_Mush_ is meal or grain cooked in water to the consistency of rather thin pudding. _Porridge_ is like mush, only thinner. The most important point connected with the preparation of these is thoroughness in the cooking. Made as they generally are of coarsely ground or of rolled grains, they need long boiling to soften the cellulose and to cook the starch properly. =Oatmeal.= Oatmeal should be cooked for at least three hours in a double boiler. It is at its best prepared the day before it is needed, and then reheated as it is wanted. If it is done in this way, the flavor is fine, and there is no danger that the grains will be hard. When taken from the kettle, the oatmeal should be of the consistency to pour, and on cooling it ought to form into a tender, jelly-like pudding. Sometimes oatmeal is cooked so that the grains are whole and separate, but it is not easily digested so, and lacks the delicious flavor which long cooking gives. Oatmeal for those for whom there is no objection to its use is a valuable nutrient, furnishing more for the money than almost any other food.[31] =Indian Meal.= Indian meal also requires many hours' cooking. Even if it be in a single vessel and actually boiled, not less than an hour and a half of exposure to heat is safe. =Farina.= Farina having been already subjected to a high degree of heat in its preparation, is thereby partially cooked, and does not require as long a time as the raw grains. Mushes and porridges made from oatmeal, cracked wheat, or any grain on which the tough outside covering remains, are to be avoided in all cases of irritation or disease of the alimentary canal, particularly in diseases of the intestines, for the hard hulls are very irritating to the delicate lining membranes. Young children have exceedingly delicate digestive powers, and are often made ill by coarse, starchy food. For them it is always safest to use the prepared grains, such as farina, granula, and Imperial Granum. All of the grains given in these recipes may be made into _porridges_ by following the rules given for mushes, except that a larger proportion of water should be used. Porridges are like mushes, only thinner. OATMEAL MUSH ½ Cup of rolled oats, or ½ cup of granulated oatmeal. ½ Teaspoon of salt. 1 Pint of boiling water. Pick over the oatmeal, and put it into a double boiler with the salt. Pour on the boiling water, place the upper vessel of the boiler on the stove, and boil two minutes. This effectually starts the cooking. Then put the upper vessel into the lower, and cook for five hours. The water in the under boiler should _boil_ during this time, and will occasionally need replenishing. Serve the mush steaming hot with sugar and cream, and baked apples, apple sauce, or tart jelly if one is fond of something acid. If rolled oats be used, three hours are sufficient to cook it, but both kinds are best cooked the day before they are needed, as long cooking improves rather than injures the grain.