Comfort foods for the invalid or poorly
comfort food – Once upon a time, most general cookery books included chapters on “invalid cookery”, conjuring images of valetudinarians, coaxed into spooning up bowlfuls of thin gruels, arrowroot jelly and sago milk pudding. I thought of this recently when my family were beset with endless rounds of colds and bugs. Modern cookery books aren’t much help – recipes are either too rich and indulgent or focus on specific diseases, with little on general illness. So I find myself supplementing advice from mother and aunt with that from the older books – comfort food.
Colds aren’t so hard – adults are happy with toddies, soup and anything spicy, my mother-in-law keeps me supplied with Johar Joshanda which is better than any Lemsip, and the kids love fruity, honey sweetened jellies and sorbets. It’s harder to find nutritous food for stomachs upset by medication or gastroenteritis. The general advice is solid common sense. Don’t ask your patient what they want – choose easily digested food you know they like – comfort food at its best. Avoid unexpected textures – gristle, bone, lumps. Small, varied portions are best, think tempting morsels. My mother was brilliant at this and an expert at arranging a tray – I try to do the same for my family now.
The recipes in the books I looked at had changed little from the 1700s to the 1950s. There are strange omissions – potatoes (good for bland starchiness) don’t get a look in, which I find odd, as they are the first set of comfort food I want to eat when ill (crisps, chips or mash). Honey is almost always overlooked in favour of sugar. Herbs, spices and vegetables are under-used. One of the few references to curry comes from the pseudonymous Mistress Dods and contains a healthy amount of garlic, chilli, ginger and turmeric. Few specific illnesses are addressed, although Hannah Glasse bizarrely offers a sage liquor for treating thrush in children.
Many comfort food dishes don’t suit the modern palate; tripe, gruels, milk puddings (also not good fare for phlegmy colds) feature frequently, as do some very odd combinations – Agnes Jekyll recommends a lunch of toast, spread with chestnut puree, topped with slices of pheasant and garnished with gravy and warmed plums. At least this has flavour, but I find it is unpalatable as Mrs Beeton’s toast sandwich – I prefer instead Marguerite Patten’s marmite or bone marrow on toast. Incidentally, Marguerite Patten is a great believer in Vitamin B rich marmite – she also adds it to milk and soup as it helps “combat the fatigue of illness” and gives flavour to otherwise bland food. I would add that anything umami can help increase a listless appetite.
All the books acknowledge that fluids are key with any illness, so I tried a few variations. Barleywater was the surprise hit – it’s cheap and simple to make and soothing on the stomach, especially if you don’t add lemon. Whey turned out to be a good alternative when milk was too rich. Soups, jellies, custards are perfect for slipping down easily, though chicken soup – seen as a universal panacea – is trumped by the cookery writers back then by beef tea. I prefer chicken but beef tea (really beef broth) is excellent if you are self-medicating – turn it into bullshot with a good glug of vodka.
My other main success was savoury jellies. When I mention them the majority reaction is disgust. I have no idea why – they are restorative, sustaining and championed by some of my favourite chefs (Fergus Henderson’s trotter gear, Simon Hopkinson’s chicken in aspic) and a cooling alternative to soup. The children in my family had no preconceptions and loved them, especially a beef one I coloured with beetroot. My absolute favourite comfort food takes Jewish penicillin to its xenith – Fanny Cradock tells us to smash up some chicken, put it in a jar, cover with cheap brandy and simmer (a slow cooker will do it) for 24 hours before straining. As she says – it’s miraculous.
Have you ever discovered an archaic recipe which you turn to in times of illness? Have you any recipes handed down to you that you swear by?
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