A. is still sick. This flu is a bitch, man. So, in an effort to both comfort and sustain the invalid, last night I prepared for him his preferred sick food: The Nourishment.
The Nourishment is custard. But not just ANY custard. It's a custard recipe I got from a cookbook I have called The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, written by Christopher Kimball, the bow-tied founder of Cook's Illustrated. I'm not such a fan of Mr. Kimball (really, dude--the bow tie? nothing but an irritating affectation), but I am a fan of many of his recipes. And this recipe, which is actually called "American Baked Custard" in the book, is one of the good ones. It calls for a full cup of heavy cream, among other things. And it's the cream that makes it nourishing, of course. And delicious, but that goes without saying.
Now, it would never have occurred to me on my own to make custard for A. when he's sick, because I'm not really a custard person myself. Too eggy. So it's not a comforting thing for me. But I learned very early on in our marriage (after a particularly nasty cold when A. mentioned in a self-pitying tone that all he really wanted to eat was custard) that The Nourishment is what makes A. feel loved and cared for. And so he gets The Nourishment when he's sick.
Personally, I prefer things like leek and potato soup when I'm sick; anything with pureed potatoes is guaranteed to make me feel better.
What about you, duckies? What nourishment do you long for when you're feeling sickly?
17 comments:
The sweet, beautiful release of NyQuil.
...oh, you mean food? Nothing better than chicken noodle soup with buttered toast and equal parts apple juice and sprite to drink.
white grapes
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super garlicky spicy chicken veggie soup, which of course I have to make myself when I'm sick
I like custard too, but not sure when I'm sick.
I do like a delicious latte though, Mr Chiots is good about making those for me when I'm feeling under the weather.
chicken soup,homemade of course
Tomato soup with lots of oyster crackers, and a toasted cheese sandwich.
My mom was not of the homemade generation. Canned food was her salvation and represented freedom from the farm work she grew up with.
So my sick comfort is canned campbells chicken noodle soup. The only time I want soup not made from scratch. I think it is the preservatives, I'm not sure but something about it has the perfect level of salty blandness.
That and vicks vapor-rub smeared all over my chest and throat wrapped with a hot towel makes me feel better.
As an adult I've added hot tea with lemon and honey and for some reason I crave cold pineapple juice.
I think the canned soup thing is fortunate because like others if I wanted homemade I would be making it. And when I'm sick that's the last thing I want to do. I have an emergency cabinet in the laundry room stocked with two cases of canned chicken noodle soup, canned pineapple juice, teas, tissues, nyquil and vicks. Because the other last thing I want to do sick is go to the grocery store. (And I lived alone in a big city for years when I had no one to run such errands for me. Get sick unprepared once and you never want to again.)
Being a child of the 70's, my memories are of the red and white canned variety of chicken noodle soup, saltines and jello. To this day, I still cannot eat jello nor the red and white canned stuff.
That being said, I am of the chick-who-wants-to-do-better-for-her-family-than-to-serve-preservative-filled-canned-crap mentality. So your potato & leek soup shout-out will find me running to the grocery in mere moments.
I crave chicken soup when I'm sick - though I've recently expanded from just craving the classic to craving a Thai version with lemongrass and kefir lime leaves. Something about the spicy, sour combination with chicken broth makes me feel better instantly.
I'm totally with you - creamy soup and lots of tea. My mom always made sure we had gingerale and crackers.
Jodi made his new "specialty" - flan - for Thanksgiving and my mom started talking about how she always wants custard when she's sick. I thought that was so strange. Was custard the gingerale of another generation? I think if i were sick, custard would just put me over the edge - yuck!
I'm all about the chocolate.
Tomatoes. Fresh from the garden tomato salad. And, for whatever reason, I tend to get sick only once in a very long while and it's usually during the summer, so it works out.
In the sense that the thing that cures me is available.
Sort of takes the edge off of sweating one's life away with fever chills while it's 90+ degrees out.
Gross.
Strange. My favorite dessert was Bae's custard! Must run in the family!! LA&A railroad......
I think toast or cereal. I like carbs. And I love soup, but sometimes I hate eating it when I'm really sick because it makes your nose run even more, you know?
Oh, duh, I forgot: hot cereal. My mom used to make us cream of wheat as a special breakfast. And when do you need something special? When you're sick, obviously!
I'm so predictable -- chicken noodle soup. But I also like buttered toast and saltine crackers.
My husband and I love baked custard and I make it often. Also make to send to the Nursing Home for my MIL, she loves it also. Good for you,yum.
Chicken soup. Chicken soup, homemade, from homemade stock, and preferably with rice, not noodles or dumplings.
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