Crackers And Marmalade

Toast three soda crackers, dip them for one minute in boiling water, spread them with a little sweet butter, and put between them layers of orange marmalade, or any other preserve or jelly; put plenty upon the top cracker, and set them in the oven for two or three minutes before serving. This makes a delicate and inviting lunch for convalescents.

Chicken Jelly

Skin a chicken, removing all fat, and break up the meat and bones by pounding; cover them with cold water, heat them slowly in a steam-tight kettle, and simmer them to a pulp; then strain through a sieve or cloth, season to taste, and return to the fire without the cover, to simmer until the liquid is reduced one half, skimming off all fat. Cool to form a jelly. If you have no steam-tight kettle, put a cloth between the lid and any kettle, and the purpose will be served.

Chicken Broth

Dress a chicken or fowl, cut it in joints, put them in a chopping bowl, and chop them into small pieces, using flesh, bones, and skin.

To every pound of the chicken thus prepared put one pint of cold water and one level teaspoonful of salt; if pepper is desired it should be either enough cayenne to lie on the point of a small pen-knife blade, or a half saltspoonful of ground white pepper. Put all these ingredients over the fire in a porcelain lined sauce-pan, bring them slowly to a boil, remove the pan to the side of the fire, where it will simmer slowly, the heat striking it on one side; simmer it in this way for two hours, and then strain it through a napkin, set it to cool; if any fat rises to the surface in cooling remove it entirely. Eat it either cold, say half a tea-cupful when a little nourishment is required; or warm a pint, and eat it with graham crackers at meal time.

Beefsteak Juice

Quickly broil a juicy steak, and after laying it on a hot platter, cut and press it to extract all the juice; season this with a very little salt, and pour it over a slice of delicately browned toast; serve it at once.

Salmon Steak

Choose a slice of salmon nearly an inch thick, remove the scales, wipe with a dry cloth, roll it first in cracker dust, then dip it very lightly in melted butter, and season with a dust of white pepper and a pinch of salt; then roll it again in cracker dust, and put it over a clear fire on a greased gridiron, to broil slowly, taking care that it does not burn before the flakes separate; serve it with some fresh watercresses and plain boiled potatoes. (Any red-blooded fish may be used in the same way.)

- Broiled Oysters

Dry some large oysters on a napkin; roll them in cracker dust, dip them in melted butter as for salmon steaks, again in cracker dust, dust over them a very little salt and white pepper, or cayenne, and broil them on a buttered wire gridiron, over a clear fire. They will be done as soon as they are light brown. They make a very delicate and digestible meal.