Invalid cookery

A lot of old cookbooks and household guides have whole sections dedicated to recipes for sick people, and surprisingly enough, lemon albumen wasn’t the most bland or disgusting thing you could be fed.

What To Do and How To Do It recommended this bran tea, which it says is “so good and nutritious it ought to be more widely used, and which is very similar to a recipe for a washing liquid in the Self Help Cookery Book.

Add one pint of boiling water to one half pint of wheat bran. Let stand on the back of the stove for one hour, but do not boil. Strain and serve with sugar and cream same as coffee.

Mrs Tuckford’s Cookery for the Middle Classes has quite a long list of recommendations, including this one for wine whey:

1/2 pint new milk, 2 tablespoonfuls sherry, little sugar. Allow the milk to almost boil, add the sherry, and allow to stand to curdle. Boil again, strain, sweeten, and serve.