful of sugar; 1 cupful of hot milk (not scalded); nutmeg or lemon juice to flavor.

While the milk heats, beat the yolk of the egg till thick and light colored, the white till stiff. Stir into the yolk the other ingredients in the following order: sugar, milk, beaten white, and flavoring.

Eggnog.-1 egg; 2 teaspoonfuls of sugar; 1½ tablespoonfuls of lemon juice; 1 or 2 tablespoonfuls of wine; nutmeg.

Beat the yolk till thoroughly foamy; stir in the other ingredients.

Nutmeg may be omitted.

Lemon Whey.-1 pint of hot milk (not scalded); juice of 2 lemons.

Add the lemon juice to the milk; when the latter has curdled, strain it through cloth. Serve the whey hot or cold in a glass.

Toast Water. 1 slice of stale bread; 2 cupfuls of boiling water; 1 slice of lemon.

Have bread-inch thick, toast brown, pour upon it boiling water, cover closely and cool; strain it. A slice of lemon may be added.

Barley Water.-2 ounces of pearl barley; 3 cupfuls of water.

Wash barley in cold water, boil twenty minutes in a covered dish; strain, sweeten, and add lemon, if permitted.

Apple Water.-6 sour apples; 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar; 1 quart of boiling water.

Slice apples, add sugar and boiling water. Cover closely and cool; strain.

Bran Tea.-2 cupfuls of bran; 1 quart of boiling water.

Steep bran in water for an hour; strain, and season to taste.

Lemonade.-1 lemon; 1 tablespoonful of sugar.

Squeeze lemon, add sugar, mix with ice water and strain; rub the rim of the glass with a slice of lemon peel and allow it to float.