IT may not be out of place to give a few well-tried recipes for the benefit of invalids.

Beef-tea.—Procure beef which has been freshly killed. Take one pound of beef free from the least particle of fat, gristle, sinew, or skin. Mince it with a knife, not with a machine. Put the beef into one pint of cold water, and stir for ten minutes. Bring it to the boil, and boil it for half an hour, never ceasing to stir it. Strain, and add a dust of salt only. Serve with strips of dry toast, and salt in a salt-cellar.

Cold Beef-tea.—This can be digested by persons who cannot take the usual beef-tea. Mince one pound of raw beef as finely as possible. Pour upon it one quart of boiling water. Plunge the jar in a deep saucepan ready filled with boiling water. Set it near the fire, but not so close as to make it simmer. Draw the saucepan gradually away from the fire, and let the beef-tea get nearly cold. Then strain it through muslin, and after that filter it through clean white blotting-paper. Serve cold.

Chicken Broth.—Roast a chicken for fifteen minutes, not longer. Cut it into slices, and put it into a saucepan with three pints of cold water. Season very lightly with pepper and salt. Bring it gradually to the boil, and let it simmer very gently. An old fowl will take from four to six hours, a young one will need three hours. Strain, and take off every particle of fat. The previous roasting of the chicken is a great improvement. If the broth is liked thick, simmer in it two ounces of crushed tapioca or sago.

Nourishing Broth.—Make the chicken broth as in the foregoing recipe, but when the chicken is put into the saucepan to simmer, add to it two pounds of fresh shin of beef, without fat, and cook the chicken and beef together. Or, if the chicken cannot be had, use a knuckle of veal. Put the beef and veal into five quarts of cold water. Add a little salt, bring the broth to the boil, and simmer slowly. The beef and veal must be simmered in five quarts of water till this is gradually reduced to three pints of broth. Strain, and remove any fat.

Chicken Food for an Invalid.—Take a good chicken and remove all the white meat. Cut up the remainder into small pieces, and stew it in a quart of water till it is reduced one-third. Let it cool. Then remove every particle of fat or grease. Put in the white meat of the chicken, and simmer gently for fifteen minutes. Then pound it to a paste in a mortar. Return the pounded meat to the broth, and again simmer as gently as possible for fifteen minutes more. Season with just a dust of pepper and salt, and serve cold in a small mould.

Mutton Cutlet for an Invalid.—Take three of the nicest cutlets from the best part of a neck of mutton. Trim one cutlet very neatly, and trim the other two so that when placed together the outer cutlets will project beyond the middle one. Tie the three together, the cutlet intended for the invalid being in the centre. Turn all three with cutlet-tongs over and over till they are done. All the gravy will be concentrated in the middle cutlet. Send this to the invalid on a hot-water plate, and use the other cutlets in the dining-room.

Savoury Custard for an Invalid.—Take two eggs, using both whites and both yolks, and the yolks only of two more eggs. Beat them well with one gill of clear beef-tea, but do not add any salt. Put the custard into a well-buttered basin, cover the top with a buttered paper, set the basin in a pan of boiling water, and let it steam slowly. It will take about fifteen minutes. Let the custard get quite cold, then turn it out and cut it into diamonds with a cutter. Serve salt and pepper with the custard.

The Invalid’s Yorkshire Pudding.—Mix the yolks of two eggs into two good table-spoonfuls of flour. Beat the whites of the eggs lightly, and stir all together. Bake for ten minutes in rather a quick oven.

Restorative Jelly.—Take two ounces of isinglass [in these days gelatine must be used], two ounces of white sugar candy, and half an ounce of gum arabic, grated. Steep these ingredients in a pint of port wine poured over them in an earthenware jar. Let it stand twelve hours. Put the jar in a saucepan of cold water, and let the water get gradually warm. Then simmer as slowly as possible, and continue simmering till the isinglass or gelatine is quite melted. The jelly will be thick. Do not strain it, but break up a table-spoonful at a time for use.

Rice Jelly.—Well wash half a pound of Carolina rice and boil it with a strip of lemon-peel for one hour in two quarts of water. Pass it through a sieve, and let it cool. When cold it will be a firm jelly. Add one pint of milk to the rice jelly, and boil all together till the rice resembles thickened milk. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Strain it, sweeten it a little, and serve warm.

Calves’-foot Jelly.—This is much better when the “set” of feet is prepared at home and not sent in ready for use by the butcher. First wash each foot separately and very thoroughly, then scald each in boiling water, and scrape off all the hair. Remove any fat from the clefts of the hoof. Put the feet into a stone jar, cover them with one gallon of cold water, bring it to the boil, and then either let it simmer for six hours or tie stout brown paper over the jar, and put it into the oven for three hours. Then strain the jelly through a sieve into an earthenware bowl. Let it get cold, then take off the fat at the top. Break up the jelly, being careful not to touch the sediment at the bottom of the bowl. The four feet ought to yield about two quarts of jelly. Do not clear the jelly, but add a little lemon juice as flavouring. Some invalids like a little of this jelly warmed as broth; in this case omit the lemon-peel, and use as flavouring a tea-spoonful of thyme leaves finely minced and sewn up in a bit of muslin, removing the muslin before the jelly is strained.

Clear Barley Water.—Wash one pound of pearl barley very thoroughly, using fresh water two or three times. Put the barley into a quart jug with one lump of sugar. Fill the jug with boiling water, and let it stand to get cold. The barley will settle at the bottom, and the liquid will be clear. Pare the rind of a lemon as thinly as possible, put it into a breakfast-cup, pour boiling water upon it, and let it stand half an hour. Strain the liquid, put it into a glass jug, pour the barley water upon it, and set the jug on ice before serving.

Toast and Water.—This refreshing and nutritious drink must be freshly made, as it soon turns sour. Toast a thin slice of bread very slowly and carefully till it becomes very hard and brown, but not scorched or blackened. Put it into a jug, and pour upon it one quart of freshly drawn cold water. Cover the jug, and let the toast soak for one hour. Then take out the toast, and pour the water into the jug it is to be served in. Toast and water does not generally need straining, but it must be served quite cold.

American Crust Coffee.—Cut some thin slices of stale bread, and bake them in the oven till they are quite dark brown. Pound the slices in a mortar. Boil one ounce of bread-crumbs in half a pint of water, using a small saucepan. Take it off the fire, let it stand for a few minutes, and then strain the liquid through a fine tin strainer into a tumbler or breakfast-cup. Serve it hot. This is quite as nutritious as toast and water.