2 9 o BEARING. 



other meal in proportion to weight, the absorption of water being 

 greater, and also varying in different qualities of oatmeal itself ; so 

 that, after all, this meal is not so expensive as it looks to. be, when 

 comparing an equal weight of it with barley or Indian meal. The 

 real coarse Scotch oatmeal yields the greatest bulk of puddings, 

 and is to be-preferred on that account ; besides which, it appears 

 to agree best with dogs, and altogether is a very superior article ; 

 but in any case it ought to be nearly a year old. It may, there- 

 fore, be considered that Indian meal or Scotch oatmeal, both of 

 which may always be procured from the corn-dealers, will be the 

 best meal, unless the price of wheat-flour can be afforded, when 

 the best red wheat should be coarsely ground and not dressed, 

 and in this state made into biscuits or dumplings, or used to 

 thicken the broth. 



If Indian meal is employed, it must be mixed with the water 

 or broth while cold, and then boiled for at least an hour, stirring 

 it occasionally to prevent burning. If it is intended to mix oat- 

 meal with the Indian meal, the former may be first mixed with 

 cold water to a paste, and then stirred in after boiling the latter 

 for three quarters of an hour ; then boil another quarter, reckoning 

 from the time that the contents of the copper came to the boiling 

 point a second time. 



Wheat-flour should be boiled from fifteen to twenty minutes, 

 and may be mixed with the oatmeal in the same way as the Indian 

 nieal. 



Oatmeal pudding, and porridge, or stirabout, are made as follows ; 

 the first name being given to it when so thick as to bear the 

 weight of the body after it is cold, and the last two to a somewhat 

 thinner composition. In any case the meal is stirred up with cold 

 water to a thick paste, and, when quite smooth, some of the broth 

 should be ladled out and added to it, still stirring it steadily. 



